Video: Creating Qt Apps for Symbian using the Nokia Qt SDK

ltomuta | 22 July, 2010 11:52

 

 

 

S60 , Symbian , Qt | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Nokia's developer offering refreshed

ltomuta | 23 June, 2010 23:59

I’m sure you have seen the news already, and they are indeed big. To begin with, individuals can now be Ovi Store publishers. It will still cost you 50€ to register but once you’ve done that there are no more costs for you, Nokia will take care of all the signing costs for you. I’m sure many individual developers, students and hobbyists are getting now the answer they’ve been waiting for. Yes, developing for Symbian is possible and profitable for you as well.

But that’s not all. To sell good applications you need good development tools, and the final release of the Nokia Qt SDK 1.0 is just that. One tool, one application and UI framework, one source code and capability to build apps for both Maemo 5 and Symbian/S60 (starting with S60 3.1).

 

Nokia Qt SDK Final
 

 

The SDK includes the final release of the Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian, a tool designed to ease the distribution of Qt based applications to devices which do not have yet Qt libraries built-in. See below the installer in action.

 

 

Speaking of the Smart Installer, there is something you should know :)

The SDK was packaged with a slightly older version of the Smart Installer, so if you are using the offline installer you should make sure to query for SDK updates using the maintenance tool from SDK’s application group in Windows’ Start menu. By doing so you will be able to fetch the up-to-date version of the Nokia Smart Installer for Symbian.

 

Smart Installer Update


If you have used the online installer for the SDK then you already have the latest smart installer build, no need for an update check yet.

And that’s the end of my status report in this post. I’d like to hear what you think of these news, either here or on Twitter.

 

Maemo , Symbian , SDK , Ovi , Installer , Qt | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Get the Nokia Qt SDK v1.0 RC

ltomuta | 09 June, 2010 16:23

The release candidate version of the Nokia Qt SDK v1.0 is now available for download on Forum Nokia.

 

Qt SDK RC



No major features in this release but a lot of bug fixes, improvements and some component upgrades as well. For a listing of the change log, including bug fixes, see the announcement in the Qt Labs blog.

You can find more information about SDK’s features (and known issues) and for a Getting started tutorial please visit SDK's pages on the new improved Forum Nokia web site. For more frequently updated content see SDK's wiki page.

Download link: Nokia Qt SDK

Note: If you have Nokia Qt SDK v1.0 Beta already installed, please remove the Beta first or install in a new location.

We are of course welcoming your feedback about this product. The Forum Nokia Discussion Board is open for your comments and you can report new bugs (or check the status of the old ones) in the Qt Bug Tracker.

Symbian , Qt for S60 , Qt , Maemo | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Carbide.c++ 2.6 update available

ltomuta | 04 June, 2010 10:55

This is a quick note for all Carbide.c++ fans out there. ;)

Carbide.c++ v2.6 is available on the software update servers, ready for your to update your environments using the "Software update" feature.

The following new features for Symbian development are provided within Carbide.c++ (including 2.5 updates you might have missed):

2.6.0

  • GCCE 4.0 supported — required for future SBSv2 releases.
  • Symbian^3 supported — new templates and improvements required for the public Symbian^3 SDK.

2.5.0

  • Plug-and-Play (PnP) On-device Debugging supported — debugging a target device just got easier. Using a USB cable, connect the PC to the target device, then launch Carbide.c++. Carbide locates the connected device and creates a remote connection setup to communicate with it. Build the program and launch it on the device to start the debugging session. Refer to Known PnP Issues for details if you experience problems.
  • PnP Phone Launch Wizard - If the project does not already have a launch configuration, the PnP Launch Wizard makes it easy to create one for phones. In addition the new Configure Launch Configuration dialog provides a quick summary of the remote connection for easy review and modification.
  • Carbide automatically detects TRK on target phones and devices - Carbide now detects the presence of either Application or System TRK on a connected device when TRK 3.2.6 or later are installed. Earlier TRK versions do not support this recognition feature.
  • TRK improvements - TRK continues to evolve and now includes these improvements:
    • Both Application and System TRK v3.2.6 support PnP debugging. Update and install using the Help > On Device Connections > Install Remote Agents pane in the New Connection dialog.
    • VERSION3 command now supported
  • RVCT 4.0 (ARMv5) builds and some limited debugging is supported

There are several bug fixes in the release but some known issues as well:

  • GCCE4 support requires using a SBSv2 build alias (-c parameter) of armv5_udeb_gcce or armv5_urel_gcce. As of this writing, these aliases were not available in the SDK or SBSv2, but will appear in some future version. Carbide versions prior to 2.6 do not support GCCE4.
  • Users should consult the SDK documentation for GCCE and SBSv2 issues and installation requirements.
  • TRK: If you install the TRK app onto your phone's flash memory (Mass Storage) a Remote Connection may not find the TRK-service even though TRK is already connected to your PC. Workaround: Uninstall TRK then reinstall it onto your PHONE memory (C-drive). The TRK service should now be "Available".

