Forum Nokia Blogs

Starting with GuaranaUI WRT Framework

allanbezerra — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:45:56 +0200

This posts describes how to start the development using GuaranaUI Framework.

The developer can download two version of GuaranaUI. In the full package, build process is necessary. This ant based build system is very flexible, the user can select one of 6 themes available for 2 diferent resolutions. One more easy way is to get the builded version, prepared for 360x640 resolution with default green theme.

1. Copy need files

You must copy lib and themes folders for your widget.

2. Guarana UI PATH Settings

Two paths must be setted in your javascript code:

- NOKIA_PATH_JAVASCRIPT = 'lib/';

- NOKIA_PATH_STYLE_ROOT = 'themes/nokia/base/';

3. Include dependencies

- CSS

- JAVASCRIPT

4. Component creation (for Rating Component)

Nokia.use('rating', function(){

var rating = new Nokia.Rating({

element: '#rating01',

value: 2

});

A complete starting example is available here.

-- Allan Bezerra

Guarana UI online Components Browser

jappit — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:35:28 +0200

Yesterday, the Guarana UI framework has been launched, with a complete set of ready-to-use components that will definitely be useful to all Web Runtime developers.

It's now available a Guarana UI online Components Browser, that allows developers to quickly preview and use all the Guarana UI Components.

Soon it will feature tutorials and guidelines on Components usage, testing and customization.

If you have a WRT widget, a new Component or a proof-of-concept built by using Guarana UI, and want to feature it on this page, just drop me an email or a comment on this post.

Hope you enjoy it! :)

Carbide 2.3 and QT tip

Paul.Todd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:04:38 +0200

I have recently started investigating using QT since its the new Nokia hot topic!

After installing carbide.c++ 2.3 beta I imported a QT project I had written for the desktop and got this error when opening anything to do with QT

"org.eclipse.swt.SWTException: Class ID not found in registry"

The trick to getting rid of this error message is to register the QT DLL's. Look in the folder "configuration\qt" under your carbide installation root folder and there you will find a bat file called "register_plugins.bat" which you will need to run.

This registers all the COM objects eclipse needs and the integrated tools will now work...

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic firmware 40.0.001 on its way?!

biskero — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:38:36 +0200

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic firmware 40.0.001 is almost here according to these pictures on Smartphone Area

Both pictures are from Smartphone Area

Alessandro

Guarana UI: a jQuery-Based UI Library for Nokia WRT available

wmseto — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:58:26 +0200

A Nokia WRT UI framework has been posted in Forum Nokia Wiki page. This will accelerate current WRT widget developers to create innovative applications. Up until now a version of WRTKit UI framework has been shipped with our WRT Plug-in tools for Aptana, Dreamweaver, and MS Visual Studio. Web developers have been asking for UI framework that is closer to what is used in the real world. jQuery is a popular JavaScript UI library/framework. With Guarana UI, developers have one more option to create their WRT widget applications.

http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.php/Guarana_UI:_a_jQuery-Based_UI_Library_for_Nokia_WRT

This is the documentation of the Guarana UI - a jQuery-Based UI Library for Nokia WRT. Nokia WRT is a development and delivery platform that allows the creation of applications (widgets) based on standard web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX.

Wai Seto
FNDC

Why would you need PowerMgmt or TrustedUI capabilities?

Rippe — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:22:26 +0200

I know two reasons: Because you did not want to check the set of capabilities your application actually needs you selected all 13 that you can get through Express Signed. AND you have a DLL which you load to a system process so your applications needs All-TCB (all except TCB capability).

But which are the true reasons? Which are the APIs/features that you use and require PowerMgmt and/or TrustedUI?

Forum Nokia Podcasts: Episode 023 - Developer 2 Developer With Aung Kyaw Moe

bill.volpe — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:51:47 +0200

In this episode, Forum Nokia’s Bill Volpe speaks with Aung Kaw Moe, from 2C2P based in Singapore. Aung discusses his most recent application development projects such as the Mobile Credit Card Reader and also provides some advice for users who are new to mobile software development.

