Stream Real-Time Data to Mobile Apps

One of the tasks recently completed by the Lightstreamer engineering team has been to provide maximum support for all mobile platforms, so that any mobile app for any device could easily become real-time enabled.

The new release of Lightstreamer, codename Duomo, which will be publicly available next week, will contain a lot of exciting new features to extend the power of Lightstreamer's push to every mobile clients.

For each mobile platform, a dedicated full-blown SDK is provided, containing native libs, documentation, and source-code examples and demos. Supported platforms are: Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Java ME.


In addition to the above libs for creating native apps, the new Lightstreamer HTML lib is compatible with most mobile browsers, giving developers full flexibility in choosing whether to build native apps or browser-based apps (including HTML5).

Let's see some cool details about each of those technologies.

MOBILE BROWSERS

The new HTML Client API for Lightstreamer, based on HTML and JavaScript, is compatible with most mobile browsers. The big news is that real streaming is now supported on Android browser. As far as we know, Lightstreamer is currently the only solution that is able to bypass the buffering mechanisms of Android browser and deliver a true-streaming experience. This was achieved via sophisticated compression mechanisms implemented for this purpose. The same streaming capability has been added even to Adobe Flex for Android. Check out our online HTML and FLEX demos with your Android browser to see streaming in action!

All the browsers, both desktop and mobile, can now take benefit from a brand new Stream-Sense algorithm. There are cases where some combinations of antivirus software and proxy servers block any form of streaming. The unique Stream-Sense algorithm of Lightstreamer automatically detects these situations and falls back to Smart-Polling mode, which provides a user's experience that in most cases is identical to real Streaming mode. The new Stream-Sense algorithm of Lightstreamer Duomo is super-fast and much more lightweight than before.


ANDROID APPS

The new Android Client API for Lightstreamer is based on Java for Android and enables full streaming capabilities within any native Android application. You just need to integrate the Lightstreamer client library in your Android app and all the complexity of real-time communication with Lightstreamer Server is managed transparently by the lib. A simple demo app with full source code is provided. It is the famous "Lightstreamer Stock-List Demo", where some simulated stock quotes are subscribed to and pushed in real-time from the server. Of course this is just a coding example and the same principles can be used in other application domains, like chat systems, telemetry, auctions, collaboration systems, etc. You can install the demo from the Android Market and check it out.


iOS APPS

The new iOS Client API for Lightstreamer is based on Objective-C and extends the real-time streaming features of Lightstreamer to iPhone, iPad, iPod, and any future devices based on iOS. Just include the provided lib in your iOS project and forget the complexity of bidirectional real-time communication with the server. A simple demo app with full source code is provided. As explained in the Android section above, this is the "Lightstreamer Stock-List Demo", which shows how to subscribe to some information items and receive fast real-time updates on them. You can install the demo from the iTunes Store and check it out.


BLACKBERRY APPS

The new BlackBerry Client API for Lightstreamer is based on Java ME and adds streaming capabilities to any RIM BlackBerry devices. The provided lib can be included in your app and it will take care of managing the interaction with the server. A simple demo app with full source code is provided (including the "Lightstreamer Stock-List Demo", see above, plus a simple messaging demo). You can download the installation file directly.


WINDOWS PHONE APPS

The new Windows Phone Client API for Lightstreamer is based on Silverlight for Windows Phone and adds streaming capabilities to any Windows Phone 7 applications. Just include the provided lib in your app and enter the world of real-time data push. A simple demo app with full source code is provided (the "Lightstreamer Stock-List Demo", see above). You can download the demo app from the Windows Phone Marketplace.


JAVA ME APPS

Some older devices need traditional Java midlets. With Lightstreamer, you can add push functionalities even to these older apps (especially used in the Symbian world). The Java ME Client API for Lightstreamer is still provided and maintained. Even in this case, you can check out the simple demo app (the "Lightstreamer Stock-List Demo", plus a simple messaging demo) by downloading the installation file.


With Lightstreamer, you get rock solid technology for streaming live data to any possible "thing" connected to the Internet, with massive scalability and extremely low bandwidth consumption.

If you plan to attend SIFMA Financial Services Technology Expo in New York in June, you are welcome to come and visit us at our booth!