Learning Titanium Appcelerator - Setting Up Environment

Learning to develop apps using Appcelerator is fun and it's free - however, is not that easy as you think it is. Worry not, I'm here to share my experience with you all. Today's post I would like to share the basic fundamentals of developing in Titanium Appcelerator.

1. To start developing apps for both platform IOS and Android - you will need to be on the Mac O/S Environment. And the cheapest Mac I can get my hands off was the mac mini which cost only USD 599. Then, I upgraded it with additional 4 Gb otherwise, the harddrive will start trashing whenever I'm doing heavy editing in Photoshop. Note : Mac mini don't come with an old VGA cable, it only supports DVI or HDMI output and there's no DVD drive. You probably need to get a external one later (optional). All latest mac mini comes with Mac OS Lion.
   
   
2. Download the Titanium IDE (Integrated Development Environment) - This is the free tool which allows you to develop codes in Javascript and will then cross compile it to native Java and Objective C.
   
   
3. To start developing in IOS just head towards the Mac appStore, you will find the link in your launchPad, click on it and look for XCode which is the IDE/Simulator/SDK for IOS devices. Download and install it. It's FREE.
    
4. You will then need to register and Developer Account - this is free but, you can only develop apps and compile it into the simulator for testing. To get the developer certificate in order to push to devices. You will need to pay for the USD 99.00 per year program.
   
   
5. To setup the Android development environment, you will need to make sure Java is installed in your Mac OS Lion. During my time, (I got it when Mac OS Lion just released and there's no Java installed) I have to run the Launchpad > Utilities > Terminal and type the command "Java" without quotation marks. The system will prompt indicating Java is not installed and will prompt you to download and install it. Just agree to do so. If Java is installed the console will run the command instead.
   
   
6. Once you do it, run the Titanium IDE, Titanium Appcelerator IDE has improved so much, that the latest version even prompts you what to install and setup for android. Head towards the dashboard under Welcome! and click on "Let's get things setup!". Click on Android and it the button to download the android sdk will appear there. If not you can also head here. Android development SDK is free, you can even push to your android devices for free, however, you only need to pay once, your app is published into their Google Android AppStore.
   
   
7. After following the instruction and almost half a day install and setup for two development environment. You are all set and go to go!