Developing for BlackBerry 10 – Tools and SDKs by Luca Filigheddu
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The document is a presentation by Luca Filigheddu on developing for the BlackBerry 10 platform, highlighting its large user base, developer ecosystem, and revenue potential. It covers various development tools, including native SDKs, Cascades UI framework, and WebWorks for HTML5 applications, emphasizing options for developers to create applications using different programming languages and frameworks. Additionally, it discusses the integration of Android applications and the importance of community support in the BlackBerry development environment.
Developing for BlackBerry 10 – Tools and SDKs by Luca Filigheddu
- 1. Develop for BlackBerry 10 Approaches and Possibilities Luca Filigheddu –Developer Evangelist Developer Relations EMEA - BlackBerry @filos
- 2. Agenda • Why developing for BlackBerry • Platform Overview • Developer Ecosystem • Technical Overview • Q&A
- 3. Why developing for BlackBerry 10?
- 4. Storefront Reach Over 80 Million Subscribers 170 Markets Over 4 Billion Apps Downloaded Over 70.000 BB10 Apps Approved For Sale 100.000+ BB10 apps submitted for review 110.000+ apps for BBOS and older devices 54.000+ vendors 4
- 5. Money! 5
- 6. More money for devs! Ÿ 4% more than iOS developers (per App / month) Ÿ >35% more than Android developers (per App / month) Ÿ Developing an app for iOS costs „ 21% more than Android „ 81% more than BlackBerry 6
- 7. Ok, now let’s talk about technology!
- 8. Acquisitions Webkit Experts Platform OS UX / UI Design ! Ripple Web Development Social Contacts Device Mgmt. Social Calendaring App Distribution Encryption Smartphone Navigation Social Gaming Security 8
- 9. Platform Ÿ Built on QNX Neutrino Real-time OS Ÿ Microkernel based OS Ÿ POSIX Compliant OS „ (Portable Operating System Interface) Ÿ Native C/C++ Applications „ Direct OpenGL / HW Access „ Qt/Cascades for native development 9
- 10. Transition 10
- 11. Choices!
- 12. BlackBerry 10 SDKs Java C/C++ HTML5, CSS, JavaScript ActionScript Android Native SDK WebWorks Adobe AIR Runtime 12
- 13. What to choose? Ÿ Background and Skills „ Reuse of existing code, assets Ÿ Requirements „ Cross-portfolio, cross-platform, features Ÿ Platform Capabilities „ APIs, tooling, frameworks, constraints Ÿ Tools „ IDE, utilities, simulation, familiarity Ÿ Support „ Community, docs, samples 13
- 15. Standard • STL and POSIX compliant libraries • Screen and Windowing APIs • Gestures library • Input events library • Imaging and Compression • OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 • OpenAL 1.1 • Freetype Font Rendering • Math • XML and SQLite Database library 15
- 16. Cross-platform Libraries • Boost: portable C++ libraries • Cocos2D-X: cross-platform 2D game framework • Box2D: 2D physics engine • Bullet : 3D physics engine • GamePlay: cross-platform 3D gaming framework • Lua: embeddable scripting language • SFML/SDL: cross-platform multimedia library. • Skia: Fast 2D rendering engine 16
- 17. Gaming Platform Ÿ Scoreloop SDK „ Integrate Social Gaming Features „ Solid Analy8cs „ Cross-‐pla<orm presence „ Billing / Mone8za8on feature Ÿ Payment APIs for in-‐Game transac8ons 17
- 18. BlackBerry on GitHub • Open Source Development Community • Port libraries and frameworks • Create libraries and frameworks • Collaborate and contribute • Work directly with other BlackBerry Platform Developers blackberry.github.com 18
- 19. Game Engines Ÿ Unity Technologies Ÿ Marmalade SDK Ÿ ShiVa3D Game Engine with Development tools Ÿ More Coming! 19
- 20. Development tools • GCC and GDB based tool chain • Momentics IDE - Eclipse based C/C++ Development Tools • In-built Application Debugging, Profiling and Memory Analysis • Microsoft Visual Studio plugin 20
- 21. Visual Studio Plugin Ÿ You can use the BlackBerry Native Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio to develop C and C++ applications for your BlackBerry 10 device or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. 21
