caraml

caraml is a native mobile UI markup language designed for running native micro-apps on Android and iOS from node.js instances. It is built on top of LiquidCore, a library which provides node-based virtual machines on mobile devices.

caraml is very much a work in progress.

caraml-core

caraml-core is the basic UI manager for caraml.

This library provides a CaramlView subclass of a View (UIView on iOS) which will enable a UI surface to be exposed to JavaScript. Once the view is loaded, it will fetch JavaScript code from a server or local resource and make the surface available to that JavaScript context.

To integrate, clients add the view in the interface builder or programmatically. To add the view:

Step 1: Install LiquidCore

Follow the directions for installing LiquidCore from npm.

Step 2: Install caraml-core

$ npm install @liquidcore/caraml-core
$ npm install

The second npm install triggers a post-install script in your project that will automatically set up caraml-core into your build.

Step 3: Integrate CaramlView

Android layout file

You can insert the view into any layout like so:

    <org.liquidplayer.caraml.CaramlView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:id="@+id/caramlview"
    />

iOS Interface Builder

Drag a UIView onto your storyboard in a ViewController. Go to the identity inspector on the right and set its custom class to LCCaramlView.

Android (Kotlin) programmatic

import org.liquidplayer.caraml.CaramlView;
...
    val caramlView = CaramlView(androidContext)

iOS (Swift)

import caraml_core
...
    let caramlView = LCCaramlView(frame: CGRect.zero)

This is all that is required to get it up and running. CaramlView defaults to using a bundle with the entry point index.js (see Automatic Bundling for more information). To use other servers or local resources, the URL can be specified both programmatically and in the interface builders.

Native Surface API

• Android JavaDocs
• iOS Swift/Objective C Jazzy Docs

JavaScript API

caraml Core

The caraml-core module provides an object representing the CaramlView (Android) or LCCaramlView that created this JavaScript context. It can be accessed using:

const core = require('@liquidcore/caraml-core')

The core object appears to be an empty object in JavaScript, but is bound to a native representation of the view. This object can be passed to native surface implementations which enables the ability to attach and detach surfaces to the view.