Location Services

Hi Guys,

I need some help with Meridian as I am now involved in a few app designing projects.

I have been to a few pre-sales meetings and customers have asked me the following questions, which I need help on:

- The customer has a link on his app, which directs to his webpage. This is then displayed in the app. The webpage then has external links to other sites such as Facebook. Is it possible to limit this and make the external links open up in a browser instead. For example, I use the customers app, click on a link which directs me to their webpage and this is displayed within the app. I then click on facebook, which then also displays in the app. They would like to limit this so Facebook is not opened within the app. The reason behind this is because they do not want the app to turn into a browser.

When creating the app I know you either use the SDK or the web based editor. Is it possible to use both to create the app as some things work better using the SDK?

Is it possible to create your own placemarks using the editor instead of the SDK? The customer would like to create custom placemarks for his maps.

I have read up on some aspects of the SDK and know you can integrate external systems in the app to provide more info to the users. Can you confirm if it is possible to use the SDK to import an external feed for the events? They would like events to be populated using an external feed. The customer advised me that this can be either RSS or using the API.

Thanks,

Hi, this is Shawn Kilburn. I am the technical writer for the Meridian team. I thought I'd jump in and answer your questions. My responses are in bold.

- The customer has a link on his app, which directs to his webpage. This is then displayed in the app. The webpage then has external links to other sites such as Facebook. Is it possible to limit this and make the external links open up in a browser instead. For example, I use the customers app, click on a link which directs me to their webpage and this is displayed within the app. I then click on facebook, which then also displays in the app. They would like to limit this so Facebook is not opened within the app. The reason behind this is because they do not want the app to turn into a browser.

+ This isn't possible in AppViewer, I'm afraid, but individual users can always choose to open external links in their system browser. If someone creates an app using the Meridian SDK, they could force this behavior.

When creating the app I know you either use the SDK or the web based editor. Is it possible to use both to create the app as some things work better using the SDK?

+ Both white-label and SDK Meridian-powered apps use the web-based Meridian Editor. The Meridian Editor provides the content for all Meridian-powered apps. White-label apps are based on the iOS and Android Meridian AppViewer codebase and provide a complete Meridian experience. We recommend this for customers that don't have experience developing iOS and Android apps or that don't have access to mobile developers. The SDK provides a lot more flexibility in terms of how an app looks and what features are available.

+ Would you mind clarifying what you mean by "some things work better using the SDK"? For Meridian functionality, there is no difference in performance between white-label and SDK apps, because they both use the SDK.

Is it possible to create your own placemarks using the editor instead of the SDK? The customer would like to create custom placemarks for his maps.

+ We recommend that customers use the Editor to create placemarks. It is possible to use the Meridian API to create placemarks.

I have read up on some aspects of the SDK and know you can integrate external systems in the app to provide more info to the users. Can you confirm if it is possible to use the SDK to import an external feed for the events? They would like events to be populated using an external feed. The customer advised me that this can be either RSS or using the API.

+ Events can be imported into the Meridian Editor via RSS and custom feeds. This is the recommended method.

For more information on Meridian, I'd recommend reviewing our documentation here:

http://docs.meridianapps.com/category/382-introducing-meridian

I hope this information proves helpful. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,

Shawn

A point of clarification:

iOS opens external links in the in-app browser.

Android opens external links in the system browser.

Hey Shawn,

Thank you for your reply and answers. I am now starting to work on some big projects in the UK for Meridian. It would be nice if you could kindly and securing share your contact details with me in case I need any future help.

I still need a little clarification on the following please:

Your response:

+ This isn't possible in AppViewer, I'm afraid, but individual users can always choose to open external links in their system browser. If someone creates an app using the Meridian SDK, they could force this behavior.

My reponse:

Within APPviewer is this going to be developed as a feature? Can a feature request be submitted for this?

How can we force this behaviour when using the SDK? Can you please send me instructions on this please?

