I’ve gotten several good ideas for posts from the readers of this blog, so I’ve decided (based on a user comment) to put a sticky post up solely for the purpose of soliciting new post ideas.
So here it is: What would you like to see me write about? Any area of BlackBerry development is fair game. Leave comments below and I’ll pick the ones that are most in demand or that I think would make the best posts.
I’ll start off with some ideas:
- BlackBerry networking - TCP/BIS/BES - what are they and how do you use them?
- Resource bundles and localization
- Debugging with the Eclipse debugger
- Debugging your application on a real BlackBerry using the Eclipse debugger (or the JDE debugger)
Thanks!
Anthony
18 Responses
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Anthony,
Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with us. I would like to see topics related to UI. And Localization & internationalizaton can be taken as part of the UI. I feel that blackberry devices are most lacking in applications that provide a rich UI. The graphics API provided by RIM along with the JDK is very low-level stuff. If I need a basic screen with colored text or background, I can acheive this only by extending an component/field class. Blackberry network operations are fast and very feature rich. IMO, it is the UI that is lacking.
I am developing BlackBerry applications now for a year. As Keerthy already mentioned it is hard do create nice UI for BlackBerry Applications - at the moment my works good but looks very “basic”.
I would like to read about two of your points:
- BlackBerry networking - TCP/BIS/BES - how to find out which ones are available (and how does the APN / TCP settings fit in here)
- Debugging your application on a real BlackBerry using the Eclipse debugger (or the JDE debugger)
Another interesting thing would be to read about using the GPS module. I use it in my application but it would be interesting to discuss best practices here.
Anthony,
Thanks for listening to your “fans”.
Some topics worth covering:
a) system modules (autostart or not)
b) IPC mechanism between apps.
c) +1 on more UI topics. e.g. ContextMenus vs plain menus, how to implement scrolling in custom components.
Hey Anthony,
A topic discussing the capabilities of embedding a browser into fields would be great. Also as a side topic to your GridFieldManager, can you explain more on how the navigationMovement method works?
Thanks
ALL I need to know is if it’s possible to write apps for the BB on Linux or OS X. There seems to be no information, except that you stated you used VMWare.. is that still the case?
I’d vote for debugging in the first round as it is crucial, still is a pain to make it work. I actualy failed several times, so I completely resorted to logging, which is a shame…
However I’d rather read about debugging in general and not one (or two) debuggers, because the java idea is that we have a generic debugger interface that any debugger should be able to connect to. And RIM theoretically provides us with such a tool, a jwdp agent, so if we’d only know how to make it work, we could use any debugger including of course eclipse. I actually use netbeans, but I guess most java programmers will know how to debug a remote (standalone) java process. And even if someone does not know, there are plenty of IDE specific desctiptions around.
BlackApple: it’s possible and there is some information. You can’t run the emulator, but you can easilly compile and sign applications on linux using ant:
http://www.slashdev.ca/2008/04/03/blackberry-development-using-linux/
http://www.slashdev.ca/2008/04/10/simulator-in-linux-slightly-more-reliable/
Using netbeans: http://www.jonathanhfisher.co.uk/b2/?p=7
Great tutorial Anthony. I enjoyed reading them more than the BB dev resources
I am very new to BB development and I wanted to know if it is possible to have a native database in a BB app? What I want is to allow the user to save some data in the application through my app and then use it later elsewhere in the application. A tutorial with db interaction would be great!
Thanks a lot for the other tuts
Debugging with the Eclipse debugger! Particularly how to best debug your application quickly, without launching the simulator each time. I have been trying to find quicker ways using ant scripts, but none have done the job very well so far. Under the debug configurations of the blackberry eclipse plugin there is a “Running Blackberry Simulator” setting, which tells me it is possible to debug without restarting the simulator. However I cannot ever get it to work!
Thanks
James
I would love to see animation topics, e.g. Viigo’s animations or App World’s scrolling and visual effects
Hi Anthony,
Do you know if there is any way to hook in code coverage tools with BlackBerry development?
Debugging your application on a real BlackBerry using the Eclipse debugger (or the JDE debugger)
Hello Anthony, Good posts so far…
I would like to see see an application which could do following things.
-> Custom UI component which have simplified style, font options for example - That allow me to specify more then one fonts on a single custom field. (I am novice in BlackBerry development, Even I dont know, this is possible in such platform or not)
->Custom UI components which is made from more then 1 component. for example - A proposed components which have UserName Label/TextBox and Password Label/TextBox
Can you give a tutorial on the Audio API?
Oh, and also, can you also give an end-to-end tutorial on how to get a work flow started? Topics like:
[1] How to install the eclipse plug-in installed properly
[2] When to sign
[3] How to get your app loaded onto a BB
[4] How to debug on your BB
I’m sure with digging, this is findable on the RIM website. But the RIM website is INFUCKINGPOSSIBLE (excuse the francaise). Thanks.
Another would be the use of persistent objects and storage. Key topic in blackberry development imo.
Hello Anthony ,
I have an application where I would to be able to download graphics/data files from a website.
Like you have theme packs for you KidGO product.
1) How would I get the data from the webserver
For example like the AppWorld:
a) You can select folders for the different app categories
b) You can see the different app icons
2) How do I save the data on the Blackberry flash or media card
(Is there a folder structure)
3) How would the application be able to load these files based on names.
I don’t need an in depth tutorial. I just need a push in the right direction and some pointers.
Thanks…
My vote would be for an in-depth look on how UI element classes…specifically Manager but others as well…work.
In one of your posts, you had an excellent line…something like: “layoutChild specifies the size of the field, setPositionChild specifies where the field will be laid out”. Clear information like this is what is missing in the RIM API documentation
Hi, im doing a research on the viability of a possible application. I need to know if it is possible to monitor/collect statistics and errors of BB phone/network services.
If yes, can it be done entirely with Java?
Thanks…