My name is Alessandro La Rosa, and I'm a freelance software architect for Mobile and Web platforms. I'm living in Rome, Italy.
Feel free to contact me at: info@jappit.com
Loading ...
Forum Nokia has just updated its excellent resource for mobile Web development, the Web Developer’s Library, adding a lot of resources to support the design and development of Web Runtime widgets.
Changes in this last release include:
If you’re a mobile Web developer, check it out!
When developing a Flash Lite, Web Runtime or Java ME application based on API Bridge, one of the things you know you’ll have to deal with is the Symbian packaging and signing process.
For single-person and small developer teams, the whole Symbian process could be a not suitable option. For this reason, I’ve looked for an alternative deployment approach that could bypass this process. The approach presented here is based on a delayed deploy model, meaning that the API Bridge engine is not deployed with your application, but in a successive moment: actually, it is deployed only when the application needs it.
How this can be achieved? Basically, there are 2 possible options to implement this model, and they’re based on:
If the target devices support Platform Services, the AppManager API can be used to retrieve the list of installed applications, and so to check if API Bridge is installed on the device itself.
The code below shows how this can be achieved by using JavaScript in a WRT widget. The same approach can be easily ported to ActionScript, and so used in a Flash Lite application.
var apiBridgeFound = false; var apiBridgeCheckError = null; var so = device.getServiceObject("Service.AppManager", "IAppManager"); var criteria = new Object(); criteria.Type = 'Application'; var result = so.IAppManager.GetList(criteria); if(result.ErrorCode == 0) { var iterator = result.ReturnValue; var application; while((application = iterator.getNext()) != undefined) { if(application.Uid == '0x20023710') { apiBridgeFound = true; break; } } } else { apiBridgeCheckError = result.ErrorMessage; }
The code works by checking the UID of all the installed applications, comparing them with the API Bridge UID (0×20023710). This code snipped defined 2 variables, that can be used to check for API Bridge availability:
So, once these 2 variable have been set, the application can perform the most appropriate operation, based on the AppManager call result. The code snippet below shows a possible implementation:
if(apiBridgeCheckError != null) { alert("There was an error! " + apiBridgeCheckError); } else if(!apiBridgeFound) { if(confirm("You have to install API Bridge to continue, press OK to download it")) { widget.openURL('http://www.yourserver.com/APIBridge_v1_1.sis'); } } else { alert("API Bridge is already installed on the device!"); }
And below you can see this code running on a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic:
Since the API Bridge engine works as a local HTTP server running on the mobile phone, the other possible approach is to make an HTTP request, and to check if any response from API Bridge comes.
Note: this approach works by using the API Bridge default port (9080). There are no guarantees that this port number is fixed, and that it will not be changed in future API Bridge releases. For this reason, my advice would be to use this second approach only when Platform Services are not available.
The code below shows how to make a request to the local API Bridge HTTP server, and how to check if it’s running or not: if it is running, the response status of the XMLHttpRequest object has to be different than zero.
function pollApiBridgeServer(_callback) { var request = new XMLHttpRequest(); request.open("GET", "http://127.0.0.1:9080", true ); request.send(null); request.onreadystatechange = function() { if( request.readyState == 4) { if(request.status != 0) { _callback(true); } else { _callback(false); } } } }
The approach described here can be used also when using API Bridge from other languages, as Flash Lite or Java ME. Anyway, when working with Flash Lite, in the scenario where API Bridge is not yet installed, you will incur in the typical (and horrible) error popups, that will inform you (and so the user) that the network call failed.
How to use the code above? First, define a callback:
function pollApiBridgeCallback(apiBridgeInstalled) { if(apiBridgeInstalled) { alert("API Bridge is already installed on the device"); } else { if(confirm("You have to install API Bridge to continue, press OK to download it")) { widget.openURL('http://www.yourserver.com/APIBridge_v1_1.sis'); } } }
Then, just call the pollApiBridgeServer() method by passing a reference to this callback:
pollApiBridgeServer(pollApiBridgeCallback);
Using one of the two approaches discussed above as some important advantages over the standard API Bridge deployment mechanism:
On the other side, these approaches have the main drawback on the user-experience side, since your users could be asked to download and install an additional component when they start to use your application. Anyway, this event will happen only once at most, so it could be considered reasonable in most scenarios.