This is a minor update and should not cause any problems to your existing projects. Of course, that does not mean that you should not make a backup before applying it.

Symbian C++ , Carbide.c++ , Symbian | Permalink | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

Get ready for the next Bug Squad

ltomuta | 25 May, 2010 18:18

Staying with the Bug Squad topic while it is hot, here's a quick update:

In order to support newcomers in their bug hunting activities, the Bug Squad organises a training session this Friday, May 28th at 11 am London time, with the topic “How to build a package”. By attending this introductory one hour session you will learn:

  • How to clone a package
  • How do you know what is the best version to build
  • Building a package with Raptor

To register, visit http://developer.symbian.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6473 and vote.

To stay on top of Bug Squad’s activities, join the mailing list.

Symbian C++ , Symbian , Open Source | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Get involved. Join the Bug Squad!

ltomuta | 23 May, 2010 22:20

There is a group of brave volunteers at the Symbian Foundation which have the ambition of finding and removing any bug left in the platform code. A rather tricky job though, since as we all know, there are no bugs in Symbian ;)

OK, I'm jocking. Of course there are bugs in the software, but there are few of them after each meeting of the Bug Squad.

We see reports of such bugs every now and then, and here at Forum Nokia we have a dedicated feedback channel through which we invite you to send us you bug reports. But now that the operating system source code is fully open, there is an even better way of facing this pest: direct combat. And you can do your part too.

The Squad is a virtual one. No formal application is required, no qualifications check. You can join it by simply adding your name to a table in the wiki, and by introducing yourself on the IRC channel. You don't even have to be a developer in order to participate, testers are welcome too - be they professionals or mere passionate power-users. Working in virtual teams, and focusing on one package/component/application at the time, each volunteer can contribute by identifying a bug, suggesting a better way of implementing a feature, or actually fixing and then verifying the identified bug.

Serious work, but fun too. Reporting a bug gains you a "gold coin", fixing it will bring you three such tokens. And if you get to collect 81 gold coins, you will gain the "back gecko" title, and community's respect. Sounds like a fun game to play right?

Bug Squad Logo

So, what do you say? Will you join the squad? The next test day is scheduled for 24.05.2010 and it is focusing on the Organizer package, you can find the action plan for this day here.

A rather close call to action but don't worry if you cannot join them now, you can stay up to date with upcoming events and the progress done by the team by visiting their wiki page at http://tiny.symbian.org/bugsquad and thus be ready for the next rounds.

Symbian C++ , Testing , Symbian , Open Source | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Feeling inspired? (III)

ltomuta | 01 February, 2010 22:38



Fun | Permalink | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Upgrade to Carbide.c++ 2.4

ltomuta | 01 February, 2010 14:52

Those of you active on the Forum Nokia and Symbian Foundation discussion boards have likely noticed the announcement of Carbide.c++ v2.4 release.

 (More)

Symbian C++ , Carbide.c++ , Qt for Symbian | Permalink | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Load your application in a running emulator

ltomuta | 09 November, 2009 17:00

Everybody loves to hate the Symbian SDK emulator. The first reaction to it usually is: "It is slow, really slooooooow, it takes ages to start it" ;)

Yes, it is true, the emulator is slow, but considering the task it has to perform and the complexity of the system it emulates such slowness is to be expected. However, the problem is not as bad as one may think. Yes, the emulator takes time to load, but then why don't you start it in advance and let it load while you browse your recent emails, so that you have it up-and-running at the moment you really need it.

Many developers already with some Symbian experience will tell you that you cannot do that. But yes, you can! The following video will show a basic Qt application being created, built and run into an already running emulator.

Coming up next: Rebuild without restarting the emulator.

