Create BlackBerry applications with open source tools
Frank Ableson (fableson@msiservices.com), Software designer
There is perhaps no bigger market-transformational technology than the cell phone. And within that classification of devices, perhaps none more recognizable than the BlackBerry from Research In Motion (RIM). Most people think it is just for business e-mail, but there is untapped potential in that addictive device. Despite being a popular platform, third-party applications are still needed for the BlackBerry platform. There is no better way to bring those applications to fruition than to enable the help from the open source community. Follow along as this tutorial lays the groundwork for an open source data-collection application, upon which an accessible and easy-to-use data-collection service is built.
In this tutorial
This tutorial is for Web developers who are looking to create Web applications that run on the desktop seamlessly. Familiarity with Web development technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, are required to follow along. Although not required, experience with the Ext framework would be helpful.
This tutorial introduces BlackBerry application development within the context of the mobile data-collection application space. It provides an introduction to BlackBerry development with a quick introduction to the platform, a tour of the BlackBerry development tools, and construction of a complete data-collection application. Complete source code is available for the BlackBerry application and the server-side components used in the sample application. This tutorial is organized into the following sections:
- BlackBerry platform basics
- BlackBerry application development with JDE
- Data-collection applications with BlackBerry
- Transaction processing on the server side
- Next steps
Prerequisites
See System requirements
System requirements
This tutorial demonstrates a few open source technologies and stitches them together to form a prototype for an open source mobile data-collection platform. You need all of them to perform the steps in this tutorial. Our primary focus is developing applications for the BlackBerry platform, so those pieces are the primary requirement. You can leverage a publicly available Web site for server-side transactions if building out the server side is not of interest to you. Here’s the full list:
