Addressing the growing need for developers to build apps across platforms and devices, software development tool provider DevExpress has released a preview of DXTREME, a suite of tools aimed at helping Visual Studio developers create multi-channel, touch-enabled apps for the Web as well as the Android, iPad, iPhone and Windows 8 platforms.
With DXTREME, developers can create a single Visual Studio solution with one codebase that crosses platforms and devices without the need for the iOS or Android SDK. “Visual Studio developers are not just reaching existing Microsoft platforms anymore,” said DevExpress’ CMO Dave Mendlen. “They have to build across a collection of platforms including the iPad, the iPhone, and Android phones and tablets, as well as the upcoming Windows 8.
“What DXTREME lets the Visual Studio developer do is to keep using the tool that they know best—Visual Studio—to target all of these platforms. And it lets them do it in a consistent way, without having to learn lots of different technologies.”
DXTREME allows developers to create multi-channel apps that run on various platforms and that look attractive and native on each. “To give you an example of how a multi-channel application works, imagine the everyday experience that many of us have where you start using an application on, say, a Microsoft device, but then you later switch over to your Android phone or your iPad,” Mendlen said. “You’re using the same application, but it’s moving across platforms and taking advantage of the best of each platform. That’s what we enable with multi-channel functionality.”
DXTREME takes advantage of HTML5 and JavaScript, the underlying technology that makes it all function. “So when you build that HTML5 and JavaScript app and you run it on your iPhone, it’s going to look like a native iPhone app,” Mendlen said. “And it will take advantage of the things that are on the iPhone. For example, when you rotate your iPhone horizontally and vertically, everything flips. We understand what’s going on with the sensors. We can also take advantage of things like the built-in mapping functionality that’s included in the iPhone and so we can use that as part of your solution.”
If developers want to run touch-based apps natively on all devices, DXTREME also offers Apache Cordova support. DXTREME will also have built-in social media functionality, including support for Facebook, enabling developers to focus on building apps without having to worry about authentication and user management.
DevExpress has also recently announced what it calls its EXTREME offer, where every customer who has an active product subscription on the day of DXTREME’s wide release (Dec. 3) will receive all or part of the new DXTREME tool set at no cost. The company offers its products using a subscription-based model where customers pay for a year’s subscription at a time. The complete terms and conditions of DevExpress’s EXTREME offer can be found on its website.