S60 , Symbian C++ , Testing , SDK , Qt for Symbian , Emulator | Permalink | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Build without an SDK, test without a device

ltomuta | 08 November, 2009 17:50

How many SDKs do I need? Which SDK is best for me?

For a newcomer to the Symbian development world those are among the first questions asked. There are many S60 SDKs on offer, some with feature packs and plugins, some with compiler specific binaries and on top of that many plug-ins. Quite a lot to handle and figure out and nobody likes having all possible SDKs installed.

So what will happen now that Qt is added to the picture? I can design my app using Qt for Windows (or Linux, or Mac) and, according to the "code once, compile anywhere" promise I should be able now to compile this application for Symbian and Maemo devices, with minimal changes. But that means that now I need to install at least one Symbian SDK for building, or a Maemo one, and I should have at least one smartphone for testing. Or do I?

Yes, probably one will have an SDK installed and use its emulator for testing some really complicated solutions, with Symbian components part of the design. And yes, nothing can really replace hand-on-testing. But for simple use cases and for getting started trials one possible solution could be building and testing in the cloud. What you need is an IDE plugin, web hosted SDK and build tools and Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access solution, all mixed together in a rather simple build, deploy and test solution.

Here's a live demo (boring parts speeded-up a bit) of such a solution:

 


 

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea? Would you use it for your projects?

 

S60 , Maemo , SDK , Qt for Symbian | Permalink | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

The ultimate* software installer debug guide

ltomuta | 29 September, 2009 19:17

There are many things that can go wrong with a SIS installation package and unfortunately the software installer component provides no logging mechanism for developers to be able to precisely pinpoint the point of failure. (More)

Symbian , Installer | Permalink | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (0)

Nokia N97 SDK v1.0 released

ltomuta | 16 July, 2009 17:00

Those engaged in developing applications for Nokia N97 will be interested to know that the final version of the Nokia N97 SDK has been released today. (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ , Web Run-Time (WRT) , Symbian | Permalink | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Good news on the Horizon

ltomuta | 16 July, 2009 16:00

The Symbian Foundation announced a new application-publishing platform, called Horizon, which is intended to help developers, big and small, to publish their Symbian applications on the software market.  (More)

Symbian , Ovi | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Qt for S60 "Tower" demo running on Nokia N97

ltomuta | 25 June, 2009 21:30

 
 
 

Qt for S60 | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Qt for S60 "Tower" released

ltomuta | 25 June, 2009 19:00

You will most probably be glad to hear fresh news from the Qt for S60 port team. They have a new release* out, it is called Tower and it is based on Qt 4.5.2.

There are many new things and many improvements on the existing features, you can see them all listed in the Detailed list of changes for "Tower". To name just a few:

  • "Experimental" support for QtWebkit (must be enabled at configuration time)
  • Phonon support but without the actual playback capabilities.
  • QtSql with sqlite3 backend
  • Improved exceptions safety for Qt Core library (this comes with a patch for the Nokia C/C++ compiler and some really promissing documentation, judging by the title Wink )
  • Input methods

All these and a lot more in an 126 MB binary installer which is smart enough to detect all compatible SDKs in your system and install "Tower" support in all of them. (From what I see the installer needs a bit of optimization or I need a new computer Laughing )

 

 

 

You can find all the binaries, documentation and support information on the Qt for S60 "Tower" pre-release site. Coming soon support for Samsung's S60 devices, an updated version of the Qt for S60 Developer Library here on Forum Nokia and a new release of the Mobility Extensions APIs.

*Please note that this is still a technology preview release and it is not yet ready for production grade application development.

Qt for S60 | Permalink | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Symbian Foundation promo videos

ltomuta | 19 May, 2009 00:00

 

 

Want to learn more about the Symbian Foundation? See More Symbian Foundation beta invites

 

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Happy Birthday Symbian Signed!

ltomuta | 18 May, 2009 17:00

The Symbian Foundation is brand new but one of their services is celebrating it's 5th birthday today. You can find on the Symbian.org blog a brief summary of what the service is an some rather interesting usage stats. But more importantly you will find there a glimpse of what they are preparing for the near future:

" ... Lower cost Publisher IDs available to anyone

Lower cost signing and lower barrier to signing

A revamp and rethink of the Symbian Signed Test Criteria ..."

Truly promising plans, I hope that we will hear more details about these soon. Until then: Happy Birthday Symbian Signed!

