Big Guide https://ionicthemes.com/tutorials/about/the-complete-guide-to-progressive-web-apps-with-ionic4
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are web applications that provide a mobile app-like experience to users. They are designed to work on any device with a web browser and can be installed on the user’s home screen without the need for an app store. Ionic 4 is a popular framework for building PWAs, as it provides a set of pre-built UI components and tools to create fast and responsive mobile applications. In this article, we will go through the steps of building a PWA with Ionic 4.
Step 1: Install Ionic 4
Before we start building the PWA, we need to install Ionic 4. Ionic 4 is built on top of Angular, so we need to have Angular installed as well. To install Ionic 4 and Angular, we can use the following command:
javaCopy codenpm install -g @ionic/cli @angular/cli
Step 2: Create a new Ionic 4 Project
Once we have installed Ionic 4 and Angular, we can create a new Ionic 4 project by running the following command:
sqlCopy codeionic start myApp blank --type=angular
This will create a new Ionic 4 project called “myApp” with the blank template.
Step 3: Test the App
Now we can test the app by running the following command:
Copy codeionic serve
This will launch the app in a web browser, and we can see the default home page of the app.
Step 4: Add PWA Support
To add PWA support to the app, we need to install the “@angular/pwa” package. We can do this by running the following command:
sqlCopy codeng add @angular/pwa --project myApp
This will add PWA support to the app and create a “manifest.webmanifest” file, which contains metadata about the app, such as its name, icons, and theme color.
Step 5: Modify the App Manifest
Next, we need to modify the app manifest file to include the necessary information about the app. We can do this by opening the “manifest.webmanifest” file and editing the values for the “name”, “short_name”, “start_url”, “icons”, and “theme_color” fields.
Step 6: Add Icons
To add icons to the app, we need to create a set of images with different sizes and resolutions. We can use a tool like “https://app-manifest.firebaseapp.com/” to generate the icons for us. Once we have the icons, we can place them in the “src/assets/icon” folder of the app.
Step 7: Modify the App Module
To enable PWA features in the app, we need to modify the app module by importing and registering the “ServiceWorkerModule”. We can do this by opening the “app.module.ts” file and adding the following code:
typescriptCopy codeimport { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { IonicModule } from '@ionic/angular';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { ServiceWorkerModule } from '@angular/service-worker';
import { environment } from '../environments/environment';
@NgModule({
declarations: [AppComponent],
imports: [
BrowserModule,
IonicModule.forRoot(),
ServiceWorkerModule.register('ngsw-worker.js', {
enabled: environment.production,
}),
],
bootstrap: [AppComponent],
})
export class AppModule {}
Step 8: Build the App
Now we can build the app by running the following command:
cssCopy codeionic build --prod
This will build the app in production mode and generate a set of optimized files for deployment.
Step 9: Deploy the App
Finally, we need to deploy the app to a web server.