Daniel Rocha's Blog

The state of Qt on Symbian devices has been a subject of many questions I get from developers on a daily basis. "What's supported?", "What's available?", "When x, y and z will be supported in the Ovi Store?", the list is pretty big, and I agree that it may be confusing to the newcomer (and even for me, not exactly a newcomer in Nokia development). So here goes my attempt to summarize the situation, first for S60 3.x and 5th Edition devices: 

Qt 4.7 has been released for those platforms, and can be downloaded from here: Qt 4.7.0 libraries for Symbian. They support the new goodies such as Qt Quick, and the package contains a .sis file for installation on the devices; with that you are able to test 4.7 applications on your favorite phone. 

Qt 4.7 is not, however, yet supported in the Nokia Qt SDK, therefore you need to download the Symbian Platform SDKs in order to use it for development. In a nutshell, download and install S60 5th. Edition SDK, then install the aforementioned Qt 4.7.0 (libraries) package. The latter will recognize the Symbian 5th Edition SDK and layer Qt on top of it. Once this happens, you will be able to use the platform SDK with Qt 4.7 from the Nokia Qt SDK, configuring it like this ("Tools / Options / Qt4"): 

Then you can choose the Symbian 5th Edition SDK (or any other platform SDK, for that matter) to use as a target for your projects, compile and run 4.7 applications on your device with no problems.

Since you will now be using the platform SDK, in order to take advantage of 4.7, you will need to configure it with the Qt Mobility APIs, in order to take advantage of those in your application development projects. For that, first go to the Qt Mobility site, from which you can choose between Qt Mobility 1.0.2 and Qt Mobility API 1.1 Beta.

Unpack the chosen version of Qt Mobility anywhere in your hard drive, and follow the instructions to install the package on the platform SDK of choice. Then you can continue to use Qt Creator (within Nokia Qt SDK) to develop your projects with 4.7 and Mobility. Important: do not forget to copy the chosen Qt Mobility .sis package to the device, prior to deploying applications on it. If you fail to do that, your applications will crash on the phone, because they will reference libraries that are not present.

For production deployment, you do not need to copy Qt Mobility anywhere. Just package your application with the Smart Installer prior to shipping it to the Ovi Store. Please keep in mind that the Qt and Qt Mobility versions supported currently at the Ovi Store are 4.6.3 and 1.0.2, respectively. Please check the Smart Installer page (linked above), for more details.

Finally, the advice outlined above was for those who are developing with Qt 4.7 for S60 3.x and 5th Edition devices, mainly to take advantage of 4.7-specific stuff like Qt Quick. If you are using Qt 4.6.x on those targets, you just need to download and use the Nokia Qt SDK, since it contains all you need.

In the next post, I will talk about the current situation with Symbian^3 devices, like the Nokia N8.

[]s
Daniel
http://heapmemory.net

If you're a Java ME developer on our Symbian platforms, you will probably be interested in some goodies posted to the Wiki recently:

• How to install Java ME apps using .sis files 
• Launching Java ME apps at phone startup

Now the Java ME interface to the API Bridge is available: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/J2ME_Api_Bridge_Interface. If you don't know what that thing is, please take a look at this: http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/APIBridge_Web_Runtime_API.

Essentially, the API Bridge is a way to extend the capabilities of a certain runtime. For example, by making file upload available to Web Runtime widgets and Flash Lite applications. The Java ME interface brings some of these services to MIDlets. The first wave contains:

• Call log
• Location
• Media Management Service
• NewFileService

More services are being planned and will be released pretty soon. Take a look at it and contribute feedback by saying how else you'd like to extend our runtimes through the API Bridge. We're listening! 

Hi all,

Long time no see! I haven't posted here for a while, blame it on the N97 (long story) and my moving to the U.S. to be part of the Forum Nokia Americas team in the Silicon Valley. Anyway, now I'm back.

I'm here to update you on an example I wrote for some company that wanted to install their Java ME application along with some native components as a single .sis file. This has been a persistent question in our Discussion Boards, so I decided to make this public so other developers could use it. With this simple solution, developers can install multiple applications at the same time, along with dependencies such as: native components, image and configuration files, the works. It also provides a nice way to get around this restriction for auto-start applications: 

The exe to be started must be installed directly from the root of the package that contains the resource file (not accepted from embedded file).

