Installing the Intel® XDK on Mac* OS X*

Installation of the Intel® XDK on Mac* OS X* involves all or some of the following steps:

Install the Chrome* browser
Download the XDK.jnlp starter app
Update Java* on your Mac
Install the Intel XDK
Create an account with the Intel® XDK (not described here)
Configure the Intel XDK proxy (if you are behind a firewall)

Not all of the steps above may be required, depending on the current state of your development machine and whether or not you already have an Intel XDK account established.

NOTE: These instructions were developed on version 10.8.3 (Mountain Lion) of Mac OS X on a MacBook* Pro*. If you have an older version of OS X you may have a different experience, especially regarding Java.

Install the Chrome Browser

The Intel® XDK requires the Chrome browser for installation and execution. You must install the Chrome browser before you begin installation of the Intel XDK. Note that It is not necessary to configure Chrome to be your default browser, only that it be installed and available on your system. You can install the Chrome browser by going here: http://www.google.com/chrome.

NOTE: If you attempt to install the Intel XDK from Safari you will not succeed (no download of the installer will take place).

Download the XDK.jnlp Starter App

From within the Chrome browser, visit http://software.intel.com/html5 and select the "Get Started" button:

Do not choose the Chrome extension option (Chrome Web Store); at the time of this writing this option only works with Windows. Instead, choose the option to download to your desktop:

If you see the following warning, do not discard the download file, keep the download:

Following a successful download of the "XDK.jnlp" file, you will need to "open" the file. You can open the file directly from the status bar at the bottom of the Chrome browser or use Finder and open it from there, as follows:

Install the Latest Version of Java

It is quite likely that you will see a message like the following when you open the "XDK.jnlp" file:

While the default copy of Java included by Apple on your Mac might work, success with the Intel XDK will be improved if you install the latest version of Java directly from Oracle. Selecting "OK" (above) should take you to the installation page for Java. If it does not, you can download Java directly by visiting http://java.com.

Locate the Java you downloaded above and install it on your Mac:

Do not be alarmed if you see the following message from the Chrome browser. It is not necessary that the browser support the Java plugin. The Java runtime engine (JRE) simply needs to be present on your system to run the XDK.jnlp application.

An Aside Regarding Java on the Mac

After you install the Oracle JRE it should be used to start the Intel XDK (which requires Java for file access and several other services internal to the XDK). Don't be surprised to see the java -version command report an old version of Java reported on your system… for reasons I don't understand.

For more information about Java on Mac OS X see http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/install/mac/mac-preferences.html and http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/webnotes/install/mac/mac-jdk.html.

The screen shot above was taken from a machine that has Java 7 build 17 installed! Despite this incorrect version feedback, you can test which version of Java runtime is on your system by visiting http://javatester.org/version.html. However, this test will not work under Chrome, it will work under Firefox and it might work under Safari. :-)

If you are trying to make the XDK.jnlp file work with the Apple supplied version of Java, you might find this article to be of value: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5559.

Back to Business: Install the Intel XDK

Locate the "XDK.jnlp" file and drag it to your desktop. (Remember that button said "Download directly to your Desktop" -- well that didn't quite happen.) Now that Java is installed on your system this application will install and start the Intel XDK.

Double-click the "XDK.jnlp" file and it will start to download the XDK (if it is not already installed).

NOTE: Each time you start the XDK on your Mac you will do so by "opening" (double-clicking) this XDK.jnlp file. Every time this application starts it checks to see if an update is available for the XDK and automatically downloads and installs the update. If no network connection is available it will run the currently installed version in a special "offline mode." However, to install the first time you will need an Internet connection.

Alternatively, if the blue XDK icon is present in your status bar you can start the emulator from there, select "Show Emulator" from the icon menu.

The very first time you run "XDK.jnlp" you should see a dialog like the following:

When you are asked if you want to run this application, be sure to check the "always trust" box before selecting "Run" on the dialog:

Do not be alarmed if you see the following message, it can be safely ignored, we've got our "XDK.jnlp" file on the desktop to get us started:

After you dismiss the dialog box above (assuming you saw it) you should be presented with a dialog box that is asking you to log into the cloud component of the Intel XDK. If you already have an Intel XDK account, provide your userid and password here.

NOTE: If you do not have an Intel XDK account provide your email address and ignore the password field; additional signup dialogs will be presented to establish an Intel XDK account. Those additional steps are not shown here.

If you have an old appMobi account, enter your old email address and password here. You will then be directed to an additional signup dialog to establish a new account with the Intel XDK. Those additional steps are not shown here.

As part of the initial installation you will see a dialog box like the following on your screen. This will only happen during a new installation on that machine. After you have chosen the location of your XDK project files the installer will download a collection of sample applications.

NOTE: If you previously have used the tool on another machine, or you converted an existing appMobi account into an Intel XDK account, you will also find any projects you previously "pushed to the cloud" (using either the build tool or the remote debug tool) will also be downloaded into your XDK project directory.

Following the creation of the XDK project directory you should see the emulator screen inside the Chrome browser. If, for some reason, you do not see the emulator inside the Chrome browser, locate the XDK.jnlp application on your desktop and start the Intel XDK from there.

Configuring the XDK Proxy

If you see a screen like the following, or the dialog box below it, you may be working behind a firewall, in which case you will need to configure the Intel XDK proxy.

To set the proxy locate the blue XDK icon in your status bar and select "Proxy Settings."

Change to "Manual Proxy Configuration" and specify the proper name and port number for your proxy server. This information is specific to your site, you may need to consult with your local IT support to get the information you need. The information shown below will not work, it is for illustration only.

If you had the Intel XDK open and changed the proxy settings, you should see a screen like the following. Push the "connect" button to have the XDK reestablish its connection to the Intel XDK servers.

Using the Intel XDK

Once installed, you may see a "Critical Alert" like the following. You can safely ignore this warning. It is simply telling you that the application that is being run inside the emulator does not contain a link to the appmobi.js script file that provides you with the Intel XDK native interface.

The specific application you see in the emulator may vary from what is shown below, but your screen should look similar to what is shown below. You can change the specific emulator device skin by selecting devices in the "Device Emulation" box in the top right panel of the screen.