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Don't expect miracles here, don't expect solutions to world's problems. It is more likely that I will ask [myself] questions looking for a always elusive answer.
And of course: "All opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily represent the official view of Nokia". I mean it!

Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics

ltomuta | 05 March, 2008 17:02

You know it and I know it, the SDK documentation can be better. In many ways. But maybe the most critical issue is the way the returned errors, leave codes and panics are "documented" is really mind-bugling. One frequent statement is something like "If something goes wrong the method will leave with a system wide error code". Great, like I could not say that by just seeing the nice method name.

With the panics it is even worst as some of the APIs ignore the topic altogether. Very hush-hush stuff, for insiders only. Wink

As a temporary fix there's a new page in the wiki, named "Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics". It will have to grow slowly, as new panics are identified and "documented" but I'm sure it would be of great help to all Symbian developers. So, jump in, add some requests to the queue or some definitions if you have access to the info. 

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Comments

Re: Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics

PushL | 05/03/2008, 18:04

Hi Lucian,

Great initiative, and this brings me to the following. Wouldn't it be possible to dump the whole s60 api documentation on the wiki, in order for developers to contribute/correct/etc it? We know the s60 docs are far from thorough, so it would be a good oportunity to "fill in the blanks".
"Known issues" already does it, and now with this panic list, I'd say the api doc itself would be a glaring next step.

Re: Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics

ltomuta | 05/03/2008, 18:29

ltomuta

I remember that we have been discussing about this some long time ago. I still don't like the idea very much, as I believe it is the SDK provider that should ensure the quality of the documentation. However, one way or another the problem must be fixed so, why not ... but only as a last resort :)

Re: Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics

wizard_hu_ | 22/06/2008, 19:20

It is a nice initiative, but there is a small question: if a panic is undocumented, who will find out what it means?
In other words: who is entitled to "leak" information from Symbian's source? Which is not necessarily secret, just has not been published for same sane/insane reason.
This blog entry is pretty old, but my experience is not: I was sitting at NSN when reading Ernst's question in http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136399
It took about 3 minutes finding out what STORE-Stream 9 is, however after that I tried to search if it has been ever documented anywhere, and it was not. Then I decided to lie "Unfortunately I do not know", and provided some hazy "idea" containing partial information.

Re: Undocumented Symbian OS and S60 panics

ltomuta | 22/06/2008, 20:55

ltomuta

Excellent point. Of course whoever is able to provide the info is probably under some form of NDA or another and this is NOT an invitation to break such a contract.

But, if somebody thinks he/she can share the info then he/she is welcomed to do so, under their own judgment. The others are invited to notify Symbian and S60 about the leakage.

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