 

Event | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

More Symbian Foundation beta invites

ltomuta | 15 May, 2009 10:00

Symbian Foundation Beta snapshot 

You may have seen in Mark's recent post an invitation to become a Symbian Foundation site beta tester user. Don't worry about missing the deadline and no, you don't have to become a Twitter user just to get an invitation, the invitations are here, one message away for you.

So, are you a software developer curious about the new Symbian Foundation web site? Want to be the first one posting a technical question on that forum? Want to be the first one who answers one? Want to see open sourced code? Let's do it then, let's get you in!

Who can get an invitation?
Any Symbian C++ developer active in the Forum Nokia developer community.

How many invitations are available?
There are enough for everyone. However, the distribution process is manual and time consuming so the most active contributors on the Forum Nokia Discussions Board & Wiki will have priority.

How can I apply?
To get the username and password that will give you access to the web site all you have to do is send me a private message through the Forum Nokia Discussions Board. Easy!

Symbian | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Update your links to SDL

ltomuta | 13 May, 2009 17:18

Do you feel lucky? Lucky enough to ask Google to take you to the best search result for CCoeControl? Wink

 (More)

Symbian | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Facelift at SymbianSigned.com

ltomuta | 07 April, 2009 12:00

 

Symbian Signed

 

A refreshed web site welcomes us at http://www.symbiansigned.com, with the site adopting Symbian Foundation's colors. The change is skin deep however so do not expect any [major] changes in the familiar processes.

What is important, although should not be a surprise for anyone by now, is that the ownership of the site is now at Symbian Foundation and that may have impact your access to the site if you haven't accepted the account transfer to the new legal entity.

The site has a message on the main page which explains how one can recover his old account:

 If you missed the chance to consent for your account to be transferred you can follow these steps:

  • Select the option to confirm user account data to be transferred
  • Within 24 hours your account will be propogated (propagated) with the old user data

It is not clear to me what "option" should be selected and an attempt to "transfer" one such lost account has failed We will have to wait a bit more I guess for these things to be fully clarified. Hopefully not many developers are affected by the ownership change, which was after all advertised for months

If you wish to contact Symbian Signed regarding any related issues the location of the support forum remains (for now) the same.

 

Symbian | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Feeling inspired? (II)

ltomuta | 14 March, 2009 11:00

A new video from the TED conference, showing MIT's students enhancing Johnny Lee's work in the search for a practical application.

 

 

Are the presented use cases tempting enough to make you wear one of those devices?

 

UI , Mobile | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Can you write an antivirus?

ltomuta | 21 February, 2009 11:00

The blogosphere is buzzing with a hot subject: a worm attacking Symbian smartphones. The creature has a name too, not a latin one as the living worms but a rather techie one: Trojan:SymbOS/Yxe.A. Or, among its friends, "Sexy view".

You can read Gabor Torok's analysis of the incident at Mobile worm, Yxes.A - an analysis but in this post I want to challenge you with a more hands-on task: how to protect yourself from this worm?

We all know (I hope) the good old security advices published by Nokia at http://europe.nokia.com/get-support-and-software/learn-how/security/your-device:

  • Exercise caution when accepting applications sent via Bluetooth or opening MMS attachments as they may include software harmful to your phone or PC.
  • Do not approve or download content to a mobile device from an unknown or unreliable source.
  • In general, keep your Bluetooth connection on hidden mode unless you specifically need to be visible to others.

For the sake of this post however, let's pretend that we want to ignore these advices and instead ensure that we can install any sis file that finds its way to our devices ... except this virus, of course.

So, given that the info we have about the virus is whatever we can find from this picture from F-Secure's blog,

 

Trojan:SymbOS/Yxe.A
 

 

the requirement is to design a component that blocks the installation of the worm without affecting any other application. If multiple solutions are proposed the winner will be the one with the simplest design and less Platform Security capabilities requirements. Only public APIs can be used for creating the solution.

Do you have the answer? Post it here or, if it has any attachments, send it to ltomuta@ovi.com

Fine print:
Since the task is trivial there will be no prize in this challenge, except of course for the antivirus protection you will implement for yourself :)

Symbian C++ | Permalink | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Carbide.ui Theme Edition registration

ltomuta | 20 February, 2009 16:00

The Forum Nokia site and the Discussion Boards are frequently bombarded with one simple question: Where can I find the registration key (serial number) for Carbide.ui Theme Edition?