This package allows multiple auto-start applications at the same time, reducing complexity and improving the user experience.

I am also working on a package that allows developers to have their Jave ME apps started at boot time, just like possible with native Symbian C++ apps. It should be out pretty soon. 

Here's the link for the project on the Forum Nokia Wiki:

http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Installing_Java_apps_and_WRT_widgets_using_sis_files

See you later,
Daniel

Why aren't there (m)any commercial apps written in Python for S60? This is a question I have been asking myself since I started working with this technology back in late 2006.

Mikko Ohtamaa from Red Innovation wrote a very interesting piece on the topic back in February, and from his post plus practical experience plus I have put together a list of the main issues (not in any particular order):

• Symbian Signed compatibility: Python apps do not have sophisticated memory control, therefore they may fail some SS tests related to performing well under scarce memory conditions. The new Symbian Signed "Express Signed" feature partially solves this issue (?) since it does not involve sending an app for testing by a test house - so the standard test criteria is not used.
• Packaging and distribution: Packaging Python applications in .sis files is hard. If a developer does it without the Python runtime (distributed as a separate file), users have to be instructed to download the runtime from another place, which is less than ideal since we want our applications to be installed in a single shot. Also if two different applications are packaged with the different versions of the runtime, problems will arise as Symbian prevents installing conflicting binaries with the same UIDs. Python for S60 Community Edition presents a valid solution for this problem, since it allows to package a Python app, customized runtime, C++ extensions and everything else into a single .sis file that can be installed as if it were a native application.
• API set: I would say that Python API set is situated between C++ and Java sets. It has more features than Java (in general) but less than C++. This can generate high expectations on developers, who think of Python as an easier way of writing native apps. But when they realize the API set is greatly reduced from what's available in C++, they may get frustrated on having to write their own extensions. There's a healthy amount of activity happening around creating C++ extensions for PyS60, so that helps a bit as well.
• Culture: Python developers are hackers, used to a lot of freedom in other platforms. They may get quickly annoyed by the constraints of mobile development, specially PlatSec and Symbian Signed, and give up trying to get their apps to commercial quality. I see no solution for this problem as of now.

That being said, I wish to say I am a supporter of the idea that Python for S60 can be used for commercial apps, not only for rapid prototyping, and that's exactly why I am puzzled by the lack of commercial apps in this technology.

What do you think is the reason for that?

[]s
Daniel

Fun moment of the Friday. FN Champion Jackson Feijo and his mobile drum kit, composed of three Nokia N95s plus some Symbian C++ code. I would call it a "poor man's drum kit" but as real drums cost less than three N95s I will just call it "mobile man's drum kit".

Enjoy:

Mobile Drummer with N95

You were given the task of defining which development technologies an entire smartphone platform would have.

What would be your choices?

Basic conditions - You would have to:

• Include a security framework for each runtime, or for all of them.
• Consider requirements from: operators, software developers and individuals.
• Create a distribution model for applications developed on your set of runtimes.
• Provide support for development tools.

You can also ignore legacy technologies (including operating system), and consider you have budget and R&D people to do the job.

With that said, give me your opinion!

Some examples:

• Native-only development using X (C++, C, etc.)
• Proprietary Java - MIDP APIs + set of proprietary packages
• Python
• JavaScript - also with proprietary packages talking to native services
• All of the above
• Flash
• Silverlight

I promise I will pass this information on to important people in Nokia. Whether they will use it/like or not, I can't guarantee! :) 

Specifying new APIs and functionalities through the JCP seems a good idea at a first glance, right? This limits fragmentation in the Java platform, ensures the APIs are agreed upon by a number of stakeholders, and limits the adoption of proprietary APIs by manufacturers, making them resort to the "official" APIs defined by the JSR expert groups.

In the desktop and server environments, this seems to be working wonderfully well: new features are added and released aggressively, keeping Java at pace with or ahead of the most modern development technologies and other languages.

But what has it done for mobile development? 

Granted, MIDP 2.0 was a great thing and optional APIs based on it were created and adopted very fast by just about everybody. This opened new doors for the development of sophisticated Java ME applications using Bluetooth, file system, multimedia, location, web services, the works. However, this process seems to have stopped circa 2004. 

