Warning Older Docs! - You are viewing documentation for a previous released version of RhoMobile Suite.

RhoHub Gallery and RhoGallery Tutorial

This tutorial will guide you through setting up a gallery on RhoHub and adding consumers, groups, and applications to it.

It also shows how to install RhoGallery, which is the mobile app that consumers use to connect to a RhoHub gallery. It shows how to connect to a RhoHub gallery with the RhoGallery app, and how to install, run, and uninstall apps from a RhoHub gallery.

Webinar Video
Pre-requisite Reading
Setup
Understanding RhoHub Galleries and RhoGallery
Adding a RhoHub Gallery
Adding Applications to (and Managing) Your RhoHub Gallery
Adding Consumers to Your RhoHub Gallery
Adding Groups to Your RhoHub Gallery
Managing Collaborators
Customizing The RhoGallery Look and Feel from RhoHub
Using RhoGallery to Get RhoHub Gallery Apps onto Your Mobile Device

Webinar Video

Pre-requisite Reading

RhoHub Tutorial

Setup

This tutorial assumes that you have an account on RhoHub, and that you have an application(s) in it. If you have not set up a RhoHub account, see Pre-requisite Reading.

Understanding RhoHub Galleries and RhoGallery

Frameworks such as Rhodes make it easy for developers to build native apps for all smartphones. However, developers need to get those apps to user’s devices so users can test them. Enterprises with many mobile apps need to get the native apps out to all the enterprise users regardless of what kind of device the users have, need to manage who gets what apps, and need to update the apps for those users.

RhoGallery is a hosted app management solution. RhoGallery administrators can create galleries of apps, and they can invite consumers and groups of consumers to partake of those apps, and they can delete apps remotely. These apps can be Rhodes apps, or third party apps.

Note that the users of RhoGallery – who install the RhoHub Gallery apps onto their mobile device using the RhoGallery mobile app – are called consumers; this term of “consumers” is targeted at enterprise workers, to distinguish them from the RhoHub Gallery administrators.

The consumers receive an invite to a RhoGallery via SMS or email. The consumers then launch the RhoGallery app on their mobile device, and it will contain all the apps on RhoGallery for their company and job. And they will be able to organize and launch their enterprise apps from RhoGallery.

Adding a RhoHub Gallery

Before you can send your applications to consumers, you need to have a RhoHub gallery for your applications and consumers.

In your RhoHub account, click on Galleries.

If needed, click on Galleries to show the Galleries section. In the Galleries section, click the Create Galleries button.

In the Add new Gallery pop-up window, enter a name for the gallery. Optionally, you can enter a description for your gallery, and choose an icon for that gallery. Click Create Gallery.

Adding Applications to (and Managing) Your RhoHub Gallery

Now you need to add apps to your gallery. Click the Add a new App button.

Step 1: Manage Your App

In the Add new app pop-up window, enter the name you want for your app. You can add an optional description and an optional icon to your app (the icon defaults to a Rhodes logo). Click Next.

Step 2: Device Target

Select the Device type (Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile), enter the following:

A version number for your app. This number is displayed on the app in RhoGallery on the mobile device.
The app ID. For example, for an Android app named fieldservice, you might use com.rhomobile.fieldservice. Enter the app ID in the format for your platform, and unique for your app.
A security token. You enter this if you are adding a Rhodes app and you used a security_token setting in your build.yml; the app will only launch if that security token is entered.
OS version: the OS version. Only enter this for Blackberry.

Step 3: Select the Build Type

In Step 3: Select Builds, select the type of build. (The pop-up window title changes to Upload Build Sources.)

RhoHub Build

For RhoHub Build, select a RhoHub build for a Rhodes application in your RhoHub account. Click Next.

Local Build

For Local Build, click the Select Files button, then navigate to and select the files for your application on your local computer to be uploaded to your RhoHub gallery.

Windows Mobile: .cab file.
BlackBerry: .jad file and all .cod files.
Android: Signed .apk file.
iPhone: .plist file and .ipa file.

This application does not have to be Rhodes-built: it can be any app that you have created on your computer. However, the app type must match the Device type that you selected in Step 2: Device Target.

For an iPhone app on a local build, you need to create a .plist file that you will upload to your RhoHub gallery. Use this sample iPhone plist as a template.

This .plist file has its base URL set to example.com. That is required for RhoHub local builds.

