Titanium SDK 5.1.0 Beta

About This Release
Notice of Feature and Behavior Changes
New Features
Community Credits
API Changes
- New APIs
- Deprecated APIs

About This Release

This is a Beta version of Titanium SDK 5.1.0 and should not be used for production.

Note that this release includes feature and behavior changes. See Notice of Feature and Behavior Changes for details.

This Release introduces a number of new features. See New Features for a summary of new features in this release.

This release includes over 100 bug fixes and improvements, see the full list of issues that were addressed in Release 5.1.0

Android Support

This Release includes support for Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). The Android 6.0 SDK must be installed in order to build applications that target the Android platform.

If you set the target SDK, it must be set to API level 23 (Android 6.0/Marshmallow) or later. Previously, the minimum target SDK was API level 21 (Android 5.0/Lollipop).

CLI 5.1.0

This Release conincides with the release of Appcelerator CLI 5.1.0. For details, see the CLI Release Notes.

Node Support

As of this Release, the Titanium SDK and toolchain support Node.js 4.1 as the highest supported version. Previously, 0.12.x was the highest supported version.

Studio 4.4.0

This Release coincides with the release of Studio 4.4.0. For details, see the Studio Release Notes.

Notice of Feature and Behavior Changes

Android Platform

AppCompat Button

As of this Release, the Android platform uses the AppCompat button, where the appearance of the button will be the same across all versions of Android the application runs on. Previously, the appearance of the button was different depending on the version of Android the application was running on.

Target SDK

The Android 6.0 SDK (API level 23) must be installed in order to build applications that target the Android platform.

If you set the target SDK in the tiapp.xml file, it must be set to API level 23 (Android 6.0/Marshmallow) or later. Previously, the minimum target SDK was API level 21 (Android 5.0/Lollipop).

iOS Platform

Activity Indicator Style Constants

As of this Release, the Activity Indicator Style constants with the iPhone namespace are deprecated. Use the Activity Indicator Style constants without the iPhone namespace instead to set the style of an ActivityIndicator on iOS.

TabGroup Events

This Release introduces the selected and unselected events for Titanium.UI.TabGroup to determine when a tab is selected or unselected in a TabGroup. The new events deprecate the TabGroup's focus and blur events for iOS.

User Activity Support

As of this Release, the new Titanium.App.iOS.UserActivity.isSupported() method deprecates the Titanium.App.iOS.UserActivity.supported property to match parity with other APIs.

Device Permissions

This Release re-architected the way an application requests device permissions in order to support the new Android 6.0 model for requesting device permissions during runtime and to achieve parity between the Android and iOS platforms. Support for the Windows platform will be added in a later release.

Use the following methods to check and request for permission to use the device's calendar, camera, contacts and location on devices running Android 6.0 and later, and iOS:

The new methods deprecate the following methods on iOS:

Titanium.Calendar.requestEventsAuthorization
Titanium.Media.requestCameraAccess

Windows Platform

Package Identity Name

As of this Release, in the tiapp.xml file, add the id element as a child of the windows element and set it to the Package/Identity/Name of the application that was generated when you created the application in the Windows Dev Center Dashboard. The Package Identity Name is required to package the application. Microsoft will validate this field when you submit the package to the Windows Store.

<ti:app>
  <windows>
    <id>12345FooInc.FooApp</id>
  </windows>
</ti:app>

Previously, the Package Identity Name was specified in the id element under the ti:app element.

New Features

This section describes new features introduced in Release 5.1.0.

Android Platform

This section lists new features and improvements only available on the Android platform.

CardView

This Release introduces support for CardView, an elevated view with rounded corners. Use multiple CardViews in a layout to display a collection that contains different elements, layouts and content as opposed to a ListView, which displays data of the same type with a uniformed layout.

Reveal Effect

On Android, Views now support the circular reveal effect when showing or hiding the View. Pass a dictionary with the animated property set to true to the View's show() and hide() method to enable the effect.

view.show({animated: true});

The reveal effect is only supported on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and later.

iOS Platform

This section lists new features and improvements only available on the iOS platform.

