It depends on whether or not you're able to use the store apps. You can build native (as you've done) or you can use the store apps but the two are different. If you made changes and execute a build mobilefirst your native apps would not have the changes nor would they be prompted to get the changes. Conversely, if you built native apps with changes the store apps wouldn't get the updates.
IBM released these apps on the Google & Apple stores (look for names like IBM Maximo Work Execution, as there are new apps for Anywhere 7.6.4 since they removed MobileFirst). You change the URL to point to your MobileFirst environment (in versions <7.6.4, this changes to your Maximo URL in 7.6.4+) and login if you've built the app correctly (using the build mobilefirst argument).
There's a version "downgrade" that occurs when you build mobilefirst to make Anywhere 7.6.2, 7.6.2.1, 7.6.3, & 7.6.3.1 appear as Anywhere 7.6.2 from a MobileFirst perspective so the store app works on those four versions that doesn't occur when you build native (IE if you're on Anywhere 7.6.3 and build native, it will show as version 7.6.3). Assuming you can use the store apps, you would never build the native APK/IPA. This link talks about it briefly (https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/maximo-anywhere-763-using-play-and-ios-app-store-applications). Shane had a really good blog post that I can't seem to track down unfortunately.
But if you're using push notifications or offline maps you have to build the native apps. Aside from those two core scenarios, if you're not writing native code (IE not writing Java code or Swift) and not supporting Windows devices you should be able to use the store apps. It simplifies the build process, eliminates the need for iOS provisioning profiles, avoids the (almost) requirement of having a MDM to distribute the apps, etc. But the apps will no longer have your URL built in the app, so users will have to change the URL to be able to login. If you have 5 users, that's not a big deal, if you have 5000 that could be painful.
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Steven Shull
Director of Development
Projetech Inc
Cincinnati OH
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Original Message:
Sent: Tue May 19, 2020 05:38 AM
From: Manikanda Prabhu
Subject: Running build offline - Maximo Anywhere 7.6.3
Thanks for the reply Steve.
I now understand the usage of build=offline property. I have been running the build from my local machine as the server won't allow you download the files due to the restriction. So I have the apks built already and are available in our application center for download. As per your reply, I understand that the android build (that's the only place the build fails) to generate the apk is not required to be run every time. Is that correct?
Will the application changes be pushed to the application even if you just run 'build mobilefirst' command?
Please let me know.
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Manikanda Prabhu
Maximo Solutions Engineer
Deloitte Ireland Maximo CoE
Original Message:
Sent: Mon May 18, 2020 09:05 AM
From: Steven Shull
Subject: Running build offline - Maximo Anywhere 7.6.3
The build=offline is for saying you want the builds to work when Maximo/MobileFirst could be down. There was some additional validation that IBM added to try and ensure the builds were more likely to be successful. By turning build=offline you can suppress that to function like it did in earlier versions. We've built successfully with that setting, but it sounds like in your case you are trying to limit external network access and there is a step in the build process where they're retrieving external resources that is causing you issues.
I would be curious if you're able to use the store apps, as that would avoid the native APK build step entirely. If you need push notifications for example it won't be an option, but if you are able to use the store apps, you can just execute "build mobilefirst" (until you get to 7.6.4, at which point MobileFirst is removed).
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Steven Shull
Director of Development
Projetech Inc
Cincinnati OH
Original Message:
Sent: Fri May 15, 2020 05:32 AM
From: Manikanda Prabhu
Subject: Running build offline - Maximo Anywhere 7.6.3
Is it possible to run the build in offline mode in an internally hosted server?
I tried using the property build=offline but it failed in the android build (-build-native-apk) trying to download the gradle files. The server has restricted access to download the files.
Also used the file location in the gradle-wrapper.properties but it again failed in the next step. Please let me know if anyone has been successful.
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Manikanda Prabhu
Maximo Solutions Engineer
Deloitte Ireland Maximo CoE
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