Greg Khanlarov, Director of Mobile Development, is so excited about the launch of the new Sugar Mobile SDK that he is speechless!
If you are coming to SugarCon, make sure you get your hot hands on the new Sugar Mobile SDK first! On Tuesday, you can join Greg for his presentation Sugar Mobile SDK deep dive. Next Wednesday, at the UnCon Tutorials by the Experts, you can meet Greg and other folks from our Mobile development team and learn how to build your first custom Sugar Mobile app.
Read on for more details on the Sugar Mobile SDK!Are you building mobile CRM apps from scratch? Is your team stuck deciding between Hybrid vs. Native? Maybe you’re trying to deliver a premium mobile experience, but you don’t have the budget or skills. STOP. Take a deep breath and consider what we’ve spent the past two years building.Sugar Mobile SDK - the first Mobile CRM SDK that favors convention over configuration. Start with a proven mobile application in use by tens of thousands of users today, and add the pieces that are unique to your business. Focus on creating value for users instead of uncertainty and risk.
What is Mobile SDK?
Mobile SDK enables developers to extend Sugar Mobile functionality beyond what is possible through studio configuration. Common examples are:
- Custom fields, dashlets, views, buttons
- Support for mobile device management
- Styling, theming, navigation
- Native device capability integration (GPS, camera, etc.)
Extending Sugar Mobile using the SDK results in a custom mobile application that the author is responsible for building, maintaining and distributing. Upgrade-safety and strong API contracts have been designed into the SDK to reduce the risk of upgrades breaking extension functionality. Developers should be familiar with:
- Sidecar and Sugar customization
- Mobile application development with javascript
- iOS and Android application publishing processes
A custom mobile app is a mobile app developed on top of the Mobile SDK. Specific configuration and branding makes a given mobile app custom. Additionally, a custom mobile app may contain custom business logic developed in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
How do I get access?
You can get access directly from the Mobile Tools Portal. The portal is restricted to partners and customers running Enterprise and above. If you are having problems with access, check out the On-Boarding new Sugar Developers guide in the Sugar Community.
What are the benefits of the Mobile SDK?
The Mobile SDK’s formalized APIs and guidelines will help you extend SugarCRM Mobile in an upgrade-safe manner. Sugar has done the heavy lifting by allowing you to extend the SugarCRM Mobile app that will speed up your development so you do not need to build your own application from scratch. Developers will also benefit from new features added on ensuing upgrades of the SDK.
What does the SDK allow you to do?
| Customization | Examples |
| Custom Menus | Ability to add custom main menu items Ability to add custom right menu items |
| Custom field types | Enable field validation Custom fields such as signature fields |
| Custom Actions | Geolocation for checkin-checkoutLaunch another app (e.g. Skype)Barcode/QR scanningOverride file actions |
| Custom Dashlets | Add custom actions Build custom Dashlets External Source DashletFiltered List DashletRecord Summary dashletStatistics Dashlet |
| Custom Views | Build custom to-do listsModify table formattingExtend the detail viewExtend the opportunities list view |
| Native Plug-ins | The SDK already supports standard native capabilities such as geolocation and camera access. In the event you need to add other native capabilities, there is a way to do this. |
How do I get help or provide feedback?
All development questions should be directed to the Mobile Developers community. If you need to file a defect or enhancement request, please submit a case to our support team.