Listen Now

Download MP3

Newer, shinier Design Gallery

darabella — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:07:24 +0200

So we've put the new Design Gallery online and I really hope you like it.

A few of the things that we've added to the showcase are the ability to sort applications via platform, alphabetically, region or time period, so if you're looking for good design examples along specific parameters it should be a lot easier to navigate. I'm also trying to update it with fresh new apps more often, so you always go there to see what's currently hot.

Let me know what you think either as a comment here, or on the discussion boards! Likewise, if you've seen an app that you think has really good design/user experience, do ping!

Arabella

Ovi Map Search Plugin For Mozilla

kamaljaiswal — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:32:58 +0200

I have just developed ovi map search mozilla plugin find places very easily.Currently just tested it locally using Ovi Api.It works gr8 .Here are few snapshots of Ovi Search plugin of Mozilla

1:Ovi appears on your search bar .

2:Searched India Bangalore MG Road.

3:And here you are.

Shared my code and plugin in Dibo.As Ovi Map Api is still in beta accessable to few DiBo

A Conversation with Ed Hodges, Head of Mobile at Touchnote

JasonBlack — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:23:25 +0200

I recently had a chance to interview Ed Hodges, Head of Mobile at UK-based Touchnote. During our conversation, Ed described the unique challenges of delivering a digital service (their mobile app for use on Nokia devices) that includes a physical product (printed photo cards) to consumers worldwide. The mobile version of the service allows people to easily create and send printed postcards using the photos they take with their Nokia S60 3rd Edition mobile devices.

In the case of Touchnote, in a matter of a few short months, the app has been downloaded from Ovi Store by consumers in more than 130 countries - more than doubling the reach of their service from the Internet-only version. The impact of this truly global scale is not lost on Touchnote. Putting it quite plainly, Ed noted:

"If you want that kind of reach, you have to be with Nokia."

Ed also talks about how Touchnote achieves a 40% conversion rate of consumers who download their app and ultimately order a printed photocard directly from their Nokia device.

Listen to the entire conversation in this Forum Nokia podcast now.

For more about Touchnote, watch this video:

You can also take a look at this recent post in the Ovi Daily App blog.

Load your application in a running emulator

ltomuta — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:49 +0200

Everybody loves to hate the Symbian SDK emulator. The first reaction to it usually is: "It is slow, really slooooooow, it takes ages to start it" ;)

Yes, it is true, the emulator is slow, but considering the task it has to perform and the complexity of the system it emulates such slowness is to be expected. However, the problem is not as bad as one may think. Yes, the emulator takes time to load, but then why don't you start it in advance and let it load while you browse your recent emails, so that you have it up-and-running at the moment you really need it.

Many developers already with some Symbian experience will tell you that you cannot do that. But yes, you can! The following video will show a basic Qt application being created, built and run into an already running emulator.

Coming up next: Rebuild without restarting the emulator.

"I ♥ Symbian" T-Shirt

neois — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:59:22 +0200

Yesterday I passed the clothes accessories store and found the alphabet laminate plate. So I bought it and sticked it on my blank T-Shirt with the hot iron. And at last, here it is:

Look great? (Please see only T-Shirt, don't look at that man!) I don't know what you think but I like it ^ ^

Need one? It's quite easy to do, I did it in just 5 mins! So let do it by yourself and show us yours!

Sittiphol Phanvilai

Head for the Clouds - advice for Budding Entrepreneurs

robin.jewsbury — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:21:37 +0200

A month ago, I started my second startup and whereas I now know all the things I should not do again, I can say its just as hard this time. I continue to make mistakes but at least I've learnt from the previous ones and they're different mistakes this time. I thought though for all the other aspiring entrepreneurs out there it's worth blogging about some of my experiences. In this first article I describe my choice of where and how to host my new service.

In our previous startup, we'd used a managed hosting service from Rackspace from a server farm here in London. Rackspace have always been good and we had no complaints. They're ideal for what we wanted: they provide a server(s) which is/are 100% ours sitting in their server farm in a resilient network and have excellent "fanatical" support. The only gripe has been they always seemed a bit expensive and it seemed a big bill to pay on day 1 o f a startup, so when I started this time I looked around for possible alternatives.

