This Week in NativeScript—October 18th, 2016

It’s time for another This Week in NativeScript, and in this edition we have a super important development in the NativeScript community to discuss—namely, that Josh Sommer carved a NativeScript pumpkin.

After you’ve taken a moment to thoroughly enjoy Mr. Sommer’s artistic talents, I need to have a heart to heart with you, esteemed NativeScript community member. How is it, that in the sprawling, ever-growing world of NativeScript, that there is only one—ONE— NativeScript pumpkin? One?! I mean, I’m actually somewhat embarrassed that poor Josh is the only one pointing out our obvious lack of Halloween and NativeScript spirit.

In an attempt to address this egregious oversight, I’m calling on you, enthusiastic NativeScript developer, to join Josh as a NativeScript pumpkin creator. I mean it’s really not that hard—all you need is a pumpkin, a moderately sharp object, a functioning camera, and the willingness to confuse your significant other with your questionable hobbies.

What will you get in return for the countless hours and tireless effort required to produce a work of pumpkin art? Glory! And by glory I mean a mention in a This Week in NativeScript article, along with potential judgement of your patio furniture and photography skills. So go forth NativeScript community—carve your pumpkin, take a picture, and post your creation on Twitter. Make sure to mention the @NativeScript tag so we can retweet your work, and let the world collectively judge whether we use our free time effectively.

Anyways. Now that I’ve managed to take this article more off topic than you really thought possible, let’s move on to the ostensible purpose of this post—links and stuff!

Links

• NativeScript on Wikipedia
  NativeScript is now on German Wikipedia thanks to a handful of people, which is amazing! But this did get me thinking—shouldn’t NativeScript be listed on all the Wikipedias? That why I’m calling on you again, NativeScript community, with a second request that promises very little in return—let’s get NativeScript documented on Wikipedias worldwide.
• Upgrading Hybrid Apps to Native with NativeScript
  A ridiciously thorough guide by Nic Raboy that compares how to accomplish similar tasks using hybrid and native approaches.
• Do NativeScript Plugins Add Weight to My App?
  A great article from Brad Martin about how much size you can expect a NativeScript plugin to add to your apps. The article includes a discussion of plugins with and without native library dependencies.
• Preventing the Android Keyboard from Showing on Page Load in NativeScript App
  Hey it’s Brad Martin again! This time with a quick little tip on how to prevent the Android keyboard from showing up automatically when your page loads. If your app opens to a login screen, as so many do, you’ll want to take a look at this one.
• NativeScript: iOS and Xcode 8 the wonderful world of breaking changes
  Xcode 8 introduced one major change related to show certain iOS function calls work, and that could potentially break your NativeScript app. Nathanael Anderson has you covered with details on the change, and how to update your code to support both Xcode 7 and Xcode 8.
• NativeScript Testing: End to End
  Nathanael Anderson again, this time with a detailed look at how to implement end-to-end tests in your NativeScript apps.
• Using GraphQL Inside an Angular Native {NativeScript} App using Apollo
  A comprehensive article on implementing GraphQL in a NativeScript app from Issam Guissouma.
• The {N} plugin for WebStormIDE
  Issam again with a really thorough walkthrough of his NativeScript WebStorm plugin, which by the way is completely awesome.
• Move, shake and drop with NativeScript and Angular 2
  If you’re going to be at Connect.tech in Atlanta this week, make sure to drop in Jen Looper’s talk this Friday on NativeScript and Angular 2. They’ll be music, and lights, and awesome.

Plugins

• nativescript-accordion
  A plugin from Osei Fortune that lets you create accordion controls. Currently the plugin only supports Android.
• nativescript-keyboardShowing
  A simple but extremely useful plugin from Nathanael Anderson that lets you determine whether the device’s keyboard is currently showing.
• NativeScript Material Icons
  A plugin from Shripal Soni that contains a series of convenience CSS class names for working with material icon fonts.
• nativescript-mapbox
  Eddy Verbruggen’s amazing Mapbox plugin now lets you define maps in your XML templates, which I’m amazingly excited about.
• nativescript-telegram-image-picker
  A plugin from Brad Martin that wraps a popular Android image picker library. Handy if you’re working on a NativeScript Android image that deals with images.
• nativescript-master-detail-angular2
  A super useful template for starting NativeScript and Angular 2 apps with a master/detail setup already in place.

NativeScript Snacks

• Navigating A NativeScript App With The Angular 2 Router
  Nic Raboy with a quick video on how to use the Angular 2 router in NativeScript apps.
• Theming a NativeScript Angular 2 Mobile Application
  Nic Raboy again, this time with a super helpful video on how to implement the new NativeScript core theme.

Stack Overflow Update

Progress’s own Nick Iliev has been crushing it on Stack Overflow lately, and is rapidly catching Nathanael for the all-time lead. It’s nice to see some new faces on the list as well.

http://stackoverflow.com/tags/nativescript/topusers

And that wraps up another This Week in NativeScript. As always, if I missed something, drop links in the comments so I can add them to the list.