S60 Blogs » Developing on S60

More details on future S60 Java UI plans

Aleksi Uotila — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:05:17 +0000

Görkem has written more details on our future user interface plans at Java Runtime for S60. The upcoming changes in Symbian Foundation for UIs require long lead time development which has already been started in our team. We currently have Java UIs running on Qt framework on desktop and we are now focusing on ensuring that things work OK in S60 environment on Qt as well as implementing mobile specific integration and then advanced features like bridging of MIDP LCDUI and eSWT as well as those other features. One additional theme in our UI development that is good to mention is graphics hardware acceleration and enablement of what Symbian OS marketing calls as Screenplay for all of our graphics and media APIs: LCDUI 2D graphics, M2G, M3G and MMAPI.

Java Sensor API demo

Aleksi Uotila — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:23:36 +0000

S60 Java Runtime guys shot some video material on our Nokia Developer Summit demo. It’s showcasing Java Sensor API & Java Bluetooth API usage with BT controlled Tamiya RC Mini Cooper S 2006 car.

The demo uses many Java APIs and device features. Java Sensor API & accelerometer sensor of the Nokia N97 device is used for implementing the car control. Users just tilt the device in order to accelerate and turn wheels of the car. The Java Sensor API gives demo Java app the orientation of the device. Application then turns the accelerometer signals to control signals for the car itself. These signals are transmitted to the car using Java Bluetooth API. The car itself has an additional Bluetooth module installed. Then of course in the device side there’s some UI also done with Java MIDP APIs that show the control level to the user. Touch UI is used to provide some additional control means.

Additionally we also did a special variant of the Java application for Nokia 6260 slide (Series 40) device that has an analogue joystick input device and the Java Runtime therein is bundled with a Joystick event listener (part of Nokia UI API). So instead of tilting the device for controlling the car device’s joystick is used.

The summit slides have some more details of the MIDlet implementation on both devices.

If you are interested in developing using Java Sensor API please see also both our Sensor API Developer’s Guide and Sensor API implementation notes. Java Sensor API is part of Java Runtime 1.4 for S60.

Ovi Store NOT requiring Java Verified

Aleksi Uotila — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:57:29 +0000

I’ve just got confirmation from an Ovi Store guys that Java applications DO NOT require to go through Java Verified testing when being published to Ovi Store.

It has been a huge source of complaints throughout the Internet and Ovi related discussion boards that Java application developers are forced to do testing via Java Verified. To use Java Verified before submitting the application to Ovi Store is only a recommendation for developers. If developers have other means to ensure the quality on different Nokia handsets then it’s totally acceptable to not to use it. Developers are however required to sign their content using content signing (Verisign or Thawte).

eSWT support as part of Eclipse MTJ

Aleksi Uotila — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:42:45 +0000

My colleague Görkem just got some eSWT support features accepted as part of the Mobile Tools for Java. For those who don’t know MTJ is a set of tools for Eclipse IDE for Mobile Java development.

There’s now code wizard and code assist features for eSWT development. It’s good to see also tools support to appear for this advanced mobile Java UI toolkit!

Java Runtime for S60 Roadmap

Aleksi Uotila — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:21:50 +0000

The Nokia Developer Summit was arranged two weeks ago and there was a presentation of the Java Runtime of S60, about the current state and it’s future. The roadmap provides a glimpse to the 2010 release contents of JRT.

Java Runtime features on latest 3rd ed fp 2 devices

Aleksi Uotila — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:46:21 +0000

We’ve posted a quick overview slide-set covering all the new features in Java Runtime on S60 3rd ed fp 2 devices. This is probably more interesting now since there’s more and more 3rd ed fp 2 devices appearing to the market so it’s more feasible to start using these features in Java apps.

The Java Runtime was also upgraded to S60 3rd ed fp 2 SW baseline in couple of months back so the very latest and upcoming devices will have JRT1.4 features. The presentation slides also gives some more details of S60 Java Runtime versions.

We’ve also put handy links to Nokia Java Developer’s Library reference pages from the overview slides to get more details on the presented functionalities.

Remote Connections View (#2)

Mike Trujillo — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:00:50 +0000

This article is an update from a previous posting from David Dubrow about the Remote Connections View found on Carbide. In this update we will review some of the newer features of the Remote Connections tool as well as provide updated screenshots.

