King BlackBerry Development Companion eBook Available Advanced Advanced BlackBerry Development Trim: 7.5 x 9.25 spine = 0.84375" 448 page count Unlock the secrets of advanced BlackBerry development Chris King COMPANION eBOOK SEE LAST PAGE FOR DETAILS ON $10 eBOOK VERSION US $39.99 Shelve in Mobile Computing User level: Intermediate-Advanced www.apress.com SOURCE CODE ONLINE BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS ® this print for content only—size & color not accurate CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK PANTONE 123 C SPOT MATTE ISBN 978-1-4302-2656-7 9 781430 226567 5 39 9 9 • Learn to create, debug and deploy professional quality BlackBerry applications • Discover the breadth of the BlackBerry platform and unlock its potential. • Incorporate key features such as cryptography, video and text messaging into your code D o you want to write compelling software for some of the most popu- lar phones in the world? This book shows you how to write top-notch, professional applications for the BlackBerry platform. In my career developing mobile software I’ve found that vital information is often buried deep inside multiple API documents, whitepapers, message boards, sample code, and the heads of engineers who have fought against problems until they were solved. Unless you’re lucky enough to work with a bright and friendly person who is an expert with a lot of spare time on their hands, it’s dicult to get a compre- hensive view of how everything hangs together. I enjoy writing BlackBerry software, and have battled many of the issues that can trip up developers, so I wrote this book to help others get over those hurdles. Building software is fun; dealing with a phone’s foibles is not. Once you get comfortable with the platform and its quirks, you’ll nd BlackBerry programming very rewarding. You’ll learn about many of the cool features available for your use, like recording audio, playing video, and sending text messages. You’ll learn the deep voodoo of cryptography. Perhaps most exciting of all, you’ll see how your applications can burrow into the phone’s core features, becoming indispens- able to users. Whether you’re a veteran looking for a map across the BlackBerry mineeld, or a new recruit learning the lie of the land, this book will show you the best way to achieve your objectives. I hope that, by the time you nish this book, you won’t just know how to write great BlackBerry apps, but will be able to write them quickly and get them working on as many phones as possible with as few headaches as pos- sible. Good luck, and have fun! Chris King is a software engineer specializing in mobile development. Having developed applications for BlackBerry, Android, Java ME, BREW, and Windows Mobile devices, his software has been pre-loaded on tens of millions of phones in the United States alone. Advanced BlackBerry Development ■ ■ ■ Chris King Advanced BlackBerry Development Copyright © 2009 by Chris King All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-2656-7 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-2657-4 Printed and bound in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. President and Publishing: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Ewan Buckingham Technical Reviewer: Levon Dolbakian Editorial Board: Clay Andres, Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Jonathan Gennick, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Mary Tobin Copy Editor: Kari Brooks-Copony and Mary Tobin Compositor: LaurelTech Indexer: BIM Indexing and e-Services Artist: April Milne Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax 201-348-4505, e-mail orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit http://www.springeronline.com. 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For Mom and Dad iv Contents at a Glance ■ Part 1: Advanced APIs 1 ■ Chapter 1: Getting Started 3 ■ Chapter 2: Media Capture 41 ■ Chapter 3: Media Playback 71 ■ Chapter 4: Wireless Messaging 115 ■ Chapter 5: Cryptography 163 ■ Part 2: Device Integration 193 ■ Chapter 6: Personal Information 195 ■ Chapter 7: Browser 241 ■ Chapter 8: Digging in Deep 277 ■ Part 3: Going Pro 317 ■ Chapter 9: RIM Security 319 ■ Chapter 10: Porting Your App 349 ■ Chapter 11: Advanced Build Techniques 379 ■ Chapter 12: Conclusion 397 ■ Appendix: Codec Support 401 ■ Index 409 v Contents Contents at a Glance iv Contents v About the Author x Acknowledgments xi Introduction xii ■ Part 1: Advanced APIs 1 ■ Chapter 1: Getting Started 3 Initial Setup 3 Application Types 10 Connecting to Files and Networks 23 App: Media Grabber 30 Excelsior 39 ■ Chapter 2: Media Capture 41 BlackBerry vs. Sun APIs 41 Creating a MediaPlayer 48 Controlling Output 49 Recording Audio 51 Using the Camera 53 ■ CONTENTS vi Video Capture 55 Invoking the RIM Alternative 56 App: Media Grabber 59 Excelsior 69 ■ Chapter 3: Media Playback 71 Finding Content 71 Playing Audio 81 Playing Video 93 Displaying Images 93 Invoking Native Apps 101 App: Media Reviewer 103 Excelsior 113 ■ Chapter 4: Wireless Messaging 115 The Messaging Quiver 115 Sending Text Messages 126 Sending Multimedia Messages 132 Plugging In to Email 135 Receiving Text Messages 145 Receiving MMS Messages 150 Reading Email 152 PIN Messaging 155 App: Sending and Receiving Media Messages 156 Excelsior 161 ■ Chapter 5: Cryptography 163 Is It Secret? Is It Safe? 163 SATSA 167 Bouncy Castle 168 RIM Crypto Classes 173 Using the Certicom Classes 178 ■ CONTENTS vii Other Encryption Choices 180 App: Securing MediaGrabber 183 Excelsior 190 ■ Part 2: Device Integration 193 ■ Chapter 6: Personal Information 195 Address Book 195 Adding Contacts 206 Editing Contacts 207 Saving Contacts 212 Searching for Contacts 213 Reading Contact Data 217 Deleting Contacts 218 Invoking the Native Address Book 219 The BlackBerry Calendar 221 Using BlackBerry Calendar Events 226 Showing Calendars 228 I Have A ToDo List? 231 Take a Memo 233 Personal Changes 234 App: Selecting Recipients 236 Excelsior 239 ■ Chapter 7: Browser 241 Browser Types 241 Web Development or App Development? 