Best option for converting a JSP website to Android app?

Question

I have set up a JSP website on a Tomcat 6.0 server. Now I want to create an Android app to fetch the web's data and view it on the phone.

I have considered three possible plans for this:

1. Rewrite the website into WAP version and use a Webview to view the WAP on phone. Easiest way, but the app might not look so good.

2. Use PhoneGap to create a app based on the website. I have no idea about PhoneGap. Based on the information I read online, I think it can manage it.

3. Create the app from scratch using Xamarin. Hardest plan.

Which approach should I follow? Or can anyone give me some other ideas?

Answer 1

It would be a lot easier (as well as interesting) to write simple mobile clients in native Java/Objective-C for Android & iOS. For an experienced web developer, it would not be hard to create simple apps using articles on Google/StackOverflow. Not to mention that using the native mobile SDKs' is the only way to get an acceptable level of performance. WAP / JQuery Mobile / PhoneGap all provide a less than satisfactory level of viewing performance.

You would have to provide REST web services that perform CRUD operations on your server-side database and return the response as JSON data. You'd also have expose these web services from publicly-hosted URLs'. This would be one approach.

Another approach would be to use something like Kony or Kendo UI. These are both excellent multi-platform approaches. Alas, they are both proprietary (i.e. you have to pay for them).

Answer 2

You can use either of Phonegap and Xamarin based on your comfort. You can keep what you have as JSP and just load the url of page from Webview of your client app. It works if your JSP has been designed carefully with taking Mobile phone into consideration.

Answer 3

For me first method lloks good. I also recently created a website using jsp and java and it is working well on my android webview. But in my case I didnt re-write it. I initially created it in a compatible manner.