Edit this .plist file to point to your iOS application (.ipa) file: edit this line, replacing MyApp.ipa with the name of your .ipa file.

<string>http://example.com/MyApp.ipa</string>

Edit the .plist so its image URLs point to your image files: edit lines like this, replacing the image names with the names of your image files.

<string>http://example.com/icon512.png</string>

Edit the .plist file so that its bundle-identifier matches the app ID that you entered in step 2, and its bundle-version matches the version number that you entered in step 2. Look for this section in the .plist file and replace com.acme.rhodesapp and 1.0 with your app ID and version number.

<key>bundle-identifier</key>
<string>com.acme.rhodesapp</string>
<key>bundle-version</key>
<string>1.0</string>

After you have selected the .plist file and the .ipa file, click Next.

Remote Build

For Remote Build, enter the link to the application file.

Windows Mobile, .cab file.
BlackBerry, .jad file.
Android, .apk file.
iPhone: .plist file.

This example shows a link to an Android build on toshl.com, a third party expense tracking application.

Click Next.

Step 4: Review

In Review, click Finish.

You now have an app in your RhoHub gallery. Here is an example of a gallery with a RhoHub app and a remote app.

Adding Consumers to Your RhoHub Gallery

You also need consumers for your app. Consumers can use the RhoGallery mobile app to receive your app from your RhoHub gallery, and install it on their mobile device.

From your gallery, click the Invite button.

In the Invite Consumers pop-up window, enter a login name for your consumer, your consumer’s name, and check the checkboxes to notify the consumer via email, or SMS, or both. Enter your consumer’s email address if you notify by email; enter your consumer’s cell phone number if you notify by SMS. You can also enter groups you want your consumer to be in; if the group does not exist yet, this will create the group.

You will see the consumer added to your gallery.

The consumer will receive an email, or an SMS, or both, similar to the following:

You are invited to dave-gal on RhoHub.
Install RhoGallery: http://bit.ly/getrho
RhoHub Account: davidstrom
Username: david
Password: temporary-password

Thanks, RhoHub Support

Consumers will enter the RhoHub account name, the Username, and the Password into the RhoGallery app on their mobile device to join your RhoHub gallery. This is discussed later in this tutorial.

Adding Groups to Your RhoHub Gallery

You can create groups and add consumers to those groups. For example, you may wish to have a group for sales consumers, and another group for engineers. Also, you can add these groups to other galleries. For example, if you create a new gallery, you can add the sales group from your original gallery to your new gallery.

To create a group, go to the Consumers section in your gallery by clicking on Consumers.

In the Consumers section, click the Create Group button.

In the Add new Group pop-up window, enter the name for your group, then click Create Group.

Now you can add consumers to the group. Click on Add Consumer.

In the Add Consumers pop-up window, under the New Consumers tab, you can add a new consumer to your group by entering a login name and consumer name, and entering your consumer’s email address to notify by email, or cell phone number if you notify by SMS. (This is the same process you would use when you add a consumer from the Gallery section.) Then click Invite.

Under the Existing Consumer tab, you see a list of consumers whom you have added to your gallery. To add these consumers to your group, check the checkbox for those consumers. Then click Invite.

Those consumers are added to the group.

Now add the group to your gallery. In the Galleries section, click on the Invite button, as you did when you invited consumers to the gallery.

In the Invite Consumers pop-up window, click the Existing Consumers tab. Then check the checkbox for the group that you are adding to your gallery. Then click the Invite button, then Close.

The group is now added to your gallery.

Managing Collaborators

You can add collaborators. Collaborators are other people who have RhoHub accounts who can work with you on this gallery. To add a collaborator, in the Galleries section, click on Manage Collaborators.

In the Manage Collaborators pop-up window, enter the RhoHub user name, then click the Add Collaborator button.

Customizing The RhoGallery Look and Feel from RhoHub

You can build your own custom RhoGallery Mobile. From the “Galleries” tab, select the “RhoGallery Mobile” section.

In the RhoGallery Mobile section, you can customize the look and feel of RhoGallery on the supported platforms that your RhoHub gallery consumers will see when they receive invitations to join your RhoHub gallery.

Look and Feel: General Tab

Under the General tab for Look and Feel, you can adjust the size, weight, style, family, and font color of the Toolbar Title text. You can also change the background color for the Toolbar Title.