Installing Java ME development tools for Symbian
The combination of tools listed here (all free) has been tested by the writer to work for developing applications for S60 using Java ME. For future editors of this article: please make sure that your edits have been tested in practice, to prevent developer frustration.
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Downloading the tools
| tool | recommended version | link | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a Java SE (Standard Edition) Development Kit (JDK) | JDK 7 Update | here | When downloading, select your platform, then click on the file name. The installation directory of the SDK is C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0, and that of the JRE that is part of the installation is C:\Program Files\Java\jre7. Accept these defaults. |
| the Eclipse Pulsar IDE | 3.7 | here | Unzip the downloaded file, into a directory of your choice. To run the IDE, execute eclipse.exe, found in the main directory. |
| Nokia SymbianOS/S60 SDK for Java | Symbian^3 | here | You must be logged in to Nokia Developer in order to download the file. (Creating a Nokia Developer account is quick and free.) Unzip the downloaded file into a directory, and run the unzipped setup.exe installer program. Some features require Perl installation. During installation, you might be asked to select your eclipse folder. This is done in order to integrate the Documentation Library with Eclipse. |
- In addition to Eclipse, Nokia also supports the NetBeans IDE. You can download it from here.
- The Symbian SDK release notes always mention a specific minimum Java runtime version against which the SDK was tested. We recommend you use this tested version, even though later versions are likely to work.
Configuring the tools
After downloading all the tools above, perform the following.
The Eclipse workspace directory
- Create a directory to be used as your Eclipse workspace directory, such as C:\some\path\eclipse_workspace\. (You can skip over this and accept the default workspace directory in the next step.)
- Start Eclipse. When asked for a workspace directory to use, give the directory you created, or accept the default. (The workspace can later be switched by select the menu item File | Switch Workspace.) Eclipse will now restart.
Configuring EclipseME
You can see here a detailed description on how to integrate Nokia's SDK with Eclipse Pulsar
Configuring Netbeans
You can find here a similar integration guide for Netbeans.
Configuring Eclipse's Java options
- In Eclipse, select the menu item Window | Preferences.
- Expand node Java | Debug.
- Uncheck Suspend execution on uncaught exceptions.
- Uncheck Suspend execution on compilation errors.
- Set Debugger timeout (ms) to 15000.
- Press OK.
Java Developer's Library
The latest version of Java Developer's Library can be found here. A copy is normally integrated in Eclipse during the installation of Nokia's Symbian SDK. This can be accessed locally in Windows as follows: Start > All Programs > Nokia Developer Tools > Symbian SDK > Version > SDK Documentation


I think it would be great to know how to set up the debugging tools. I just installed all this stuff and I can develop for S60 SDK 5, with Java ME on Eclipse. I can load the MIDlet to the epoc emulator that shipped with the S60 v5 SDK. But I can't figure out how to link the emulator to Eclipse to use the debugging tools. I can't find any documentation on this anywhere in the Nokia forums.
I think that giving recommended version in the tools table isn't a great idea - there are new releases quite often and articles becomes outdated. I'm also concerned about problem with S60Emulator mentioned in the article. Is it normal it doesn't work or is it a bug? Who is to blame?
Overall I like the clean structure of the article, but problems mentioned above don't allow me to give ReviewerApproved.--warjan 22:31, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Problems with Java ME SDK 3.0 and Windows 7 x64
Some nasty problems with Java ME SDK 3.0 and Windows 7 x64:
- eclipse cannot find (and import) any devices in its installation folder (as described in Configuring EclipseME, assuming the steps are the same as the ones for WTK2.5.2)
- it will refuse to run without a 32bit JDK (either uninstall the 64bit JDK or redirect it to the 32bit one by editing "java" files in \bin and \toolbar\bin)
- it cannot be uninstalled, no matter what (uninstaller tries to load a native 32bit .dll on a 64bit system), can only attempt manual folder removalnoisem4ker 04:00, 29 September 2011 (EEST)