Take Nokia 3250 for example: launched in 2005, it had a nice API package for that time, and i liked it. Now look at the Nokia N96: latest of the latest from Nokia, has dozens of new hardware and native C++ functionalities, three new runtimes (Python, WRT and Flash 3). What is new on it's Java? MIDP 2.1 (zzz), eSWT (not a JSR) and IAP UI (proprietary). The core runtime support is the same as a 2.5 year old device. Where is the innovation? 

In 2 and a half years, we saw the rise of two entirely new platforms: Android and iPhone, dozen new runtimes for mobiles (Python, Flash, WRT, WidSets) and .NET Compact Framework becoming a serious contender. What have we seen in Java ME? MIDP3 has been in the works since 2004!

4 years is enough time for many new platforms and runtimes to emerge, but not enough for finishing a spec? This is my question to you: is Java ME lagging behind as an innovation platform because of JCP? 

Your opinions are eagerly awaited.

[]s
Daniel 

I was preparing demos for the next Forum Nokia Tech Days, to be held in São Paulo, Brazil next week, and it came to mind I should do something with the sensors using Python.

Here is the result: Sensor-powered music player for Nokia N95. Nothing too sophisticated, but it goes to show how you can showcase your ideas pretty quickly using PyS60: it took me about 2 hours to develop. 

The comic above pretty much sums it up: Python is a refreshing look at the world of programming. Being so easy to learn and use, it has gained lots of attention from the developer community and it's used for several different purposes such as: web development, desktop apps, utilities, scientific computing, scripting language for games and special effects software, flying and of course mobile development. In fact, I am very surprised that it took so long before any mobile platform offered Python as a viable software creation vehicle. 

In our platforms, Python is offered as a runtime option for S60 devices, ranging from 2nd. to 3rd Edition and all their feature packs. That makes it pretty wide reaching platform, since we have some 130 million+ devices in the market for which you can write Python applications.

The core technologies for mobile development have been analyzed here before: C++ is the raw power of Symbian OS available to developers, with its immense API and functionality sets but steep learning curve; Java is easy to learn and use and it's present in more than a billion devices. Its functionality is good but restricted by the Java Community Process since all APIs have to be agreeded upon by participants of each JSR spec.

Python comes in the middle, and that's in my view its main advantage: it is as easy as Java but (almost) as powerful as C++, and not limited by any industry standard processes: you want a Flying API which is not available? Just create an extension and you're good to go. Our good friend and Forum Nokia Champion Pankaj Nathani (a.k.a. croozeus) has in his website a great list of resources for Python development, including how-to's on writing extensions and more: http://croozeus.googlepages.com/py60extensions. Also, if you are the kind of developer who likes to hack around, Python for S60 runtime is open source, so you can spend your days and nights hunting bugs, adding new features and creating your own version of it!

First part of this article: Which technology should I use for development? Round 1: Java
Second part of this article: Which technology should I use for development? Round 2: C++

Technology: Python for S60

Good for:

• Internet mashups - You can easily mix the Location API with urlib and Google Maps and create a powerful mobile/web hybrid application which can leverage both platforms strengths. For example, take a look at MobyMaps, a geocoding application in just 104 lines of code, or Fupper, pyAmazon, Mobile Google Maps and many others.
• Productivity applications - Access to the filesystem, contacts database, local connectivity, camera, gallery with incredible simple APIs lets you quickly write applications through which you can interact with your device and other people. MobileGTD, PyS60RemoteControl, PySpy are some examples.
• Rapid prototyping - This is probably one of the most popular uses of Python for S60, and you should consider it very seriously. It seems that RP is still not very popular, as people usually choose a technology and develop an app with it; if something goes wrong or doesn't work, they will only find it out at the end of the project, when it's too late. I have seen countless cases like this, specially with Java development: "What, I cannot intercept a phone call with Java? But the product is almost ready!". Python helps you tackle this issue in a very elegant and effective way: you have an idea, want to check whether it works or not, just write a PyS60 script to test it. If you're satisfied, just tweak it a bit more and make it your final product, otherwise implement the final version in C++ or Java if you need more power or portability. I cannot stress enough the importance of showing your customer something working from Day One; this is much more effective than showing slides or specification documents.
• Utilities - If you have a special event or need and you need to cook up a quick solution for a simple problem, use PyS60. To give you an example, I needed some sample apps for a talk I gave back in March. I was able to develop 10 utilities (photo takers, Bluetooth FTP client, video recorder, etc.) in less than a week. 
• Games - Given Python's powerful API set that can be used in games, such as: Sensor API, Open GL ES access, graphics and image manipulation, it is a good tool for churning out casual games meant to have a short lifecycle. It can compete well with Flash Lite for this purpose; even though its graphics facilities are not as nice, the powerful APIs will help you create the "wow" factor in your mini-games.