This post is yet another attempt to help themes designers get past this problem and hopefully, with the help of Google's search engine, the videos provided here will be the final answer to this apparenly really complicated issue :) 

  1. Carbide.ui Theme Edition - online registration

     


     

  2. Carbide.ui Theme Edition - offline registration

     


     

 

A few more things to be noted:

  • Carbide.ui Theme Edition is the IDE to be used for creating themes for Nokia phones, be they from the S60 or Series 40 product ranges.
  • The same registration technology is used by Nokia Series 40 Theme Studio 2.2 and it does work just the same. However, the tool is old and deprecated and Carbide.ui should be used if at all possible.
  • Don't post here requests for the even older Nokia Series 40 Theme Studio 1.2 and its serial number. If the registration wizard does not work anymore for that tool then there is nothing I can help with ...

And, as a final comment, this is not a totally useless post for C++ and Java developers either as the S60 emulator uses an identical registration procedure :)

 

S60 , Series 40 , Carbide.ui | Permalink | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

Do a little more with the UI Designer

ltomuta | 31 January, 2009 19:00


Can you create some menu items like these?
 
End-result
 
Of course you can. But can you do it with Carbide.c++' UI Designer? Cool
 
Unfortunately the UI Designer does not let you control a menu item's flag so you cannot design menus with either radio group or check (tick) features. Not that big of a problem since you can still write the code to add these flags at run time, each time they are loaded. Still, if you want to have the possibility of controlling these menu item appearance flags at design time too all you have to do is unpack the attached .zip file in your Carbide.c++ v2.0 installation.
 

 
Then start Carbide.c++ and ... there you have it:
 
Obviously this is not a big achievement but it should be a reminder that if some thing does not appear to be supported (yet) by Carbide.c++ there's always room for a little personal contribution ... Be it project or code templates or even UI Designer controls one can create/optimize them and then share with the community.
 
P.S. The current version of the hack only generates static resources, you still have to write code in order to manage the dynamic changes in a menu item's state.
 
Update (22.02.2009): Here it is, gamma.coder. I was trying to integrate it into Carbide.c++ but I stil have some problems with that so while I might still publish a full solution I hope you'll find this project helpful.
 
 

Carbide.c++ , Hack | Permalink | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

S60 development on Windows 7

ltomuta | 15 January, 2009 11:00

One of the first comments to my S60 SDK and tools on Windows Vista - a success story article was that we should hurry up with making the tools compatible with Vista because what do you know, Windows 7 is around the corner and we will be again trailing behind ... :)

Well, Windows 7 (beta, Ultimate edition) is now available for download and is surprisingly stable. On a modest IBM Thinkpad T41 the OS installs ok and although it has some bells and whistles disabled (or because of that, after all Aero is cute but resource hungry) I find it to be fast and fresh ...

So, how do Carbide (now version 2.0) and the S60 SDK (now the S60 5th Edition SDK v0.9) behave on this Windows release?

As with Vista, the key is to be careful and as much as possible in control of what you're doing. There seems to be only two rules to follow: install the tools with admin rights and verify the result after each step.

I've followed roughly the same steps and compared with the previous results the following are to be noted:

  • The only ActivePerl package I've found for download was in *.msi format. This is basically a document to  be handled by the Windows Installer and does not have a "Run as Administrator" option.
    Holding the Shift key down while accessing the context menu one can find a "Run as other user..." option but in an attempt to use that I found out that the Administrator account was by default disabled.
    I ended up enabling this account, setting a password for it and then running the Windows Installer from the command line (just to be sure):

    > runas /noprofile /user:administrator "msiexec /i c:\users\lucian\desktop\ActivePerl-5.6.1.635-MSWin32-x86.msi"

    Aside from this small complication all went ok and at the end I could verify that Perl was correctly added to the path and can be invoked (tools verification as described in How do I start programming for Symbian OS?).