Your response:

+ Both white-label and SDK Meridian-powered apps use the web-based Meridian Editor. The Meridian Editor provides the content for all Meridian-powered apps. White-label apps are based on the iOS and Android Meridian AppViewer codebase and provide a complete Meridian experience. We recommend this for customers that don't have experience developing iOS and Android apps or that don't have access to mobile developers. The SDK provides a lot more flexibility in terms of how an app looks and what features are available.

My reponse:

Is it possible to use the both web-based and SDK interchangeably. I would like to create some parts of the app with the web-based editor and some on the SDK. Please let me know if this is possible.

Your response:

+ Would you mind clarifying what you mean by "some things work better using the SDK"? For Meridian functionality, there is no difference in performance between white-label and SDK apps, because they both use the SDK.

My response:

I remember seeing a table that shows what configuration was available through the web-based editor and the SDK. I cannot find this now, but this table lead me to think that some features are not available when only using one.

Your response:

+ Events can be imported into the Meridian Editor via RSS and custom feeds. This is the recommended method.

My response: 

Can you please provide me with the instructions for this so I can go through this with my customer.

Many Thanks,

My responses to your questions are inline below:

Within APPviewer is this going to be developed as a feature? Can a feature request be submitted for this?

+ I don't think anyone has ever requested this feature, so there are no plans to develop this feature. I'm happy to file a feature request for this with the understanding that our developers may choose not to develop it.

How can we force this behaviour when using the SDK? Can you please send me instructions on this please?

+ This falls outside of the scope of the Meridian SDK. A developer would need to use the iOS and Android SDKs to create this behavior.

Is it possible to use the both web-based and SDK interchangeably. I would like to create some parts of the app with the web-based editor and some on the SDK. Please let me know if this is possible.

+ I'd like to try to clarify something, because this is important. All Meridian-powered apps use the Meridian Editor. Regardless of whether it's a white-label or SDK app. The Meridian Editor is the tool that people use to create and host all of the content that is used by Meridian-powered apps. This includes: maps, pages, placemarks, events, routing, language translations, and others. 

When a customer purchases Meridian, they have an option to develop their iOS and Android Meridian-powered apps in one of two ways:

White-label apps: These apps are based on the AppViewer codebase and reflect the standard Meridian app experience. AppViewer IS the SDK, essentially. The UI is standard and non-customizable, but the color scheme of the app can be customized.

SDK apps: When a customer wants complete control over the development of their app or even already has an app, they can use the Meridian SDK to implement the Meridian features they'd like to see in their app. But even apps using the Meridian SDK would use the Meridian Editor to create the content consumed by the Meridian SDK.

In short:

Meridian Editor: Content for white-label and SDK apps

SDK: The structure for both white-label and SDK apps

Does that make sense? It doesn't actually make sense to say that someone would use the Meridian SDK but not the Meridian Editor. It's simply impossible to separate the two.

I remember seeing a table that shows what configuration was available through the web-based editor and the SDK. I cannot find this now, but this table lead me to think that some features are not available when only using one.

+ I'd love to see this table. :) Again, it doesn't make sense to distinguish between the Meridian Editor and the SDK. They are inseparable.

Can you please provide me with the instructions for this [importing feeds]so I can go through this with my customer.

+ Fortunately, we have some documentation on this: 

http://docs.meridianapps.com/article/292-adding-events

http://docs.meridianapps.com/article/357-getting-data-into-meridian

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Shawn

Hi Shawn,

Please go ahead and log this feature request and let me know of the ID so I can ask some of the Aruba UK guys to try and push this through.

Also, a point for clarification on this matter of viewing external links in the app. You have said that we could force the behaviour using the SDK. Can this only be tested when the customers app has been fully published?

The rest of my questions have now been clarified. Thank you for taking the time to help me with this.

Many Thanks,
Inzamam

I've filed this feature request. It's TAC-325.

If someone is developing an app using the Meridian SDK, they do not need to wait until the app is published to test this. They could test this at any time through the app development process.

Cheers,

Shawn