Why? 

• API/functionality availability - The S60-only list of APIs is reasonably extensive, and you can always add new ones by programming extensions using Python/C API. Many times modules can be added from other platforms without modification (for example, Python debugger - pdb).
• Ease of use - It's by far one of the easiest languages to learn and work with. In a matter of weeks you can be highly productive with it.
• Community support - There's a lot of Python code written by the open source community out there that can be used in your application.

Bad for:

• High performance apps - Python's performance is reasonable, but it is slower than C++, Java and Flash. So if you need to develop a scientific application which requires a lot of number crunching, or a video streaming application, this is probably not the best solution.
• Commercial apps, destinated to operator channels - Please take this one with a grain of salt. Applications for sale at operator channels usually are required to go through Symbian Signed process, and Python apps don't play very well with it. 
• Portability - Although the core Python language is the same, there are several APIs which are S60-exclusive so they won't work in any other platforms without several modifications.

Why? 

• Symbian Signed - In theory Python is compatible with the program, but in reality Symbian Signed was designed for C++ applications, so in some situations PyS60 apps may fail the tests so you have either to get a waiver for the failure or use the Express Signed option. For lack of a better option, I put Python on the "bad for" side of this article, but in the real world you may have different options that make it suitable for operator channels.
• Platform security - Although it's very noble on its purpose (securing users' devices against malware), platform security can be a pain to live with during the development cycle. The whole Symbian Signed environment and platform security API restrictions slow down development time and can increase development costs, because of test fees, certificate purchasing, re-test, etc. This also affects Python for S60 so I left it here from the previous article.
• Performance - Don't forget Python runs on an interpreter, so it has some performance disavantages when compared to native applications.
• Tools - As it's a very new platform on S60, its tools are not as mature as other technolgies'. You can use the C++ SDK with the Python plug-in for testing your scripts, Python Shell for running scripts on your device, and py2sis or Ensymble to package them in an installable .sis file. There's still no integration with Carbide, and the emulator runs only on Windows. This is a pretty basic selection when compared to NetBeans or EclipseME for Java, Adobe CS3 for Flash Lite or Carbide.c++ for, hm, C++.

Python brings back the fun of hacking your device the way you want, with just a few lines of code. It's also a powerful tool for fast development of applications and utilities, besides being ideal for rapid prototyping of more complex software. The learning curve is smooth, the API set is big, and the support of open source community gives it a large set of libraries you can use in your application. As it's still in an incipient phase in the mobile software development, you can use it and contribute for its evolution in the next releases, making it a sweet platform for innovation on S60.

If you are interested in learning more, there's a ton of resources on PyS60 in Forum Nokia web site and also in its wiki page. For impatient people who can't wait to try it, I have posted a few months back a complete presentation on how to get started with Python, along with a collection of sample source code; both can be found here. 

Happy hacking!

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 The Holy Grail, according to Monty Python 

So let us talk now about the Holy Grail of mobile development in Nokia platforms: Symbian/S60 C++. It is the language in which the operating system is developed (about 95%), it is the language that allows developing all sorts of applications, from simple expense trackers to VoIP and geotagging and video-sharing applications. It is the language about which odes are written, flowers strewn at is feet, and virgins sacrificed to its altar.

It is also one of the hardest development environments there is to learn: it's not standard C++, you have to instrument a lot of the memory management yourself, the learning curve is very steep, and the amount of code it takes to write even a simple "Hello World" GUI application is larger than any other technology we'll talk about. However, if you have the skills to learn it, the patience to develop apps with it, and want to power your application with the most sophisticated features available, it can be a very rewarding experience using it after all.

Obs.: I know I promised Python this time but I felt like covering the two core technologies first.

