[OPLINLIST] An OPLIN mobile app saga

[Stephen Hedges]

This rather lengthy screed is about our recent experiences working on a 
mobile app for the OPLIN Find-A-Library service (http://oplin.org/fal). 
In it we share some lessons learned, some information for folks with 
mobile devices, and some observations for all libraries.

*Lessons learned*

We wanted to build a version of the Find-A-Library service that would 
take advantage of the capabilities of smartphones, such as the ability 
to place a call by clicking on a phone number, or mapping a route to a 
library location from the current location of the phone. We started by 
grabbing the recommended integrated development environments (IDEs) for 
iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android. We installed Xcode and the iOS SDK on Mac 
OS X, following the instructions at 
http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios; and we installed Eclipse and 
the Android SDK on Linux, following the instructions at 
http://developer.android.com/guide.

Both of these IDEs require at least a basic understanding of the 
concepts of object-oriented and java programming, but they're really not 
too difficult to use, and Xcode in particular can be fun. Whenever you 
get stuck, there's a ton of help available on the Internet.

As we worked on our apps, however, we gradually came to realize that we 
were trying to write code that had already been well-written by other 
folks, particularly the developers that built the mobile web browsers 
and Google maps. It would have taken a lot of time to create web views, 
navigation buttons, activity indicators, map views, and other such 
things that were already available through existing apps that almost 
everybody already has on their mobile device. (Plus we learned that it 
would cost us $99 to become "official" Apple developers before we could 
build code that we could test on a real iPhone, and we're kinda cheap!)

*For folks with mobile devices*

Our solution was to modify the existing Find-A-Library code so it 
performed well in a mobile web browser. If you have a mobile device -- 
ANY mobile device -- that has a web browser, go to 
http://oplin.org/labs/mobilefal -- and then set a bookmark so you won't 
even have to type this in again. This mobile version of Find-A-Library 
has been tweaked to look good on an iPhone screen (it didn't need any 
tweaking for Android) and you'll see that library phone numbers can be 
called (if your device is a phone) just by touching the number. You can 
also touch the library's address to launch Google maps, which can then 
provide you with a lot of other information, such as driving directions. 
Enjoy!

*For all libraries*

The library information in Find-A-Library comes from the OPLIN Data 
Center, so if your library's information is incorrect, it means you need 
to login to http://oplin.org/datacenter and correct it. Find-A-Library 
includes branches, so if you open/close/move a branch be sure to change 
that information in the Data Center. If you need Data Center help, 
contact http://support.oplin.org.

One important note about phone numbers: some libraries have taken pains 
to get a phone number that spells something, like "555-LIB-RARY." 
Smartphones cannot automatically call these numbers, they just ignore 
them. (The actual HTML code that enables calling a number expects ten 
digits after a "tel:" label, like this: <a 
href="tel:5555427279">555-542-7279</a>; "tel:555LIBRARY" fails.) For 
that matter, such numbers are impossible to dial manually on the QWERTY 
keyboard of many smartphones. Please use "real-number" phone numbers in 
the Data Center.

*Questions?* We'll try our best to answer them, just contact 
http://support.oplin.org.

-- 
Stephen Hedges, Director
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. Fifth Ave., Suite 130
Columbus, OH 43204
614-728-5250  ::  AIM: hedgesst