FAQ
Common questions
- What does iPFaces mean?
- How do you pronounce iPFaces?
- Is iPFaces only for iPhones?
- Can I try iPFaces for free?
- Can I try iPFaces without having iPhone?
- Are there yet any applications written in iPFaces?
- Is it possible to use iPFaces application when connected to internet only using GPRS?
- Can I display animated gif or animated png picture?
- Can I use CSS styles to change the components look?
- Can I find somewhere list of projects using iPFaces?
- Do you support iPhone's camera?
- Do you support Verdana italic font?
- Can I use HTTPS instead of HTTP?
- What is the best platform to develop iPFaces applications?
- Do you provide training for iPFaces developers?
- Why can't I choose "AppleGothic" font in Bold version?
- Can I develop iPFaces applications without having iPhone?
- Can I change name and logo of iPFaces client application?
- Can I use iPFaces technology in my own mobile application?
ASP.Net
- Could I use Mono framework for developing iPFaces applications?
- What servers could I use to deploy ASP.Net iPFaces application to?
- I saw "Today's Menu" application between example. Do you provide source codes for it?
- I can see warnings like "Element 'html' occurs too few times." and "Element 'option' must be included within a parent element." in my Visual Studio. What does it mean?
Java
- Can I use some MVC framework when using iPFaces?
- Is it difficult to deploy application to server?
- Can I use any other build tool than Maven, e.g. Ant?
- What is "id" attribute of each element?
- What IDE should I use for developing ipFaces application?
- What servers could I use to deploy Java iPFaces application to?
PHP
- What servers could I use to deploy PHP iPFaces application to?
- Can I use some MVC framework (like Codeigniter or Kohana) to develop iPFaces applications?
- I saw "Today's Menu" application between examples. Do you provide source codes for it?
- I get error like "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in ..." in my browser. What am I doing wrong?
Common questions
1. What does iPFaces mean?
"iP" is abbreavition of iPhone(R) and we take faces from "Java Server Faces(R)".
2. How do you pronounce iPFaces?
[aj pi: fejses].
3. Is iPFaces only for iPhones?
No, it is not. There are full version clients for iPhone(R), iPod(R), iPad(R) and also for Android(R) and for BlackBerry(R) and for J2ME(R). Other clients for other platforms are planned.
4. Can I try iPFaces for free?
Yes, you can. iPFaces is distributed under BSD license for free. It means, developers can develop any kind of applications withou paying anything.
5. Can I try iPFaces without having iPhone?
Yes, you can. When you develop an application and deploy it to the server, you can use your web browser to check, how does the application look. For more information see How to use it?.
6. Are there yet any application written in iPFaces?
Yes, there are. You can have a look to our example applicatoins. You can try them on your iPhone using client application or see the source codes.
7. Is it possible to use iPFaces application when connected to internet only using GPRS?
Yes, it is. You should expect that the loading of pages could be longer (espetialy on pages where there is a lot of pictures). We implemented caching for pictures, so using the applications even using GPRS shoul be pleasant.
8. Can I display animated gif or animated png picture?
No, you can't. When the gif or png pictures are animated, the first picture from the animation is displayed.
9. Can I use CSS styles to change the components look?
Yes, you can use styles for that. They are not CSS styles, however they are based on CSS styles. For more info see Styling.
10. Can I find somewhere list of projects using iPFaces?
We are currently working on it. If you will have your application running. Please send us a link and we will include your sites to our list.
11. Do you support iPhone's camera? I would like to upload picture.
No, camera is not supported yet. In the current version only GPS is supported from iPhone's features.
12. Do you support Verdana italic font?
Yes, Verdana italic font is supported. For more information about fonts see Styling.
13. Can I use HTTPS instead of HTTP?
Yes, you can. Normally only weak cipher suites are supported. If you want to use strong encryption, please contact us. We can offer branded version of iPFaces Client Applications.