The feature is designed to improve the quality of a debugging (or trace) sessions.

The Remote Connections view is a UI framework that allows Carbide users to create remote connections and test/configure debug services over those connections. These connections are then shared inside the IDE. We currently support on-device debug launch configurations and OST Trace (software trace). These configurations may be exported and shared in different workspaces or with other users.

Some of the benefits of the Remote Connections view is that the user can validate that the connection is present to guaranty that the agents on the phone target are the very latest. Debug sessions will improve greatly as a result.

The Remote Connections view displays all the remote connection objects. Under each object, there is a node for each supported service and its current status. In this example you can see that USB supports On-Device Debug (TRK service) and OST Trace (Tracing service).

Remote Connections View

From the view a dialog can be invoked to create or edit connection objects and their settings. Also, as the settings are changed, supported services can be tested on that connection.

Remote Connections View - 1st dialog

Finally, the dialog accesses a server containing the latest remote agents for installation on a device.

Remote Connections - 2nd dialog box

At any instance of use like a launch configuration of on-device debugging, existing connection objects that support that service can be selected and edited or new ones can be created without having to go to the remote connections view.

Hopefully, this feature will make connecting to devices through Carbide a lot more user friendly

Qt for S60 Demo using Carbide

L. Frank Turovich — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:40:29 +0000

The Qt group has posted a short getting started video on using the “garden” release of Qt for S60 with Carbide.c++ on YouTube.

Very nicely done as it highlights exactly what people can do with both Qt and the Carbide tools to get applications up and running quickly in the emulator or on devices.

Great job.

Start your Updaters

L. Frank Turovich — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:51:14 +0000

Carbide.c++ v2.0.2 is now available via the Software Update manager within Carbide. Click the Help > Software Updates > Find and Install… menu item, enable the Search for updates to the currently installed features option, then click Finish. Carbide will then locate, download, and install the update. A quick relaunch of Carbide will make the new capabilities available.

This is a minor release so not too many features:

New Qt tools added. These are v1.4.3 tools and will support Qt 4.5 development for S60.
Updated WINSCW compiler - changes will improve Qt and Raptor/Symbian Buid System v2 builds
Bug 7473 - Added PKG files to the Qt template projects so SIS files can be built and installed on a device.
Bug 7542 - Updated Remote Connections UI to provide better descriptions when choosing between USB or TRK 2.x USB (supports USB only).
Bug 7915 - Improved the timing out mechanism in Carbide so that TRK doesn’t time out when target’s are slow to respond
Bug 8276 - The main issue that caused Stepping line by line to be slow has been fixed. However, there are some cases where the slowness still appears. For example, when accessing files across a network, and the network is down or if a source file is missing. For the first issue, re-establishing the connection resolves the slow debugging issue.

Most of the current on going work involves changes made under the hood to get Carbide ready for when the Symbian OS, S60 SDK, and a host of other tools are made available as part of the new open source Symbian Foundation.

Enjoy.

Commercial Release of Nokia WRT plug-in for Aptana Studio

Tian Ung-Ping — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:26:07 +0000

Have you been desiring to build S60 widgets for yourself and your friends and families, but just didn’t have an easy to use development platform to work with? Tired of using notepad and kludging together development tools to test the widgets you are building? Well your pain and suffering is close to an end (at least as far as Widget creation goes). The WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio has officially gone ‘Commercial’. Aptana Studio is a popular web tool with more than 3 millions installation. With the plug-in, you can create, debug, deploy widgetst o millions of Nokia users. Furthermore, with Nokia Ovi Store announcements, you can distribute your widgets to Ovi Store.

Here are the developers who have tried the plug-in during the past months …

Mariam Dholkawala

Nokia Expert

Rob Toole

Forum Nokia also announced the launch of the next round of its Calling All Innovators competition. Details are available in the press release that was distributed yesterday. This global contest for developers to submit mobile applications for use on Nokia devices includes “Internet Innovation” as one of the key categories, challenging developers to create WRT widgets that enhance the use of mobile devices in real-world scenarios. With Ovi Store and Calling All Innovators announcements, there is no better time than right now for web developers to start using the new Nokia WRT plug-in to start creating widgets, both for the Calling All Innovators contest, and for global distribution to consumers via the Ovi Store