  • As in the previous post, I've chose to install the GCC compiler myself rather than let the SDK setup to start it. However, despite running it with administrator privileges the installer was not able to modify the %PATH% environment variable so I had to edit it manually and set it as %PATH%=c:\Program Files\CSL Arm Toolchain\bin;%PATH%

  • The emulator is running OK with no hacks applied (like DEP deactivation), just the usual firewall blockage removal

That's it. Unofficially and with a "only for hackers" recommendation I declare the S60 development tools Windows 7 ready. :)

Btw, as in the previous tests, I found that I don't need the official Vista patch provided with the SDK or any of the many hacks documented in the Migrating to Windows Vista wiki article. Or at least I did not need them ... yet. Cool

S60 , Carbide.c++ , SDK , Windows 7 | Permalink | Comments (23) | Trackbacks (0)

How about a new version of the GCC compiler?

ltomuta | 10 December, 2008 21:30

Last time I've asked my colleagues from Symbian about updating the compiler used in the Symbian/S60 SDKs the answer was something like ... it's on the list, we're looking into it. I don't know what the status is now but it seems we no longer need to wait for an official release (ok, it depends on how much we're ready to risk "hacking" the SDK).

Forum Nokia user MKechlibar just announced that he has managed to tame the beasts and, judging by the nicely documented Wiki article he wrote, everybody should be able to follow his lead.

Have a look at the article, its title is How to use GCCE 4 with Symbian SDKs, and why not, give it a try!

 

S60 , GCCE , Hack , SDK | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Let's talk about ... Qt

ltomuta | 09 December, 2008 23:00

 
This is just a brief note about a new addition in the Forum Nokia Discussion Board, the Qt for S60 forum. We have moved there all the posts related to the subject we have found around the board and now the forum is open, waiting you all to ask and answer questions related to Qt application development on S60. 

Qt for S60 | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Developer phones. Want one?

ltomuta | 08 December, 2008 09:00

An interesting news coming from Android space: they offer a developer edition of the G1 phone (the Android Dev Phone 1) aiming at helping developers which are out of T-Mobile's coverage to access and be able to use the terminal.  (More)

Mobile | Permalink | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Carbide.c++ - new and free (yes, like in "free beer")

ltomuta | 05 December, 2008 12:03

 

Free Carbide

 
The new Carbide.c++ 2.0 has been released today and there's a bit of extra surprise coming with this news: all the Carbide.c++ editions are now free of charge.

In fact the Express version as such no longer exists, and while the installer still prompts you to select one of the three remaining editions they are all available to you for free so you may as well pick the OEM Professional edition and have all the product features enabled.

On device debugging now available for everybody. Isn't this the best piece of news yet?

More information in product's web pages.

 

Update (09.12.2008): There seems to be a little licensing problem with the Developer edition and a patch is available in a Discussion Board post. Also changed edition recommendation to Professional, nobody* really needs the OEM specific feature.

  

Carbide.c++ | Permalink | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (1)

A few reminders

ltomuta | 14 October, 2008 17:08

I want to remind you a couple of things about the S60 5th Edition SDK:

  1. The current version is 0.9 and that shoud indicate that it is a beta SDK. We are still descovering problems with it and trying to fix them when possible even before the next SDK release. To save youself from some troubles you should remember to check periodicaly the content of the Wiki article KIS001048 - S60 Platform SDK - Workarounds and Updates or better yet you should register for page update notifications (click on the Watch tab).
  2. Presumably the SDK does not contain all the APIs one needs for implementing some "must have" application features. That is why we are constantly asked when the next SDK API Plug-in will be released. At the same time, a request for feedback on which APIs should be included in the package is completely ignored. Surprised
    Am I correct to read this as a sign that those APIs are not really needed?

S60 , Symbian C++ , SDK | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

S60 5th Edition's new features

ltomuta | 10 October, 2008 16:26

At 11:00 AM Finnish time today, we had the pleasure of virtually meeting some of the S60 developers in a webinar that aimed at presenting what is new and hot in the S60 5th Edition release. The overview presentation covered topics such as: SDK content, new and updated APIs for Symbian C++ and Runtimes, touch UI support and the building blocks it provides for creating applications which are both easy and fun to use. The presentation also included an updated on the Calling all innovators competition as well as the latest about the Forum Nokia Launchpad program.

The slides from the presentation can be seen below. It seems that some of the content cannot be rendered (Adobe Share is still in beta) but you can also download through this plug-in a copy of the presentation in the original PPT format.

More webinars with similar topics are scheduled in the coming days so please join in. Also, Touch UI, sensors and S60 WRT widget technologies would be the subject of the next Forum Nokia events.

S60 | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

The S60 SDK emulator: faster if you do not start it

ltomuta | 29 July, 2008 23:00

Just now I've run across a thread in the Forum Nokia's Discussion Boards promising an 1000% improvement of emulator's startup time.

Two things came to my mind seeing this thread: a paradox attributed to Zeno of Elea and ... the S60 3rd Edition SDK, supporting Feature Pack 2.