14. What is the best platform to develop iPFaces applications?
All platforms have the same possibilities. It really depends on you. If you are more familiar to Java, use Java, if you are more familiar to ASP.Net, use ASP.Net and finally, if you are more familiar to PHP, use PHP.
15. Do you provide training for iPFaces developers?
Yes we do. If you are interested, please contact us.
16. Why can't I choose "AppleGothic" font in Bold version?
We provide fonts that Apple(R) offers and it is not the case of "AppleGothic" in bold. You can find table of supported fonts in the Styling.
17. Can I develop iPFaces applications without having iPhone?
Yes, you can. You can display the result in your browser. When the accessing device does not support "application/x-ipfaces" mime type and supports "text/html" XSLT transformation is used, HTML is generated out of the XML and it is then displayed. The generated HTML looks similarly to how it will look on iPhone. If you want to see generated XML file, add "?_ipfxml=1" behind address in your browser and you will see it.
18. Can I change name and logo of iPFaces client application?
You can let us prepare your own custom client application. This service is provided by Edhouse company and more info can be found on product page Branded Client Applications.
19. Can I use iPFaces technology in my own mobile application?
This is not currently possible due to several limitations of mobile platforms and due to license terms. You can though order a branded client application, which we can fully customize for your needs.
ASP.Net
1. Could I use Mono framework for developing iPFaces applications?
Yes, you can. You don't have to use Visual Studio(R), however we provide installer, which will install the library and the project and site templates to Visual Studio(R) to make it easier for you.
2. What servers could I use to deploy ASP.Net iPFaces application to?
You can deploy it to IIS or Apache web servers.
3. I saw "Today's Menu" application between examples. Do you provide source codes for it?
Yes, we do. However we provide source codes for this application only for Java developers. For ASP.Net developers we provide "Hello World" and "Distance Calculator" examples.
4. I can see warnings like "Element 'html' occurs too few times." and "Element 'option' must be included within a parent element." in my Visual Studio. What does it mean?
This is a known issue. The first warning means that the root for standard ASP.Net files is <html> tag and Visual Studio expects this tag. However iPFaces application should not have <html> tag. The second warning means that Visual Studio doesn't expect <Option> component inside the <ipf:Select> component. Both of these issues will be corrected in the next version of iPFaces.
Java
1. Can I use some MVC framework when using iPFaces?
Yes, you can. You can use any MVC framework you like. The only difference between developing iPFaces and standard J2EE application is when creating views. Don't use HTML tags, generate XML file with [ipf tags]. Spring framework is directly supported, see How to use it?.
2. Is it difficult to deploy application to server?
No, it is not. In fact it is very simple. You only have to copy .war file to your server root directory (like any other web application).
3. Can I use any other build tool than Maven, e.g. Ant?
Yes, you can. However we do not provide these build Ant scripts.
4. What is "id" attribute of each element?
"id" element is used internally for applying styles.
5. What IDE should I use for developing iPFaces application?
You can use whatever IDE you want. In fact you don't have to use any IDE at all. We used NetBeans to develop iPFaces framework.
6. What servers could I use to deploy Java iPFaces application to?
You can deploy to any server to which you can deploy J2EE applications (e.g. Tomcat, Glassfish or Jetty).
PHP
1. What servers could I use to deploy PHP iPFaces application to?
You can deploy to any server to which you can deploy PHP applications (e.g. Apache or IIS).
2. Can I use some MVC framework (like Codeigniter or Kohana) to develop iPFaces applications?
Yes, you can. You can use any MVC framework you want. The only difference between developing iPFaces and normal PHP application is not using HTML tags when creating views. Please see documentation iPFaces PHP classes.
3. I saw "Today's Menu" application in examples. Do you provide source codes for it?
Yes, we do. However we only provide it in Java. In PHP we provide just "Hello World" and "Distance Calculator" example applications.
4. I get error like "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in ..." in my browser. What am I doing wrong?
You are probably using some HTML tags in the affected file. There can not be any HTML tags in iPFaces application. Use only iPFaces PHP classes.