3D Touch

The Titanium SDK supports the Peek and Pop, and Quick Action features of 3D touch. Both features require a 3D Touch enabled device running iOS 9 or later. Note that you can only test 3D touch features on device. Use the Titanium.UI.iOS.forceTouchSupported property to check if the device supports 3D touch.

Peek and Pop provides a way for the user to quickly preview item content in the application by pressing on it, then optionally switching to the peeked item. For details, see the Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewContext API reference.

Quick Action provides application shortcuts when the user presses the application icon on the Home Screen. The shortcuts allow the user to quickly perform an action with your application without navigating through the application. For details, see the Titanium.UI.iOS.ApplicationShortcuts API reference.

Alert Dialog

Starting in this Release, when using the alert dialog style Titanium.UI.iPhone.AlertDialogStyle.PLAIN_TEXT_INPUT or Titanium.UI.iPhone.AlertDialogStyle.SECURE_TEXT_INPUT, you can set the placeholder property to specify the placeholder text of the textfield, and keyboardType and returnKeyType properties to specify the keyboard type.

When using the alert dialog style Titanium.UI.iPhone.AlertDialogStyle.LOGIN_AND_PASSWORD_INPUT, you can set the loginPlaceholder and passwordPlaceholder properties to specify the placeholder text of the login and password textfields, respectively.

Asset Catalog

To support App Thinning, PNG and JPEG images, following the iOS naming convention, will be automatically added to an Asset Catalog. When a user installs your application to their device, only the supported assets will be included.

To mark images for use with the Asset Catalog, add the @2x and @3x to indicate the asset is for retina displays and the iPhone 6 Plus, respectively. For non-retina displays, do not add a suffix. Add the ~iphone and ~ipad suffix for iPhone- and iPad-specific images, respectively. For example:

pic.png
pic@2x~ipad.png
pic@2x~iphone.png
[email protected]

Only new applications created with Release 5.1.0 and above will have this feature enabled. For existing applications, you need to add the use-app-thinning element to the ios element in the tiapp.xml file and set it to true.

<ti:app>
  <ios>
    <use-app-thinning>true</use-app-thinning>
  </ios>
</ti:app>

Note that since the images are in an Asset Catalog, you cannot access the image files from the filesystem, such as using the Ti.Filesystem APIs or any equivalent functionality. If you need to access the image files, you can disable adding images to the Asset Catalog by setting the use-app-thinning element to false.

Auto Layout

As of this Release, the application can use iOS's Auto Layout engine to layout view components.

To enable autolayout, add the use-autolayout element as a child of the ios element in the tiapp.xml file, and set it to true.

<ti:app>
  <ios>
    <use-autolayout>true</use-autolayout>
  </ios>
</ti:app>

Note that this is an experimental feature with known issues:

If you encounter an issue using auto layout, file a bug in JIRA.

JavaScript Thread

As of this Release, you may enable JavaScript to execute on the main thread. By default, JavaScript executes on a separate secondary thread.

To run JavaScript on the main thread, add the run-on-main-thread element to the ios element in the tiapp.xml file and set the value to true.

<ti:app>
  <ios>
    <run-on-main-thread>false</run-on-main-thread>
  </ios>
</ti:app>

Note that this is an experimental feature with known issues:

If you encounter an issue running JavaScript on the main thread, file a bug in JIRA.

Picker Height

As of this Release, the height of a picker can be set during creation if the device runs iOS 9 or later.

In prior versions of iOS, the Picker height is fixed.

Safari Dialog Module

The Titanium SDK now includes the ti.safaridialog module. Use the module to browse web content in a view similar to the Safari app.

Requires that the device runs iOS 9 or later, and the application must be built against Xcode 7 or later.

For details, see the Module API reference.

WatchOS Message Callback

As of this Release, you can pass an optional callback that is executed when the watch application receives the message to the Titanium.WatchSession.sendMessage() method.

Windows Platform

This section lists new features and improvements only available on the Windows platform.