- 22. Links Ÿ BlackBerry Na8ve SDK developer.blackberry.com/na2ve -‐> “Download the Na-ve SDK” -‐> “Get started with Na-ve SDK” Ÿ Blackberry Open Source blackberry.github.com 22
- 23. Cascades C++/Qt
- 24. What is Cascades? Ÿ Easy to use framework for delivering the astonishing user experience and UI „ Rich set of core UI components „ Built in signature effects „ Pre-‐packaged interac8on design „ Easy data binding to various data sources (SQL/XML/JSON) „ Ease of integra8on with pla<orm services „ C++ and/or QML/JavaScript® power for the same object model 24
- 25. What is Cascades? 25
- 26. Out-of-the-box Elegance 26
- 27. Cascades and Qt • Mature C++ application framework • Good APIs • Signals and Slots • Many help classes • QML • QtGui Cascades Cascades 27
- 28. Creating UIs • Creating UIs in C++ is a lot of fun, but there are easier and faster ways to describe UI. • QML • declarative language to describe trees of Qt objects with properties (typically user interface) • Looks like JSON • Embed JavaScript as signal handlers • A different view of the same object model that C++ offers • Easily mixed with C++ • Preview your QML UI in Cascades Builder 28
- 29. Why Cascades? • For Qt Developers…. • Cascades replaces Qt Quick, Qt GUI • Cascades Builder replaces Qt Creator • Slightly different QML syntax • So, why Cascades??? • Cascades UI rendering NOT on the main thread • BlackBerry10 Look and Feel • Advanced placement management of components 29
- 30. Cascades UI Framework • Rich collection of in-built controls • Some 30+ fully customizable UI controls • Action Bar • Navigation – Tabs & Back • View specific actions • Context Menu • Item specific actions 30
- 31. Hello World in Cascades import bb.cascades 1.0 Page { content: Label { text: "Hello World" } } 31
- 32. Hello World in Qt Page* root = new Page; Label* label = Label::create() .text("Hello World"); root->setContent(label); Application::instance()->setScene(root); 32
- 33. Cascades IDE QML editor with syntax highlighting/ code completion QML design view Component library (Drag and drop to QML) QML tree view, QML properties view 33
- 34. Links Ÿ BlackBerry Cascades „ developer.blackberry.com/cascades Ÿ Blackberry Open Source „ blackberry.github.com/cascades/samples.html 34
- 35. BlackBerry WebWorks HTML5
- 36. BlackBerry10 & HTML5 Ÿ Unparalleled Standards Support Ÿ Incredible Performance 36
- 37. HTML5 and WebWorks Ÿ Port your existing Webs to BlackBerry WebWorks • HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript • Leading in mobile browser benchmarks • Allows for cross-platform web development • Broadest portability, Native Look&Feel (BBUI.js), any IDE 37
- 38. WebWorks for BB10 • The SDK has been re-written for BlackBerry 10 – No longer based on Java or Adobe AIR – It is now based on JavaScript with a C/C++ back end – The packaging process uses node.js 38
- 39. Why HTML5 and WebWorks? Decision guidance Ÿ Utilize your existing Web experience „ Re-use lots of cross platform code Ÿ Extend with BlackBerry® WebWorks™ platform to securely access native level functionality „ Provides the best of both worlds Ÿ Rich hardware accelerated UI Ÿ BB10 apps built with BlackBerry® WebWorks™ behave like native apps 39
- 40. BlackBerry Web Platform § Driven by strong Web standards support § Powered by WebKit § HTML5 and CSS3 § Flash 11 and WebGL § WebWorks and Cordova 40
- 41. What can you do? • Geolocation • Offline mode • Storage • Audio / Video • 2D Graphics • Advanced forms • Invoke • Web Workers • Notifications 41
- 42. How do I get there? Web Assets WebWorks Tools BlackBerry Applica8ons 42
- 43. Custom WebWorks API • Build your own APIs – Access native layer functionality – More powerful than just HTML5 – E.g. NFC, Clipboard, Barcode, Analytics • JavaScript interface for platform code – BlackBerry OS = Java – Tablet OS = AIR – BlackBerry 10 = C/C++ 43