247 Launching the Browser 249 Embedding a Browser in Your App 253 Embedding Your App in a Browser 264 App: Friend Tracker 269 Excelsior 275 ■ CONTENTS viii ■ Chapter 8: Digging in Deep 277 A Content Handling System 277 Iconic 298 Native Menus 304 App: Enter from Anywhere 308 Excelsior 316 ■ Part 3: Going Pro 317 ■ Chapter 9: RIM Security 319 The Ownership Question 319 Security Policies: “You Can’t Do That!” 320 User Permissions: “May I Do This?” 326 Firewall: “Don’t Go There” 337 MIDlet Permissions: “I Will Do These Things” 340 Application Signing: “Do I Know You?” 343 App: Ask for Permissions 343 Excelsior 347 ■ Chapter 10: Porting Your App 349 Understanding Hardware Differences 349 Understanding OS Differences 360 Understanding Language Differences 363 Understanding Platform Differences 371 App: Localized Text 373 Excelsior 378 ■ Chapter 11: Advanced Build Techniques 379 Moving Beyond Eclipse 379 Versioning Strategies 383 Debugging and Logging 387 Other Build Issues 389 App: Logging, Building, and Updating 392 ■ CONTENTS ix Excelsior 395 ■ Chapter 12: Conclusion 397 Parting Shots 397 Resources 398 Summit 399 ■ Appendix: Codec Support 401 Notes 406 ■ Index 409 [...]... restarts, you will see a new BlackBerry menu option at the top You will also have access to two new debug configurations: BlackBerry Device and BlackBerry Simulator Figure 1-1 shows what your Eclipse environment should look like once you have installed the Plug-in and started a new project CHAPTER 1: Getting Started Figure 1-1 Eclipse configured for BlackBerry development BlackBerry Programs If you... Provides a quick introduction to BlackBerry development You’ll see how to set up your programming environment and learn the fundamentals of Java development for BlackBerry Chapter 2, “Media Capture”: Shows how to record audio and video from within your application or other applications on the device Chapter 3, “Media Playback”: Describes the vast range of media types supported by BlackBerry and how to include... basics of BlackBerry app development You may linger, skim, or skip ahead as your patience demands Initial Setup As with any new language or platform, you will need to install some new software and set up your computer appropriately There are many different ways to run a successful BlackBerry project RIM supports only Windows development, but it has done a good job of releasing tools that enable development. .. location, enter http://www .blackberry. com/go/eclipseUpdate The BlackBerry Update Site will display Several options are available At a minimum, you will need to select the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse and at least one BlackBerry Component Pack 5 6 CHAPTER 1: Getting Started Note: You may be asked to enter a user name and password You can register for a free developer account on the BlackBerry web site... Anatomy Advanced BlackBerry Development is divided into three parts Each part concentrates on a particular theme The book was designed to be read in sequence, as each chapter builds on the chapters that come before, but veteran developers can easily move to the parts that interest them the most.Part 1, Advanced APIs” This first part of the book focuses on the rich feature set offered by modern BlackBerry. .. are new to BlackBerry development, you should start with Chapter 1, which offers an accelerated introduction to the platform Spend as much time here as you need and continue once you are comfortable with all the material You can continue reading the remainder of the book in sequence, working through all the examples and reading the notes ApprenticeIf you have some familiarity with BlackBerry development, ... look for the Java SE download You only need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) However, if you plan on doing other Java development besides BlackBerry, you can download the full Java Development Kit (JDK), which also includes the JRE Tip: When installing any development software, I suggest you pick an install path that has no spaces in it For example, instead of installing to c:\Program... the BlackBerry APIs, particularly those related to media and wireless messaging, are similar or identical to their Java ME counterparts I point out the important differences within the text These developers should particularly focus on Chapter 1 for setting up their BlackBerry environment and Chapter 9 to learn about the critical differences between Java ME and BlackBerry security Master Finally, BlackBerry. .. you can always keep going a little further, always learn something new I’ve found BlackBerry programming to be a particularly fun trail, and hope you will enjoy the journey too Keep striving, keep moving upward, and appreciate the view xv 210 Part 1 Advanced APIs The best BlackBerry apps take advantage of the rich set of advanced APIs available on this platform The chapters in Part 1 describe some of... Figure 1-1 Eclipse configured for BlackBerry development BlackBerry Programs If you are developing for a personal BlackBerry device, you probably already have the BlackBerry Desktop Manager and the BlackBerry Device Manager installed If not, installing them is very easy Go to http://www .blackberry. com and look for the “Desktop Software” download You may need to select your provider and download the . King BlackBerry Development Companion eBook Available Advanced Advanced BlackBerry Development Trim: 7.5 x 9.25 spine. phones in the United States alone. Advanced BlackBerry Development ■ ■ ■ Chris King Advanced BlackBerry Development Copyright © 2009 by