DalaNew

Project generator for the Dala mobile framework. Installs a global mix dala.new command to generate native SwiftUI/Compose apps or LiveView-wrapped mobile projects.

Original repo mob_new

For end-users

Installation

dala_new is a Mix archive — install it globally, not as a project dependency:

mix archive.install hex dala_new

Usage

mix dala.new my_app
cd my_app
mix dala.install    # first-run setup: download OTP runtime, generate icons, write dala.exs

Options

mix dala.install, mix dala.deploy, and mix dala.doctor detect the project's platform set from on-disk layout, so a single-platform project skips the absent platform's setup automatically (no Android OTP download, no iOS toolchain check, etc.).

Local development mode (--local)

This flag is for Dala framework contributors and library authors testing unpublished changes. It is not intended for app developers — use the standard mix dala.new my_app instead.

Installing the local dala_new archive

When working on dala_new itself, build and force-install the archive to pick up your changes:

cd ~/code/dala_new && mix archive.build && mix archive.install $(ls dala_new-*.ez | tail -1) --force

Verify it's active:

mix archive        # dala_new should appear with the updated version
mix dala.new --help

If you are working on Dala itself and want to test your changes end-to-end before publishing to Hex, pass --local to generate a project that depends on your local checkouts instead of the published packages:

mix dala.new my_app --local

This generates mix.exs with path: deps:

{:dala,     path: "/path/to/dala"},
{:dala_dev, path: "/path/to/dala_dev", only: :dev, runtime: false}

It also pre-fills dala.exs with your actual local paths so mix dala.install skips the path configuration prompts and proceeds straight to OTP download and icon generation.

Path resolution (in order):

1. DALA_DIR / DALA_DEV_DIR environment variables
2. ./dala / ./dala_dev in the current directory (e.g. running from ~/code)
3. ../dala / ../dala_dev relative to the current directory

# If dala and dala_dev live alongside each other in ~/code:
cd ~/code
mix dala.new my_app --local   # auto-detects ~/code/dala and ~/code/dala_dev

# Or set explicitly from anywhere:
DALA_DIR=~/code/dala DALA_DEV_DIR=~/code/dala_dev mix dala.new my_app --local

What gets generated

my_app/
├── mix.exs
├── lib/
│   └── my_app/
│       ├── app.ex           # Dala.App entry point
│       └── home_screen.ex   # starter screen
├── android/
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── app/
│       └── src/main/
│           ├── AndroidManifest.xml
│           └── java/com/dala/my_app/MainActivity.java
└── ios/
    ├── beam_main.m
    └── Info.plist

Next steps after generation

First deploy (builds the native app and installs it):

mix dala.deploy --native

Day-to-day (hot-pushes changed BEAMs, no native rebuild):

mix dala.deploy        # push + restart
mix dala.watch         # auto-push on file save
mix dala.connect       # open IEx connected to the running device node

For contributors and library authors

Building and installing locally

cd ~/code/dala_new
mix archive.build                          # produces dala_new-<version>.ez
mix archive.install dala_new-0.1.27.ez --force
mix archive                                # verify install

To publish a new version: bump version: in mix.exs, then mix hex.publish archive.

Testing

mix test                        # unit tests (fast)
mix test --include integration  # also runs `mix phx.new` subprocesses (~minute)

The integration tests generate real LV projects in tmp dirs to verify the end-to-end output. Worth running locally before publishing a new version.

Project structure

Templates live at priv/templates/dala.new/, rendered with EEx by DalaNew.ProjectGenerator. The LiveView path additionally runs mix phx.new as a subprocess and patches the result via DalaNew.LiveViewPatcher.

Documentation

Full guide at hexdocs.pm/dala, including Getting Started, screen lifecycle, components, navigation, and live debugging.