Why use IBM Worklight if it ultimately uses PhoneGap?

Question

Actually i have to build a cross platform application(for iphone and android only) and the client is emphasizing to use IBM Worklight for this. After searching about Worklight i came to know that it internally uses PhoneGap(Apache Cordova). Now my question is if worklight internally uses phonegap then why not directly use phonegap. I need your advice on this. Please suggest the thing that separates worklight from phonegap. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

IBM Worklight is a full platform for development. There are a lot of things that you can do even within Worklight that you can't do alone with a PhoneGap library like access common controls more native to the device (Options Menu, busy indicator, tabbars, etc). Some things you have to find plugins for. The newest version of IBM Worklight uses PhoneGap 2.2. I could probably go on for awhile, but check out my blog about the differences in a comparison view.

http://www.open-logix.com/enterprise-mobility-blog/ibm-worklight-and-phonegap-comparison/ ?

Other things worth mentioning:

The server is also a big portion which does centralized back-end connectivity with adapters, used for offline encrypted storage, unified push notifications and SMS delivery, and more.

The management console works with the server to provide a MAM solution. So you can force update/disable applications, manage versions, view some device statistics and monitor pushes.

The IDE works in conjunction with the Native SDK's and IDE's. So if you are building for Android, it will build an Android project to compile and export within the same IDE. For iPhone, it creates all the project layers for an XCODE project. You may have to tweak some settings in xcode to make sure it compiles right, but I generally haven't had issues.

The Mobile Browser simulator is nice for testing web code with PhoneGap capability testing within the browser as well.

Shell coding is integrated and you can create a common shell for your App brand.

The new WYSIWYG is pretty nice as well and provides common HTML support plus jQuery Mobile components and/or dojo mobile.

Answer 2

PhoneGap is great, that is why IBM Worklight use it.

PhoneGap is a great bridge between a web developed application and the device (GPS, camera, etc.), but that is all it is.

You need an IDE to develop the application.

You need to connect to back-ends.

You need to authenticate.

You need to think about security.

You still need to manage the life cycle of the application.

PhoneGap is an important part of an IBM Worklight application, but it is only a part.

Answer 3

Main difference between IBM Worklight and Phonegap is server part . Phonegap has no feature related to server part but IBM offers IBM Worklight Server feature .

Second, IBM has whole package(IDE ,console etc) but Phonegap offer a library only. At last IBM has the support that Phonegap lacks. (I don't know where you found that IBM worklight using Phonegap but both of them are using web-view component ).

Answer 4

It is better to use Worklight than Phonegap as the former has direct support for the following: - SMS Delivery Options - Push Notifications - Direct Update - Version management - Business Intelligence Reporting - Force Update (or) Disable App

Moreover it has other features like
1. Authentication framework 2. Mobile Browser Simulator 3. Encrypted Offline Storage 4. Jsonstore which makes it much more easier to use.