API Parity

The Windows Platform expands support for several APIs, including:

For details, see the New APIs section below.

Icons

As of this Release, the Titanium SDK will generate missing icons using the DefaultIcon.png file located in the root level of the project. This is the same mechanism introduced for iOS in Release 5.0.0.

For a Windows-specific icon, name the file DefaultIcon-windows.png.

Community Credits

The following Appcelerator Community members contributed PRs that were included in this Release:

Ben Bahrenburg for implementing support for iOS 3-D touch quick actions (TIMOB-19489)
Manuel Lehner for fixing a bug with the Android reveal effect (TIMOB-19722) and implementing support for the Android AppCompat button (TIMOB-19506)
Manoj Kumar for fixing a bug when the content type was not specified in an HTTP response (TIMOB-19555)

API Changes

New APIs

The following APIs are new or have expanded platform support in Release 5.1.0.

API	Type	Notes
Titanium.App.iOS.USER_NOTIFICATION_BEHAVIOR_DEFAULT	property	There will not appear a text input. Use with the behavior property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.App.iOS.USER_NOTIFICATION_BEHAVIOR_TEXTINPUT	property	There will appear a text input to answer an action outside the application. Use with the behavior property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.App.iOS.UserNotificationAction.behavior	property	Selects whether to show a text input outside the application to reply to a notification. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.App.iOS.UserNotificationAction.getBehavior	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.App.iOS.UserNotificationAction.behavior property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.App.iOS.UserNotificationAction.setBehavior	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.App.iOS.UserNotificationAction.behavior property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.App.iOS.shortcutitemclick	event	Fired when a user taps the Application Shortcut. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.Buffer	object	Buffer is a mutable, resizable container for raw data. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.Calendar.hasCalendarPermissions	method	Returns `true` if the app has calendar access (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.Calendar.requestCalendarPermissions	method	Requests for calendar access (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.Contacts	object	The top-level Contacts module, used for accessing and modifying the system contacts address book. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.Contacts.Group	object	An object which represents a group in the system contacts address book. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.Contacts.Person	object	An object that represents a contact record for a person or organization in the system contacts address book. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.Geolocation.hasLocationPermissions	method	Returns `true` if the app has location access. (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.Geolocation.requestLocationPermissions	method	Requests for location access (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.IOStream	object	IOStream is the interface that all stream types implement. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.Media.hasCameraPermissions	method	Returns `true` if the app has camera access (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.Media.requestCameraPermissions	method	Requests for camera access (New API, supported on Android, iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.ActivityIndicatorStyle	object	A set of constants for the styles available for Titanium.UI.ActivityIndicator objects. (Added support for iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.getLoginPlaceholder	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.loginPlaceholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.getPasswordPlaceholder	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.passwordPlaceholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.getPlaceholder	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.placeholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.loginPlaceholder	property	Placeholder of the login text field inside the dialog. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.passwordPlaceholder	property	Placeholder of the password text field inside the dialog. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.placeholder	property	Placeholder of the text field inside the dialog. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.setLoginPlaceholder	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.loginPlaceholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.setPasswordPlaceholder	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.passwordPlaceholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.setPlaceholder	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.UI.AlertDialog.placeholder property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.Android.CardView	object	A Card view with a rounded corner background and shadow. (New API, supported on Android.)
Titanium.UI.Picker	object	A control used to select one or more fixed values. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.PickerColumn	object	A picker column, representing a selectable group of items in a Titanium.UI.Picker. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.PickerRow	object	A picker row, representing a selectable item in a Titanium.UI.Picker. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.TabGroup.selected	event	Fired when a tab is selected. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.TabGroup.unselected	event	Fired when a tab is unselected. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.View.getPreviewContext	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.UI.View.previewContext property. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.View.previewContext	property	The preview context used in the 3D-Touch feature "Peek and Pop". (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.View.setPreviewContext	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.UI.View.previewContext property. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.createPicker	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.Picker. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.createPickerColumn	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.PickerColumn. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.createPickerRow	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.PickerRow. (Added support for Windows Phone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.ApplicationShortcuts	object	The Home screen quick action API is for adding shortcuts to your app icon that anticipate and accelerate a user's interaction with your app. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PREVIEW_ACTION_STYLE_DEFAULT	property	The normal style for preview actions. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PREVIEW_ACTION_STYLE_DESTRUCTIVE	property	The destructive style for preview actions. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PREVIEW_ACTION_STYLE_SELECTED	property	The selected style for preview actions. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewAction	object	A PreviewAction provides options to configure action used by the iOS9 3D-Touch feature "Peek and Pop". (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewActionGroup	object	A PreviewActionGroup provides options to configure a group of actions used by the iOS9 3D-Touch feature "Peek and Pop". (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewContext	object	A PreviewContext provides options to configure the iOS9 3D-Touch feature "Peek and Pop". (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_ADD	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_ALARM	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_AUDIO	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_BOOKMARK	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_CAPTURE_PHOTO	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_CAPTURE_VIDEO	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_CLOUD	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_COMPOSE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_CONFIRMATION	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_CONTACT	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_DATE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_FAVORITE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_HOME	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_INVITATION	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_LOCATION	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_LOVE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_MAIL	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_MARK_LOCATION	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_MESSAGE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_PAUSE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_PLAY	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_PROHIBIT	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_SEARCH	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_SHARE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_SHUFFLE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_TASK	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_TASK_COMPLETED	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_TIME	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.SHORTCUT_ICON_TYPE_UPDATE	property	Number that represents the icon used for the application shortcut (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.createApplicationShortcuts	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.iOS.ApplicationShortcuts. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.createPreviewAction	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewAction. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.createPreviewActionGroup	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewActionGroup. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.createPreviewContext	method	Creates and returns an instance of Titanium.UI.iOS.PreviewContext. (New API, supported on iPhone.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.forceTouchSupported	property	Determines if the 3D-Touch capability "Force Touch" is supported (`true`) or not (`false`) by the device. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.getForceTouchSupported	method	Gets the value of the Titanium.UI.iOS.forceTouchSupported property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)
Titanium.UI.iOS.setForceTouchSupported	method	Sets the value of the Titanium.UI.iOS.forceTouchSupported property. (New API, supported on iPhone and iPad.)