First part of this article: Which technology should I use for development? Round 1: Java 

Technology: Symbian/S60 C++

Good for:

• Games - Full-fledged commercial complex games, such as N-Gage's, as the APIs for direct screen access, 3D graphics, audio and video and camera manipulations are very powerful and enrich and gaming experience.
• Multimedia applications - You can write very complex applications which integrate a handful of different powerful features such as: location, geo-tagging, video and audio low-level manipulation, VoIP, camera access and so on. As examples, check Shozu, Fring, Windows Live, Google Search, and many others.
• Mapping and location apps - These leverage the powerful Location APIs along with the OS-provided Assisted GPS and the Map and Navigation framework (3.2 only) to give you a very fine-grained control over obtaining the location of your device and integrating it with other features or APIs. For example, Shozu integrates GPS location with EXIF JPEG data manipulation to upload pictures which are geotagged to known services such as Flickr, where they are placed automatically on a map. Very creative. Check also WayFinder, Google Maps, Nokia Maps, Route 66.
• VoIP Applications - There are simply too many to list, just check for yourself.
• E-mail applications - Your e-mail apps can talk to Microsoft Exchange using ActiveSync protocol, and also be integrated into the standard Messaging application so users can access it without having to go to the menu.
• Many others - Enablers, virtual machines, services, device drivers, file managers, are all examples of sophisticated applications which can be written in C++. 

Why? 

• API/functionality availability - Programming with Symbian C++ is almost like programming desktop applications: you will get a stagerring number of APIs, powerful features, sophisticated integration between applications and services; those allow you to do more with your device than any other technology.
• Performance - Native C++ applications have the best performance of all analyzed technologies (unless you're a really really bad programmer).
• Porting from other platforms - This used to be a nightmare, but with the introduction of Open C and Open C++ porting layers, it became much easier to port from other POSIX platforms.
• Tools - Although the building tools themselves are not standard, Carbide.c++ does a fine job of hiding the complexity from you the programmer, allowing for faster application development. Its debugging tools are specially worth mentioning.

Bad for:

• Simple applications - If you need to develop an expense or sports tracker, a blogging tool, casual game or such, using C++ is probably an overkill. You can achieve the same in much less time using Java, Flash Lite or Python.
• Rapid prototyping - Symbian C++'s complexity will add much more time to your development projects, so it's not well suited for protopying. Do it in Python or Java and if needed, write the final version in C++.
• Casual games - That would be another overkill. You will end up writing 7000 lines of code or so per game, and your productivity when compared to your competitors using lighter technologies will suffer. A lot.
• Web applications - At risk of souding repetitive, another case where you're better off with technologies whose focus is Web services. I'm talking Widgets, Widsets and Python here.

Why? 

• Harder to learn than any other technology -  Even an experienced programmer, coming from other C/C++ languages, will have a hard time learning Symbian C++, using the non-standard tools and proprietary features, such as resource and registration files. It can take a long time to get a decent working knowledge of how everything works and even then you will find yourself.
• Slower development time - Due to the steep learning curver and overall complexity, native development in S60 is generally though to take 3 to 10 times more time than Java or Flash Lite projects. 
• Portability - First off, there's a binary compatibility break between S60 3rd. Edition and its previous editions. Secondly, even within the same versions there some API incompatibilities/deprecations you'll only find out about when you're deep into development. In this case you'll have to produce a workaround or ask technical support from Forum Nokia to fix you an update, workaround or private API that does the job.
• Platform security - Although it's very noble on its purpose (securing users' devices against malware), platform security can be a pain to live with during the development cycle. The whole Symbian Signed environment and platform security API restrictions slow down development time and can increase development costs, because of test fees, certificate purchasing, re-test, etc. 

"With great power, comes great responsibility", once said Spider-Man's uncle. In this case, however, with great power you'll get great complexity. If after careful evaluation of requirements you decide you should go with C++, commit yourself and your development team to learn the plaform right, and well. Otherwise it will cost you time and money. We know that time = money, so it will end up costing you money².

Symbian/S60 C++ offers you the opportunity of leveraging as much functionality as the device can provide. This can be a real differentiation factor for your applications and can result in more users, thus more money. Just make sure it's the right technology for you before you start up your project.

OK, now I'm not lying: next round will be about Python.

See you!

If I had just made a dollar each time I heard this question...  *sigh*.

With the availability of so many different development technologies in Nokia's platforms today, sometimes is hard to decide which of them we should use to build our application, isn't it? There's Java, Symbian C++, Open C, Flash Lite, WidSets, WRT Widgets, Python, and the list is still growing.