Forum Nokia has recently published a very informative guide about developing RIAs for mobile devices: A developer’s guide to creating Rich Internet Applications for Nokia devices.
The document focuses on three kind of applications: websites, web apps, and stand-alone Adobe Flash applications, covering all topics involved in design and development of a RIA, from development tools to user experience design and evaluation, from testing to going to market.
Mobile offers significant opportunities for RIAs. The ability to access data and information anywhere there is a suitable network connection is of significant appeal to mobile users. The knowledge that their data is also securely stored on a remote server, regardless of what happens to the mobile device, is a significant attraction as well.
With many hundreds of millions of Nokia devices already in the market place that can run RIAs now, there has never been a better time to go mobile with your RIA.
We’ve seen, in this previous post, how to setup Eclipse in order to develop both Web Runtime widgets and Flash Lite applications, thanks to Aptana, the Nokia Web Runtime plugin and FDT. This article will focus on how to create a Web Runtime widget that includes some Flash Lite content.
First of all, be sure to have installed all the required Eclipse plugins, as described here.
To create a Web Runtime widget, just open up the “New Project” wizard and select the “New Nokia Web Runtime Widget”.
The wizard will now let you choose from some predefined widget templates. In this article, it is enough to start with an empty widget.
And finally enter the name and identifier of your new widget. The identifier has to be a string in the reverse domain format, and will uniquely identify your own widget.
Once created, the widget’s structure should be the one shown below.
First, create a new Flash Lite project by using the “New Flash Project” template. Then, create the project’s main class. One example is the MainMovie class shown below:
class com.jappit.flashlitetest1.MainMovie { public function MainMovie() { } public static function main(container : MovieClip) : Void { Stage.align = "TL"; Stage.scaleMode = "noScale"; container.createTextField("tf", 1, 0, 0, 100, 100); var tf : TextField = container["tf"]; tf.text = "I'm the Flash Lite content!"; } }
Now, the MTASC command has to be changed a bit, so that the generated SWF will automatically end up in the Web Runtime widget project’s folder.
To do this, open up the MTASC launch configuration, and change the generated SWF path to be a subpath of your widget’s main folder. You can see an example of the command in the picture below.
Now, run the project launch configuration, and check the widget’s folder: the SWF generated by MTASC should be there, together with the other widget’s files.
Forum Nokia Wiki has a comprehensive article explaining the possible ways of integrating Flash content into a Web Runtime widget. In this article the first described approach, the same used on the Web, is implemented.
So, take the widget’s index.html file, and add this HTML code:
<object id="MyFlash" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="200" height="200" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="align" value="middle" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="loop" value="false" /> <param name="menu" value="false" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="wmode" value="opaque" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <param name="src" value="default_mtasc.swf" /> <param name="name" value="Finish" /> <embed id="MyFlash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" height="200" src="default_mtasc.swf" name="Finish" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="opaque" quality="high" menu="false" loop="false" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" align="middle"></embed> </object>
If all went well, all is ready to be packaged and deployed.
Right click the project, choose “Package widget”, deploy and enjoy!
You can download the widget built in this article here: Flash Lite enabled WRT sample widget.
Thanks for the write up man.
nice article, thanks for posting.
Thank you! Glad to know you liked the article
Nokia devices offer a wide range of technologies and languages that can be used to create mobile applications. Two of these are strictly related each other, and can be used together to create applications that benefit of both sides: Flash Lite and Web Runtime.
For this reason, in this article I’ll try to explain how to setup a single environment that may allow development on both technologies, so leveraging the development phase from continuous swaps between different IDEs, and by boosting it all thanks to the powerful Eclipse platform.
First of all, download Eclipse. I currently use version 3.5 on my own machine, but other versions should work as well.
Once downloaded, proceed installing the following plugins:
After you’ve installed the above plugins, you’ll notice two new project types in your Eclipse project wizard: Flash and Nokia Web Runtime projects.
Basically, these 3 plugins are all you need to start developing both Web Runtime and Flash Lite applications. Anyway, FDT needs some further configuration steps to properly work with Flash Lite apps.
FDT needs to know how to compile your Flash Lite projects. You basically have two choices: use the Adobe Flash IDE, or use MTASC.
FDT uses the standard ActionScript 2 classes to allow you to compile your Flash Lite project. Anyway, these lack some Flash Lite-specific classes and functions, as ExtendedKey and SharedObject.addListener() method, that have to be manually added, as also explained here.
