Recently, Nativescript has released its latest version 5.0, which includes the number of changes, such as improved support of Vue.js, better developer experience, and many more.

Let’s start with basic information to make it simple for everyone.

What is NativeScript?

NativeScript is the open source framework for the application development for both iOS and Android platforms. You can always directly access all the native platform APIs on both iOS and Android from JavaScript, TypeScript, or Angular.

How does NativeScript work?

The NativeScript technology is built upon several major parts such as Runtimes, Core Modules, CLI, and Plugins. Let’s see the brief description of each term.

Runtimes

The runtimes allows you to call APIs in the Android and iOS frameworks by using JavaScript code.

Core Modules

The core modules provide the ideas to access the underlying native platforms.

CLI

It is a command line interface that allows you to build and run apps by using NativeSecript.

Plugins

The NativeScript plugins are building blocks that encapsulate some functionality and help developers build app faster.

Why do you need NativeScript?

The NativeScript framework allows you to use a cross-platform APIs to write the code of your application or if you need you can directly access all platform-specific native APIs by using JavaScript only.

The second major benefit you get is zero-day support for new native platforms because the NativeScript framework exposes unmodified native APIs and UI components. You can use the latest native APIs and UI components when Apple or Google updates their platforms.

These are the basic questions about NativeScript. Now, let’s discuss the features of the latest version 5.0.

Improvements in this version are more relevant to tooling and developer experience. Features in this version are listed below:

• Hot Module Replacement
• Interactive “tns preview” command
• Complete “Safe Area” support in iOS
• Supports different app IDs for iOS and Android
• Improved Vue.js support for NativeScript UI components
• Creates a plugin directly from the CLI
• LiveSync and debug improvements

Let’s take look at the details

Hot Module Replacement

Hot Module Replacement (HMR) exchange, add or remove modules while an application is running, without full reload. This can speed up the development process in few ways:

• Retains the application state which is lost during a full reload.
• Saves valuable development time by only updating what’s changed.
• Modifications made to CSS/JS in the secure code helps you to get the instant browser update.

Interactive “tns preview” command

As we know that NativeScript playground provides an amazing experience with its preview app feature, that’s why NativeScript developers decided to bring the same experience with CLI. Here are the steps to utilize CLI:

• Runs the “tns preview” command
• Scans the provided QR code using the NativeScript playground app.
• Previews your app on your device

Using the “tns preview” allows Android users to preview apps on iOS.

Complete “Safe Area” support for iOS

The iOS “Safe Area” is a term that Apple introduced in iOS 11, it is the area of the screen that is free to use and it is not obstructed by hardware and software part of the system.

NativeScript 5.0 provides a default handling mechanism for the iOS “Safe Area.” Let’s see the internal workflow of this mechanism:

• Measure pass: All components are measured in the safe area portion of the screen.
• Layout pass: All components are laid out in the full screen, but inserted into the safe area boundaries.

Different app IDs for iOS and Android

Before 5.0, both iOS and Android apps had the same “applicationID.” This could be the issue if you were migrating the old applications that have different identifiers. Now you have the privilege to set the different “appIDs” on both platforms.

Creates plugins directly from CLI

NativeScript plugin seed is built to be used as a starting point by developers. Before 5.0, developers had to clone the NativeScript plugin seed and runs some commands to start building a new plugin. Now, NativeScript introduced a new command “tns plugin create” which guide the developers to create the plugin.

LiveSync and debug improvements

Developers spend most of the time in writing a code then testing and then debugging. NativeScript 5.0 optimize this cycle through the LiveSync operations that provide the important improvement in the code.

These are the most important Features of the NativeScript 5.0. The NativeScript team also announced the next release of 5.1 on Christmas. The main components of 5.1 are:

• Angular 7 support
• More scenarios on flexible root composition with Angular
• Improvements in Hot Module Replacement

This is only a brief overview of the framework if you want the detailed information go and check the official documentation. There are few app development companies like Fifium, who are utilizing the NativeScript 5.0 framework for the app development. So, if you are looking for the application development company in UK, that utilizes the latest technologies and tools, then you have to consider Fifium.

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