This is good news for developers, since not everybody has the same technical background nor is developing the same kinds of applications; this means at least one of the technologies will fit our experience and purpose like a glove, and we are going to use it. On the other side, this may confuse newcomers to the wonderful but fragmented mobile software world. Usually it goes like this:

Question: "I want to write an application that opens a file and sends it out to a web server. What should I use to create it?"
Answer 1: "Java ME, FileConnection API"
Answer 2: "Don't bother, use C++ or you will get a lot of security prompts."
Answer 3: "Why use C++ when you can do the same with Python? C++ is way too hard!"
Answer 4: "Python does not run on S40, use Java."
Answer 5: "Do you really need all that jazz? Why don't you go with Flash Lite and use server-based persistence? Your application will look great!"
Answer 6: "Flash Lite is too fragmented. Use Java, but beware of the MIDlet signing issues or your app's user experience will be crap!"

Go check the Discussion Boards. It is crowded with examples of conversations like the one above. Having answered this question so many times before, I decided to summarize my answers in this blog, in the hopes of helping developers decide what use from the growing technology options pool offered in mobile devices these days. Please keep in mind that the following are my opinions on the subject; yours may differ and even prove mine wrong, but that's the beauty of interacting with people within a community. As the number of technologies it too big for a single post, I will continue my analysis in the upcoming posts. I will start off with the most popular mobile developmentp platform, Java ME.

Technology: Java

Good for:

• Productivity applications - Examples: sports trackers, expense control apps, Personal Information Management (calendar, phonebook, etc.).
• Games - Both casual and complex.
• Enterprise applications - These don't require fancy user interfaces. Using LCDUI and the standard packages can go a long way pretty fast.
• Rapid prototyping and proof-of-concept applications.
• Network applications - RSS readers, weather services, blogging applications, mobile versions of Web applications.
• Creating truly portable apps

Why? 

• Java and its mobile version are very simple to use and learn -  An experienced programmer, even coming from other C/C++-based languages, can get a pretty good working knowledge of how everything works in a matter of weeks and start producing applications quickly. This leads to faster time-to-market for Java ME apps.
• Applications are generally portable between S60 and S40 platforms - Although there are some differences in implementation, supported packages, audio/video formats and so on, those are few in number and thus easier to work around. You don't need to entirely rewrite your application so it will run on N95 instead of 6131: a few runtime checks and versioning tools will be enough.
• Game API combined with optional packages makes it a killer for game development
• Straightforward network API makes it easy to communicate with web services - The GCF (Generic Connection Framework) is a simple and unified way of using the network on Java ME applications. Once you learn how to do one kind of connection, you will have learned them all.

Bad for:

• Accessing device resources - Examples: SMS Inbox, file system, gallery, hardware.
• Multimedia applications - Examples: Video streaming players, audio and video recorders, camera applications.
• Performance-intensive applications - Scientific computing, image processors, video decoders, sound processors.

Why? 

• Java's functionalities depend on Java Community Process process: if there's no official, industry-standard API for what you want to do, you are out of luck. Example: accessing SMS inbox.
• Mobile Media API implementation is (too) highly modular, a lot of runtime checks are needed. Also, most functionality is implemented on the native side and then made available to Java's virtual machine, such as the camera access. This may have a serious impact on performance.
• Fine-grained control over video, audio and camera is generally not available. Although JSR 234 (Advanced Multimedia Supplements) tackles some of these issues, it still can't be compared to what's available on other technologies, and its device availability is still low.
• Access to the file system is provided by FileConnection API, but it's somewhat restricted and requires the midlet to be signed, otherwise multiple security prompts will be displayed, taking your user to tears (believe me). The signing process itself costs money and has some bureaucracy, so be prepared.

Next time I will cover the darling of all Internet programmers, now getting much of the attention on S60 platform: Python.

See you!

Sexy UIs are all the rage today, right? FlashLite apps, WRT Widgets, WidSets, all of them have distinctive user experiences which differ greatly from the way we interact with native S40 and S60 applications. More colors, more animations, better usability, all making up a great way for developers to differentiate their applications and make them more attractive to the end user.

In Java MIDlets however, you are stuck with a very poor UI toolkit, the LCDUI, which has very few components and few options on how to alter their appearance; most of the time you're giving hints to the underlying implementation regarding the way you want the components to be displayed. Even if you do so, however, there's still a big chance your hints will be ignored and the UI will be rendered differently on each device. This can be a pain if you are developing for many different phones, with different screen sizes, input methods and form factors. Actually, to be fair, this can be a pain even if your target is a single device.

To circumvent these challenges, developers had either to developer their own UI toolkits, based on raw Canvasses, or use a 3rd. party toolkit such as J2ME Polish, which is great but requires a paid license to develop commercial applications, and this can be an unbearable cost to a small developer.

Searching the web and some mailing lists, I found this very interesting project, called LTWUI (Lightweight UI Toolkit), which is a cross-device UI toolkit created to provide developers with the possibility of developing compelling user interfaces without writing painful low-level Canvas code. It's based on Swing programming paradigm and it's key functionalities are:

 LWTUI demo midlet running on E61i

• Swing Like MVC
• Layouts
• PLAF & Themes
• Fonts
• Touch Screen
• Animations & Transitions
• Rich widgets
• 3D Integration
• Painters
• Modal Dialogs
• External Tools
• I18N/L10N

It's still in Early Access release but you can go to the project page and download it so you can play around with the toolkit and run its demos on emulators and real devices. The great thing is that the library is released under the Sun Licensing Agreement (SLA) which makes it usable by commercial applications without having to pay any fee. 

I ran the LWTUIDemo midlet on my Nokia E61i and N95 and it worked beautifully. It's a bit slow though, but nothing that compromises the user experience. I recorded a video of LWTUI running on my N95, so you can see what's up for use in your Java apps; I guarantee you will enjoy it.

Last but not least, the project is open source, so you can contribute to it, just go to the project page for more details on how to participate.

Here's the video, enjoy it:

[]s
Daniel 

Pretty interesting document posted by Aleksi Uotila on the S60 Java blog, containing a PDF document about S60 3.2's eSWT plug-in for Java applications. I have been using this toolkit's desktop version for years and I must say I have never looked back to Swing or AWT, so I really hope there's more development on this side for mobile devices, since innovation on Java platform has been a bit slow these days, partly due to the JCP process and everything.

Here are some screenshots of how eSWT apps look like:

Direct link to the article here.

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After Carbide.j's demise, I have been working hard to get used to the other toolsets in the market. Adaptation to NetBeans Mobility Pack was pretty swift, but I can't say the same about EclipseME, since I had many conflicts with my version of Eclipse, but thanks to Leisti's article on Wikipedia I finally got what works with what then my setup is now running smoothly, and I'm a big fan of C-like macro preprocessing, which helps a lot in reducing the problems of device fragmentation. EclipseME, as well as NetBeans, have this feature and I love it, specially when dealing with "new" APIs not available across S40 and S60 (Location API, do you hear me?) and also with the (too) highly modular Mobile Media API.

<code>
// #ifdef DEBUG
System.out.println("Some debug output");
// #endif
...
</code>

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Speaking of fragmentation, the other day I was checking my GMail account and I came across an ad for Tira Jump 2008. For those who don't know it, Jump is a tool to facilitate application deployment across mobile devices, so you don't have to do it manually. I saw a presentation by these guys at JavaOne 2005 and was pretty impressed when they created a MIDlet game which could run on 120 devices almost automatically. Today they claim support to 1200 device models, which is quite a number! They have a free version of the tool that you can use to test the product and deploy your midlet in up to 12 different models. I'll give it a try later.

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Why so much JAVA? I'm writing some chapters of an upcoming Java book for a well-known editor, so I have been thinking in Java instead of Portuguese for the past two weeks, and it's been fun.

Speaking of Portuguese, my native language, the "hot java" joke never made any sense to us, since we don't call our coffee "Java", but I nevertheless inserted throughout the post just to please our English-speaking readers :)

I have tested it as promised in my last post. After some initial trouble, I managed to get the Symbian 9.2 Platform Security hack working on my N95 with 20.0.015 firmware. It does work, as long as you don’t reboot the phone, as you can see in the screenshots I have posted on my personal blog, rawsocket dot org, where you can also find more details on this issue.

The trick is still a bit cumbersome to perform, but it works. I'll keep my eye on the latest developments from both sides, hackers' and Nokia's, to see where this is going. Are we seeing the beginning of a catch-up game like the one Sony and Apple have been playing against hackers, with all the jailbreaks and cracked firmwares?