Deprecated APIs

The following APIs are deprecated in Release 5.1.0.

API	Type	Notes
Titanium.App.iOS.UserActivity.getSupported	method	Use the Ti.App.iOS.UserActivity.isSupported() method instead.
Titanium.App.iOS.UserActivity.setSupported	method	Use the Ti.App.iOS.UserActivity.isSupported() method instead.
Titanium.App.iOS.UserActivity.supported	property	Use the Ti.App.iOS.UserActivity.isSupported() method instead.
Titanium.Calendar.requestEventsAuthorization	method	Use requestCalendarPermissions instead.
Titanium.Media.requestCameraAccess	method	Use requestCameraPermissions instead.
Titanium.UI.TabGroup.blur	event	Use unselected instead.
Titanium.UI.TabGroup.focus	event	Use selected instead.
Titanium.UI.iPhone.ActivityIndicatorStyle	object	Use Ti.UI.ActivityIndicatorStyle instead.

hansemannn/Titanium_Mobile-5_1_0.md

Titanium SDK 5.1.0 Beta

Contents

About This Release

Android Support

CLI 5.1.0

Node Support

Studio 4.4.0

Notice of Feature and Behavior Changes

Android Platform

AppCompat Button

Target SDK

iOS Platform

Activity Indicator Style Constants

TabGroup Events

User Activity Support

Device Permissions

Windows Platform

Package Identity Name

New Features

Android Platform

CardView

Reveal Effect

iOS Platform

3D Touch

Alert Dialog

Asset Catalog

Auto Layout

JavaScript Thread

Picker Height

Safari Dialog Module

WatchOS Message Callback

Windows Platform

API Parity

Icons

Community Credits

API Changes

New APIs

Deprecated APIs