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