 

First, Zeno's paradox, adapted so that it fits the topic:

In order to satisfy the developers, the emulator would have to be fully up and running in about 10s. But, in order to do so, it would have to be in a "half way there" state first, which it cannot do unless it reaches half of that state to begin with. And so on, ... and so on, ad infinitum.

I have seen at least two conclusions of this paradox, pick your choice:

  • The "logical" conclusion is that the emulator cannot actually ever start since it will have to pass through an infinite number of intermediary states in a finite time interval.
  • The "logical" conclusion is that in order for the emulator to achieve the desired performance it is mandatory that the emulator is not even started.

Ok? No more complaints about the emulator please! Laughing


Now the serious part:

The S60 3rd Edition SDK FP2 does implement two start modes for the emulator, a partial one, with only a few critical servers started, and the full slow start-up mode with which we are all accustomed by now.

You can switch between the two start-up modes by modifying a setting in emulator's Preferences dialog (through the Tools -> Preferences menu option).

The SDK release v1.1 also adds a graphical indicator to the emulator's window so that the developer knows all the time whether the emulator runs in partial or full startup mode. This is intended as a reminder likely to be useful should you experience some strange application error, which can be a side effect of the chosen startup mode.

For tweaking the emulator of the previous platform releases we are each on our own, but it should be quite safe to try ...

 

S60 , SDK | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

How to enable support for old SDKs in Carbide.c++ v1.3

ltomuta | 16 July, 2008 10:00


Let's start with a bit of a warning: the tool no longer supports the old SDKs and this decision is final. Applying the hack described here will at best restore the support for the old SDK to the 1.2 level but enhancements are not to be expected. You should not ask for support from the Carbide.c++ team ( nor from me Smile ) for any issues that might be a side effect of applying this hack.

 

OK, now that all this is clear let's start hacking. (More)

S60 , Series 80 , Symbian C++ , Carbide.c++ , Hack | Permalink | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

What's wrong with this picture?

ltomuta | 14 July, 2008 09:00

Carbide.c++ v1.3 - S60 2nd Edition Project templates - Share on Ovi 

 

Carbide.c++ v1.3 - S60 2nd Edition GUI Project with UI Designer - Share on Ovi

 

S60 2nd Edition FP3 - Share on Ovi

 

Carbide.c++ v1.3 - About dialog - Share on Ovi

 

Somehow these pictures do not fit together. Or do they?

 

S60 , Carbide.c++ , Hack | Permalink | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

Week-end task: Hack Lifeblog posting

ltomuta | 14 July, 2008 02:26

screenshot0032.jpg
Task completed.

General | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

Microsoft to buy Symbian

ltomuta | 07 July, 2008 00:04

"Extra, Extra, Read all about it!"

The following piece of news caught my eye, I think it is funny enough to share it with you :)

On Sunday, Microsoft officials announced the company’s plans to acquire the remaining 50.1% of MSN Israel Ltd. from its partner, Internet Gold Ltd. ...

... About one week ago Microsoft talked about its intention to acquire a Portugal-based, mobile service-oriented company called MobiComp, for a yet-to-be-disclosed sum. Furthermore, the software giant wants to buy the remaining 52% of mobile software maker Symbian; in addition to this, it plans to work alongside several other electronics makers within the Symbian Foundation. The foundation’s purpose is to develop a unified software platform that will eventually become "the most widely used software platform on the planet".

The source of this information? Alexander Toldt of eFluxMedia (?!) Full story at Microsoft Going After MSN Israel Ltd.

Update: They've removed the highlighed paragraph from the article. Too bad, it would have been fun to see this picked up by the main media groups.

Symbian , Fun | Permalink | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Are there any updates available for Carbide.c++ ?

ltomuta | 28 June, 2008 10:00

Carbide Release Picture

The banner above is obviously not reflecting the reality anymore. Carbide might have reached an intermediary finish line but that does not mean that it stopped running :)
 (More)

Carbide.c++ | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Symbian preparing for a new start

ltomuta | 24 June, 2008 09:30

The news is hot and one needs to really take some time, let it cool down and then analyze it from all angles. But here it goes, straight from Nokia's press release:

"Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free (More)

General , Event , S60 , Symbian | Permalink | Comments (18) | Trackbacks (0)

S60 SDK and tools on Windows Vista - a success story

ltomuta | 15 June, 2008 20:30

The following is a copy of a Discussion Board post from a thread discussing - again - the level of support of the S60 tools and SDK for the Windows Vista, or more likely the lack there of.  (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ , Carbide.c++ , Windows , Vista , Perl , ActivePerl , GCCE | Permalink | Comments (18) | Trackbacks (1)

Are you ready for more ... drives?

ltomuta | 05 June, 2008 19:00

It has become a reflex for Symbian developers to think of the available drives as being at best four:
  • Z: the ROM drive where the firmware resides  (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ , N96 | Permalink | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

S60 SDK API Plug-ins

ltomuta | 22 May, 2008 14:10

The S60 SDK API Plug-ins have been updated today.

One change affecting all the plug-in versions regards the click-through Limited License Agreement (LLA), updated to reflect developer's concerns about the use of the provided APIs in 3rd party projects, both closed and open source. The LLA template can be viewed online (also included in each package) and one of the Discussion Boards threads discussing it, and the need for change can be found here. (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ | Permalink | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Leo Laporte knows the truth about S60 ?

ltomuta | 25 April, 2008 21:30

I've hear it so many times that I surprise myself for not believing it by now. Bashing S60 is by now the most popular sport, at least until the Olympic Games are started in Beijing. S60 is said to be difficult to learn (when compared to the Finnish language), difficult to understand (compared to the string theory) and definitely uglier than Miss South Carolina.

This week Leo Laporte had something to say about S60, you would not believe what he had to say in his "this Week in Tech" podcast, episode 139: 4-TWiTty. If you want to go straight to the chase forward to minute 59:50 (easier with the Nokia Podcasting application than on his web site). So, is he right? Wink

S60 , Symbian C++ | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Feeling inspired ?

ltomuta | 12 April, 2008 23:15

As Ugur was making the point recently you do not need [always] the latest hottest technology or the biggest ever budget to add the wow effect to your application. Some times all you need is 50$ ... and a lot of brain.

Here's another proof of that idea:

 


 

General | Permalink | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (1)

Platform Security and Symbian Signed

ltomuta | 20 March, 2008 16:00

Here's another "mind map" that I hope will help developers understand what are the implications of Platform Security on the Symbian Signed process. To me it is self-explanatory but I would happily answer any questions you might have on the topic.  (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ | Permalink | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

What PlatSec capabilities does my application need?

ltomuta | 20 March, 2008 10:30

Still looking for an answer to this question? The new release of Carbide.c++ comes with the "Capability Scanner" tool, a static code scanner that will identify the APIs used in your code, map them against a database of known APIs and their capability requirements and then provide you will a balance of what you have and what else should be added.  (More)

S60 , Symbian C++ | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

An unexpected malware application

ltomuta | 19 March, 2008 20:00

A background note first: I wrote this post on 09.03.2008, right after ending the talk on this discussion board thread. It was visible for a few minutes but then I took it back, with the hope that I am wrong, and Jeepy/Domi will not go ahead with his plan. But he did, and now so do I. (More)

General | Permalink | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

S60 3rd Edition FP2 SDK released

ltomuta | 18 March, 2008 17:15

No media hype, no cool videos and no amassing press releases. Not yet anyway :) But yes, the S60 3rd Edition SDK, supporting Feature Pack 2 (aka S60 3.2 SDK) is out and waiting for you to download it. (More)

Java , Open C , S60 , Symbian C++ , Web Run-Time (WRT) | Permalink | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Carbide.c++ 1.3 Updated

ltomuta | 18 March, 2008 09:00

A small bit of news collected from the Carbide.c++ Beta group: the original Carbide.++ release had version number 1.3 build 23 but starting with 14.03.2008 the download package contains the new build 24. No details have been provided about what bugs have been fixed in this silent update but I'm sure there must be some so do check the release notes and download the package (or the other way around).

Download Carbide v1.3 at http://www.forum.nokia.com/carbide_cpp.

Symbian C++ | Permalink | Add comment | Trackbacks (0)

How to run a startup (week-end edition)

ltomuta | 10 March, 2008 22:00

So, what else is Jason Calacanis doing when not teaching others the startup 101? (More)

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(Ab)using Symbian Signed

ltomuta | 07 March, 2008 18:00

Does anyone know why this application cannot be found anywhere for download, despite the huge amount of requests received from eager phone owners? (More)

General | Permalink | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (1)

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