HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Chapter
Testing and Deploying
Your Mobile Web App
Believe it or not, testing and deploying your mobile web application is one of the
most important, yet overlooked, aspects of the development cycle.
The most basic testing and deployment method is to use an FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) client to upload your mobile web application to a public-facing web
server. Typically, you then test the uploaded application in your mobile's web
browser by ''playing'' with it to make sure that everything is working as it should.
If there are any issues, then you make the amends on your local machine, test it,
and then reupload the changed files.
This works for small applications and extremely small teams; however, as your
application and development team grows, it becomes very time consuming to
test every aspect of functionality thoroughly, and to keep track of code changes.
The natural ''quick-fix'' progression is to begin using file-sharing software or
services such as AFP (Apple File Sharing Protocol), Samba, or Dropbox to
manage group code and to share projects across development teams. This
eventually becomes cumbersome, as those who are familiar with this technique
are well aware----file conflicts aren't unusual and resolving them is extremely
hard and laborious. There is also no code ownership or method of blame. If a
developer breaks a piece of functionality, there is no finger to point and the code
takes longer to fix or roll back.
Continuous integration principles help to solve this. Continuous integration is
comprised of SCM (Source Control Management) to manage code within a
team, automated testing, environment testing, and automated deployment.