To do this, go into the “<ECLIPSE_ROOT_FOLDER>\configuration\com.powerflasher.fdt.core\.config\core\as2\” folder and:
intrinsic class ExtendedKey { static var SOFT1:String = "soft1"; static var SOFT2:String = "soft2"; static var SOFT3:String = "soft3"; static var SOFT4:String = "soft4"; static var SOFT5:String = "soft5"; static var SOFT6:String = "soft6"; static var SOFT7:String = "soft7"; static var SOFT8:String = "soft8"; static var SOFT9:String = "soft9"; static var SOFT10:String = "soft10"; static var SOFT11:String = "soft11"; static var SOFT12:String = "soft12"; }
var scope : Object; static function GetMaxSize() : Number; static function addListener(objectName:String, notifyFunction:Function) : Void; static function removeListener(objectName:String) : Void;
function fscommand2(command:String, parameters:Object):Void;
If you plan to use MTASC to compile your Flash Lite applications, the above changes have to be performed also to the ActionScript files used by MTASC itself. These files are typically placed in the “<MTASC_ROOT_FOLDER>\std” folder: go there and repeat the 3 steps above for ExtendedKey.as, SharedObject.as and TopLevel.as.
That’s all! Now let’s give FDT a quick test to check if all is correctly configured.
Creating a new Flash Lite project is straightforward: just select “New Flash project” from the Eclipse project wizard, and then choose a name for your project. In the Project Language section, be sure to select “ActionScript 2″.
Once the project has been created, switch to the “Flash FDT” perspective by selecting “Window” -> “Open perspective” -> “Flash FDT”.
Now, create the project’s main class. The only required method to be implemented is the static main(), that has to perform all the initialization operations:
class com.jappit.flashlitetest1.MainMovie { public function MainMovie() { } public static function main(container : MovieClip) : Void { Stage.align = "TL"; Stage.scaleMode = "noScale"; container.createTextField("tf", 1, 0, 0, 100, 100); var tf : TextField = container["tf"]; tf.text = "Hello World"; } }
Now, if the FDT configuration was properly done, you shouldn’t get any errors. So, if all is ok, open the “Run Configurations…” panel from the “Run” menu.
Under “FDT MTASC” create a new launch configuration. In the “Main” sub-panel select the main class created just above.
Then, go to the “Miscellaneous” sub-panel and check the “Start SWF after compilation” option. This way, the SWF will be immediately launched, after each build, in the Eclipse’s internal SWF viewer.
Now, all is ready to be tested: just run the created launch configuration, and enjoy your new Flash Lite app
And here’s the generated SWF running on a real device:
Next tutorials will focus on using both Web Runtime and FDT plugins to develop Flash Lite-enabled widgets. So, stay tuned!
This week’s featured article on Forum Nokia Wiki, written by Jarmlaht, does a good job explaining how to use USB cable connections in Java ME, covering a topic where references and sample code are really few.
This article updates the existing Forum Nokia document MIDP: Using Cable Connection In Nokia Devices. The document explains how to use CommConnection over cable in Nokia devices. There are differences in devices and their port numbers, and also on PC side. In practice using USB connection between PC and mobile device might need some testing.
Pedro Cardoso, 
Diogo Moreira and one other person are discussing. 
Wez are discussing. 
Pat 4:16 am on March 1, 2010 Permalink
Hi Alessandro , I’m trying to understand how to package/install a custom API bridge with a J2ME app. A specific post about that would be great. Thanks.
Diogo Moreira 2:13 pm on June 7, 2010 Permalink
Hi Alessandro, Is there anyway to change themes phone using APIBridge by requisition for wrt ?
I wait answer, Thanks !
pit 2:38 pm on June 7, 2010 Permalink
Yes, by implementing a custom plugin you can also let a WRT widget change the device active theme. This Forum Nokia Wiki article could help for the C++ part:
http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/TSS000456_-_Changing_the_active_theme
Pedro Cardoso 6:49 pm on June 25, 2010 Permalink
Hi,
I’m trying to use APIBridge on my app as you explain on this post, but whenever I try to do a function call (ie: retrieve the list of photos, or resize an image), the app crashes without any warning. Just quits and that’s it. The APIBridge detection is working as you outlined.
Do you know any way I can troubleshoot, where/if any logs exist that explain the cause?
Thanks a bunch.