Win a free ebook of PhoneGap 3 by Packt

PhoneGap 3 Beginner's Guide

Packt publishing have generously given me the opportunity to give away 3 copies of their e-book PhoneGap 3 Beginner's Guide, by Giorgio Natili.

Details on how to enter are further below.

Update (2013-12-19): Created APEX page displaying current entrants and puzzle regarding selection process.

You don't think you need to be an APEX developer to appreciate this book, but I will be reviewing this book in greater detail over the new year as I plan to use it to help me deploy Oracle APEX applications as a hybrid mobile application.

Looking through the contents, I see plenty opportunities to improve your APEX applications by using PhoneGap - a free, open licensed distribution of Apache Cordova.

Chapter 1: Getting Started with PhoneGap
Exactly that - understand what PhoneGap is and what you need depending on your device.

Chapter 2: Building and Debugging on Multiple Platforms
A little deeper preparation for how we might debug issues, even desktop debugging since APEX developers are building hybrid applications.

Chapter 3: Getting Started with Mobile Applications
A good look at some web development basics everyone should be familiar with - JavaScript, CSS.

Chapter 4: Architecting Your Mobile App
Might be a bit heavy for us APEX developers, but we may end up being able to hook in our APEX landing page using this information.

Chapter 5: Improving the User Interface and Device Interaction
I think some lessons in here will be deeper than we might get out of an Oracle-centric book.

Chapter 6: Using Device Storage and the Contacts API
Even though we're database developers, I think we're going to be able to provide some clever ideas with HTML5 storage. The Contacts API looks like a great lead in to communicating with the device.

Chapter 7: Accessing Device Sensors
The clear advantage your hybrid APEX applications will have over web deployments - access to hardware sensors.

Chapter 8: Using Location Data with PhoneGap
I think this is more functional than current HTML5 capabilities.

Chapter 9: Manipulating Files
As interesting as this looks - don't jump the gun, I think the chapter you're really interested in is next up.

Chapter 10: Capturing and Manipulating Device Media
Another marquee features for APEX applications - eg: easily uploading photos taken with the device.

Chapter 11: Working with PhoneGap Plugins
Just like APEX has some awesome plugins, so does Phonegap.
They'll probably feed your APEX application ideas even further.

Appendix A: Localizing Your App
We may get away with not needing this, but handy nonetheless. Besides, I've had limited exposure to localisation requirements.

Appendix B: Publishing Your App
No point having an app you can't publish, right? Luckily with our APEX hybrid, this may be a process that can be avoided after initial release.
All versioning can be done within your APEX environment.

Appendix C: Pop Quiz Answers
Pop quiz, hot shot - have you been comprehending what you're reading?

For your chance to win

1) Please post a comment below and mention which chapter you think would help you the most.

2) Double your chances by tweeting about this giveaway.

3) If you include a link to your tweet in the comments, I'll give you three entries.

I'll feed all entries into an Oracle table and run some SQL to randomly determine the three winners
- as oppopsed to using Random.org - come on, I'm an Oracle geek!
I'll post the method I will use to deduce the winners sometime soon, possibly over the new year.

Note: the closing date for this giveaway is 31st Dec 2013

Don't forget to include some form of contact information so I can contact you if you've won the prize.

Good luck!