An obvious starting point was to look at cloud services. An advantage for brand new startups is that they are really low cost at the beginning and they grow and scale smoothly as the service grows. My selection list took me eventually to 3 possibilities:

Amazon EC2,
Google AppEngine,
RackspaceCloud

Amazon and Google are similar in that they abstract away the database functionality in programmable objects so you do not deal directly with the database in the way my own old fashioned mind expects. For a brand new startup with no legacy code this is the ideal because the new system can be programmed directly for that system. But the issue is also it potentially locks you as a developer into one particular solution ie the Amazon way or the Google way. I did spend several days playing with the GoogeAppEngine and was very impressed. The development environment is all built into Eclipse and writing, testing and deploying code is really just a few clicks and its live. For about a week I thought this was the way and I was planning to take my code and abstract out the database and file storage layers so that I could interface with GoogleAppEngine. Incidently GoogleAppEngine has no mechanism to talk directly to the filing system and I was a little uncertain about this as it could lead to issues for my software which stores large number of images directly in the filing system.

Playing with GoogleAppEngine was free because below a certain threshold there are no charges for use - so this was also ideal for me.

However, I then looked at Rackspace Cloud and suddenly I felt more at home with the approach they had taken simply because it matched the approach we'd taken in the previous startup. With RackspaceCloud Server you get your own virtual server. You buy from them the number of (or fractions of) CPUs you want and disk space you intend to use. The lowest price is very affordable(although not free as with Google). On this server you install what you want - in my case Apache, Tomcat and MySQL server and hey presto you have a fully working service and the legacy code I had which used this directly just worked first time without any modifications needed. Incidently Rackspace have two other services called Cloud Sites and Cloud Files which are more akin with the Google and Amazon approach or taking away direct access to the low level access to the database and filing systems.

Finally, there is the issue of latency. Google and Amazon are world scalable services, but RackspaceCloud is currently only available from their Texas data centre (although its due to be installed in London next year). With Amazon you can choose for your servers to be located in the US or Europe - with Google its unclear where they are sited.

With some concern on this issue I was able to make some measurements on latency comparing the same service running in Rackspace in London with the service running in RackspaceCloud in Texas. The graph below shows the findings:

My conclusion was it was acceptable for a world service to be served from Texas - although serving from London is slightly better overall. The major users of my service are from India and the US. Serving from Texas is really poor for India but obviously for the US serving from Texas is good.

So overall, advice for new startups is think about these new cloud services. They really give you a good cost effective and scalable service. If you're brand new to the game and have no baggage then Google Appengine may be a good choice; if you have existing code and technical approach then services such as RackspaceCloud Server are worth looking at.

For more established startups I recommend moving some of your service onto these cloud services as there will be significant cost savings. Because of my experience with this approach my friends still running my previous startup have done just that and are already saving thousands of pounds in hosting and bandwidth costs.

If people find these sort of posts useful I will be doing more like this after the next few months.

Now setup Google Sync with Mail for Exchange !

vin2ktalks — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:13:04 +0200

While going through Gabor's article On Google's move in navigation, I happen to see the Google Sync page, Google Sync can setup with Mail for Exchange. You just need to download and install the Mail for Exchange (MfE) and later follow the Setup Google Sync.

This is for the first time I saw one of the Google's official page contain a link to NOKIA software, they usually provide all softwares their own. I don't know how many of you're aware of this, those who're not aware they can just try this NOKIA + Google combination.

Mobile Monday in Rio

lpvalente — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:02:55 -0200

Hello people!

The Mobile Monday event is going to take off in Rio next Monday (November 9th). This will the debut of Mobile Monday here in Rio. The event theme is "Mobile Innovations". The confirmed speakers are:

Luis Valente (yeah, it's me ), I'll speak about what I've been doing with Forum Nokia and I'll present some of my mobile projects.
Vagner Diniz, manager of the W3C office in Brazil, who will speak about the W3C role in mobile web innovation.

If you happen to be in Rio next Monday, and would like to attend, please visit the event web site.

See you there!