- 44. HTML5 Emulator - Ripple • A multi-platform mobile emulator for testing – Chrome Extension – Render Web content similar to a web browser – Emulate device-specific APIs and capabilities – Web inspector debugging & profiling – Package and sign BlackBerry applications • Supported APIs: – WebWorks, WebWorks for Tablet OS – WebWorks for BlackBerry 10 – PhoneGap 44
- 45. Ripple Extension 45
- 46. Web Platform Extras § AliceJS library § CSS3 hardware acceleration § WebGL § 3D Graphics, OpenGL ES 2.0 § Community frameworks 46
- 47. bbui.js • Designed for use with BlackBerry WebWorks • A web framework that provides a BlackBerry Look and Feel • Framework goals • Follows BlackBerry 10 UI guidelines • Efficient screen management • Focused on performance and memory optimization • Open source and collaborative • Community driven, not officially from BlackBerry 47
- 48. bbui.js - Cases 48
- 49. Links Ÿ SDK + Simulators „ http://developer.blackberry.com/html5 Ÿ GitHub „ https://github.com/blackberry/BB10-WebWorks-Samples 49
- 50. Android Runtime and Packager
- 51. BlackBerry Runtime for Android™ Ÿ Enable Android software stack running on the BlackBerry 10, including „ Application framework „ Dalvik Virtual machine „ Graphics and media „ Structured data storage, e.g. SQLite® „ Device access, e.g. GPS, accelerometer, compass, etc. Ÿ Run at full speed directly on the OS kernel „ Optimized performance; NOT virtualized „ Tightly integrated with the underlying OS Ÿ Currently based on Android 2.3.3 (aka Gingerbread) 51
- 52. Target Developers • Android App Developer • Only here because it is another avenue to sell their application • Heard that BlackBerry had an Android Runtime and thought they would check it out • BlackBerry Java Developer • Decided to invest in Android Java to hit both BlackBerry and Android devices • Their Java App does not use many/any BlackBerry APIs • Frustrated that we do not support Java runtime on BlackBerry anymore 52
- 53. Compatibility and Limitations Ÿ About 65-70% of all Android apps are compatible today Ÿ Not all Android APIs are supported • Hardware and OS limitations Ÿ Currently major unsupported features include: • Bluetooth • Google Maps (workarounds available) • NFC • Native Android Code Ÿ Android Apps are limited to the personal perimeter Ÿ Full compatibility list: developer.blackberry.com/android/apisupport/ 53
- 54. Porting Existing Apps Ÿ 4 Tool options to use • Online Conversion Tool – quickest way to get app converted • Eclipse Plug-in – For most Android developers • Command-line Tools – For advanced developers • Graphical AID – very easy to use For more information: http://developer.blackberry.com/android/tool/ 54
- 55. Success stories 55
- 56. Links Ÿ Where to start „ http://developer.blackberry.com/android 56
- 57. Adobe AIR
- 58. Developing with Adobe AIR Ÿ Easily adapt and deploy exis8ng content Ÿ Na2ve BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry 10 component set look and feel Ÿ Can create hybrid apps Ÿ Access to na8ve (C/C++)API’s with Adobe® AIR® Na8ve Extensions (ANE) Ÿ Lots of great community support Ÿ Lots of open-‐source frameworks 58
- 59. Tools and getting started Ÿ Flash Builder 4.6 and 4.7 Powerflasher FDT (Eclipse based) Ÿ Adobe AIR SDK with Adobe ActionScript and Adobe Flex APIs create an engaging user experience „ unique UI components and predefined skins „ listeners for events that are specific to BlackBerry devices Ÿ access the features that are unique to mobile devices „ Accelerometer „ Geolocation Ÿ you can create AIR Native Extensions (ANE) 59
- 60. BlackBerry 10 UI Ÿ QNXSkins.ane stores the assets for the skins „ Device deployed ANE „ Correctly sized assets are stored on the device „ Reduces application file size 60
- 61. Support Ÿ Currently, Adobe AIR 3.1 is supported Ÿ Adobe AIR 3.4 and Stage 3D will be supported soon 61
- 62. Links Ÿ SDK + Simulators „ http://developer.blackberry.com/air Ÿ GitHub „ https://github.com/blackberry/Samples-for-AIR 62
- 63. Q&A
- 64. THANK YOU Luca Filigheddu – Developer Evangelist Developer Relations EMEA – BlackBerry @filos