Show HN: PencilCase – an iOS app studio that transforms designs into apps (opens in new tab)

(pencilcase.io)

52 pointsmetatation11y ago29 comments

29 comments

This is an interesting concept. But I can't help but think it looks like it's focused on UI design interaction, and not necessarily full app design. What provisions are in place for persistent storage, push notifications, or access to an external API?

crayment11y ago

Our goal is definitely to allow full app design. Currently we unlock most of these more powerful features by allowing you to write JavaScript. For example we expose a key value store and web request API. Our goal is to liberate these things so that they can be used by anyone though. Our unique Behaviours feature gives good insight of how we are starting to unlock things that would normally be very difficult for non developers. Hope you give it a chance and see the potential!

sbashyal11y ago

This looks great! Does it allow access to the native APIs?

crayment11y ago

Devs here. We use JavaScriptCore to expose native Objective-C APIs. This gives you access to any API we expose right in PencilCase: Studio. To go beyond that we allow exporting to Xcode.

fit2rule11y ago

Can you justify the subscription model? To me this is a major turnoff.

2 more replies

buza11y ago

Question for the developers: It looks like the iOS app allows you to download apps built with the desktop tool, which supports evaluation of Javascript snippets. Isn't this against the App Store policy for the download and execution of arbitrary code?

interstateone11y ago

Hi, one of the devs here! You're correct, PencilCase: Player can evaluate JavaScript using the JavaScriptCore framework included on the device. The App Store already has a lot of apps available that allow exactly this or other very similar options (Python, Lua, etc.) and we look forward to seeing how people take advantage of this ability.

buza11y ago

The difference I'm specifically curious about is the issue about 'downloading' arbitrary code and evaluating it. Current app offerings don't have this support because Apple has forbidden it in the past unless the evaluation goes through the Javascript context of a web view, which doesn't appear to be the case for PencilCase. I guess I'm curious if they have relaxed their restrictions in this case, are unaware of that feature, or something else.

1 more reply

tluyben211y ago

Not if it runs in with JavascriptCore I think.

vermooten11y ago

The gif looks like it does some of what Xcode does...

jlebrech11y ago

like flash studio right?

crayment11y ago

I think that's a valid comparison. If Flash Studio was designed today for mobile with some inspiration from HyperCard (specifically how it allowed non developers to build great software). We think our When & Then system is category defining.

tapirl11y ago

new visual basic / Delphi?

pavlov11y ago

Another tool for designing native iOS apps is Neonto Studio. It supports Android too:

http://neonto.com

Neonto's generated code is "runtime-free" -- there's no framework or other intermediate runtime layer, so everything in the design is translated to the platform's native concepts. There's also an elaborate plugin API for adding new tools and capabilities.

(Full disclosure: I wrote most of the code in Neonto Studio.)

duiker10111y ago

No pricing?

pavlov11y ago

It's still in beta, so free download.

The plan is to keep 1.0 free as well, and focus on selling services and plugins rather than traditional software licences. (Not 100% sure if that will happen though, but it's what I'm personally pushing for.)

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29 comments

ssewell11y ago

crayment11y ago

sbashyal11y ago

This looks great! Does it allow access to the native APIs?

crayment11y ago

Devs here. We use JavaScriptCore to expose native Objective-C APIs. This gives you access to any API we expose right in PencilCase: Studio. To go beyond that we allow exporting to Xcode.

fit2rule11y ago

Can you justify the subscription model? To me this is a major turnoff.

2 more replies

buza11y ago

interstateone11y ago

buza11y ago

1 more reply

tluyben211y ago

Not if it runs in with JavascriptCore I think.

vermooten11y ago

The gif looks like it does some of what Xcode does...

jlebrech11y ago