Hey guys,
a mate adviced me to buy this book
Has anyony ever used MEAN with Ionic? And are there any Apps build with Ionic/MEAN?
I think about switching from PHP/MySQL to MEAN, but it would be a “tabula rasa”.
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Personally I never used a MEAN stack with Ionic but after few months of reading this forum, StackOverflow and lot of blogs I can safely say go for it.
I can’t remember any article or post advising me against this combination.
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I do not like such big frameworks… because they are made for webapps where backend is really hard connected to the frontend in most cases (like kraken js oder meteor)…
in your case i would learn nodejs and after that express and node… that is enough to build own and lightweight APIs.
Learn the technologies before asking for using frameworks ;).
Maybe you are coming to the conclusion that this is the ideal solution for that… but please take a deeper look in plain nodejs and mongodb… build a littel api with expressjs.
After that try to understand authorisation methods… especially oauth with json web tokens end so on.
In other cases we get “experts” like Javascripter, who have used jQuery the whole time and thinking they can program javascript.
i will create a repo on my github account in the next day, where i hold a new version of my own base nodejs+express+mongo API… if i am not forgetting you… i can share the link
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That’s a lot of EUROs ?
Try http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781783983285.do and buy the eBook and make sure you use a coupon code (for up to a 50% discount).
I like Ethan Brown’s book ‘Web Development With NodeJS and Express’.
BTW, the book ‘Ionic in Action’ includes a simple Express server example: https://github.com/ionic-in-action
I also have:
- Node.js in Action (good)
- Node.js the Right Way (very good)
And, you’re building an API (the server) so:
- The REST API Design Book (good)
- REST in Practice (very good)
- The RESTful API Cookbook (good)
Take a look at: https://github.com/Robinyo/Vardyger
The server uses NodeJS, Express and MongoDB. The client uses AngularJS and the Ionic framework.
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and by the way you will learn technologies only per try and error…
reading books are good for getting an idea and not sitting in front of the computer to learn and read stuff.
But experimenting and practical experiences will make you a good programmer 
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I don’t know what you mean, but it sounds like you are saying MEAN is a big framework, which it’s not. It’s a technology stack. Angular.js is a javascript framework and Express is a Node framework. I have never seen anyone develop a Node app without Express because it just makes it easier. Mongo is just a javascript based NoSQL database. Ionic uses Angular so if you like Node/Express and a NoSQL type database, then go for it. MEAN isn’t something that requires you to use each of the other technologies. You could just as easily use RoR and SQL instead of Node/Express and Mongo. You could use Cassandra or CouchDB instead of Mongo.
I personally use that stack on every application. Those are just the technologies I know and like. They are easy to set up, fast, modular, and all javascript based. It’s all preference and honestly what you know. If you use RoR, like it, are proficient at it, there would be no real reason to use Node unless you found it worked better for something and vice versa.
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@Driesel I do not recommend using MEAN with Ionic, I tried this a couple months ago and had a very hard time getting it all working. The reason? MEAN does what it does really well by controlling/optimizing a lot of the workflow - if you’re experienced with all 4 of the technologies (M, E, A, N) you can navigate your way through it but I spent a lot of time trying to undo a lot of the MEAN structure to be more flexible for building hybrid and a mobile-friendly web apps.
In theory the /app folder in MEAN is very similar to the /www folder in Ionic and you could port over the /www folder of an ionic app and use this in your mean app but I don’t recommend it - it broke a lot of other things.
I’m no pro but I did find the Ionic in Action book very helpful.
If you’re interested in having an ionic app run on the web as a website and on a mobile device as a hybrid app I found this was possible by taking the /www folder of an Ionic app and bundling this with express and can serve it on the web. Here’s an example.
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@sakotturi I’m not sure why this would be any different? I have a phone app and web-app that use the same server and it’s fine. A Node/Express and MongoDB server/db shouldn’t really work any different from any other. This sounds like you are doing too much with the server and not letting Angular do what it does best.
Your /app folder is your /www folder. It won’t look pretty on a desktop, but if it’s not working the same then that’s another story, because it should. Though the way you’d handle states would probably change (authentication). Other than that it should work the same.
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@swade, I should clarify the difference between MEAN and MEAN.io (which was created by the author of the book in the OP). I’m all for the MEAN stack but MEAN.io was very opinionated and through all the tools they’ve added to help automate code generation and testing is great if you’re just using MEAN.io but not if you’re trying to integrate with ionic.
Otherwise a restful api written in express running in node hooked up to mongoDB which an Ionic app pulls in all of its data works great.
In the README comments in the repo I linked to, I specifically commented about how “it won’t look pretty on a desktop” which can be addressed using a responsive grid, now including in Ionic. Making a 3-4 column view on desktop, collapse to 1-2 columns on tablets and 1 column on phones is actually pretty decent looking (at least for my purposes 
)
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Okay! Thanks for all your replies.
Now i try the MEAN stack with Ionic.
Is should be no problem to build an native app with phonegap/MEAN/ionic, right?
Another question. Is this Book about Mean.io or the standard mean Stack?
Or should i use this book for learning?
Hey,
I wanted to suggest Mongo Sentry https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.casific.mongosentry
Easy connect. Great data view. I could list data/ edit/ rearrange and modify too. GREAT APP.
Hi Driesel,
I have used IONIC with MEAN.io and very happy with that.
Developing your hybrid mobile app with the Ionic framework lets you quickly create versatile cross-platform apps with a unified look and feel.
Plugins play an essential part in Ionic application development. Modules are coded in JS. Ionic framework application utilizes Cordova plugins for various different components - for example, camera, GPS, and so on.
Hope this helps!
Monima
Luit
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