The achievements of more recent BlackBerry products like the Pearl, Curve, Daring and Storm have permitted RIM (Investigation in Motion) to penetrate the customer smartphone industry and go head-to-head with the Apple Apple iphone as an application system. If you’ve got been disregarding the BlackBerry system simply because it was as well Business-targeted for your purposes, it could be time to exclusively goal the BlackBerry. This is how you get commenced.
It’s Java Time
BlackBerry growth for all latest products is done completely in Java. So if you’re not a solid Java programmer, now’s the time to brush up on your Java programming abilities. (C# programmers will uncover the changeover to Java quite straightforward, the languages are incredibly close in most respects.) Will not understand about the latest Java characteristics, on the other hand, since the BlackBerry system is designed on prime of Java Micro Version (Java ME), which is alone a by-product of Java model 1.3. So forget about all the fancy (but beneficial) language characteristics released in Java 1.5 — generics, enumerations, and so on — you are unable to use these in BlackBerry programming. You are unable to also use most of the library classes you are familiar with — they’re just not there. A tiny subset of the Java Typical Edition (Java SE) classes are supported, as effectively as a quantity of BlackBerry-particular courses.
Java Micro Version?
As soon as you’ve got brushed up on your Java, you require to expend a little bit of time comprehending the Java ME system, which was formerly recognised as Java 2 Micro Edition, or J2ME for limited. You need to have to comprehend the ideas of configurations and profiles, and in distinct the CLDC and MIDP benchmarks. You’ll uncover heaps of facts about these in several books and on Sun’s Java development site.
The BlackBerry System
Soon after understanding about Java ME, it’s time to investigate the BlackBerry system. The BlackBerry system is based on the CLDC and incorporates guidance for MIDP 2.. Nonetheless, a huge amount of BlackBerry-specific lessons are also offered. Which delivers you to the very first problem you will encounter: are you heading to generate a BlackBerry software or a MIDP application? In a MIDP software you might be constrained to only use the APIs uncovered by the CLDC and MIDP requirements. Your software will run on the BlackBerry and on most cellphones, but it won’t be equipped to use any of the BlackBerry’s particular options. You can use any MIDP-appropriate improvement instrument, these types of as the Sunlight Java Wi-fi Toolkit for CLDC (formerly recognized as the J2ME Wireless Toolkit), to create your applications.
Most application developers decide to establish BlackBerry-precise apps. This indicates studying the BlackBerry-certain APIs — which includes new consumer interface lessons — and making use of the BlackBerry Java Progress Atmosphere (JDE) to establish your applications. The JDE, which is cost-free to obtain, functions with the common Java Software package Enhancement Package and delivers you with all the equipment needed to create, offer, exam and debug BlackBerry applications. You really don’t even need to have a BlackBerry handheld, because the JDE contains a entire-showcased BlackBerry machine simulator. A total set of JavaDocs is supplied that describes all the classes and interfaces offered to programmers.
Just after downloading and setting up the JDE, you may want to examine the developer’s guides that arrive with the JDE and glance at the sample applications that are shipped with it. Then start out your advancement by crafting a several very simple purposes to get a really feel for the BlackBerry APIs and the applications.
Get A BlackBerry Handheld
Although you can develop and examination your programs for no cost, at some place you are going to require to operate the software on an true BlackBerry handheld. This will value you dollars, of system, and so it truly is not anything you are going to want to do right until you are significant about crafting BlackBerry programs. On-system tests is crucial to making sure that the software operates correctly, since the simulator is not a great emulation method.
If you’re really significant about BlackBerry application growth, look at also signing up for one of the BlackBerry developer programs for added support and early obtain to new products and APIs. You must also take a look at RIM’s other BlackBerry developer means. There are also third-social gathering message boards and publications available to support you discover the BlackBerry platform.
Conclusion
BlackBerry programming is not really hard if you know some Java and you realize the constraints and restrictions of the underlying Java ME platform. You have to master a new set of APIs and use new improvement resources, but in the conclude it really is just one more sort of Java programming.