Developer Labs

Overview

Use these hands-on exercises to learn about developing for the BlackBerry® platform:

• BlackBerry® Browser labs
• Rapid Application Development labs
• BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment labs

BlackBerry Browser Labs

Note: Before beginning these labs, you will need to download and install BlackBerry Device Simulators and BlackBerry® MDS Simulators.

A great starting point for BlackBerry® developers. By completing the following labs you will gain understanding on how to push data to the BlackBerry® Browser as well as how to handle out of coverage scenarios.

• Browser Push (ZIP)
• Offline Form Queuing (ZIP)

Rapid Application Development Labs

Note: Before beginning these labs, you will need to download and install Rapid Application Development Tools.

A great starting point for BlackBerry® MDS Studio developers. This first series of labs explores using the Quick start method for creating BlackBerry MDS Studio applications. Using this approach, you will see how BlackBerry MDS Studio creates and maps the screen, data, and message components.

• Create a BlackBerry MDS Studio project (Microsoft® Word document)
• Customize the user interface on the main screen (ZIP)
• Publish the application (ZIP)

With this series of labs, you create a length conversion application using the bottom-up approach. Applying the bottom-up approach instead of the quick-start approach enables you to design the user interface without having to create the underlying data and message structures.

• Create a Bottom-up BlackBerry MDS Studio project (Microsoft® Word doc)
• Design the main screen and user interface (ZIP)
• Create the communication between the user interface and the length conversion web service (ZIP)
• Optimize wireless bandwidth using message binding (ZIP)

In this series of labs, you will create an application that can access the local address book using the top-down approach in BlackBerry MDS Studio. You will design the application to add a contact or view contact information from the address book.

• Create a contact using the top-down approach (Microsoft® Word doc)
• Display contact information (ZIP)
• Retrieve a subset of contacts on a BlackBerry® smartphone (ZIP)

Learn More

• BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment labs

BlackBerry Java Development Environment Labs

Note: Before beginning these labs, you will need to download BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment tools.

A great starting point for the BlackBerry® developer. In this lab, we will assist developers in learning the basics of creating an end-to-end BlackBerry application. Developers will get an introduction to the BlackBerry development platform and the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (BlackBerry JDE). This lab also covers the APIs, tools and simulators you'll need to develop, test and deploy robust BlackBerry applications.

• Writing your first application (ZIP)
• Creating a user interface (ZIP)
• Localizing an application (ZIP)
• Storing persistent data (ZIP)
• Connecting to the network (ZIP)

In this lab, you'll learn how to implement an effective user interface for BlackBerry® smartphones. The lab will use the built-in APIs as well as demonstrate how to extend existing interface elements to create a new, custom look and feel for your application.

• Introduction to User Interface managers (ZIP)
• Displaying a list of complex records (ZIP)

Ever wonder how your application can automatically send an email or update the Address book on the BlackBerry smartphone? The exercises in this section cover that information and more. In this lab, you will learn how to tightly integrate your application with the BlackBerry platform. We’ll give you the information you will need to use the Email and Personal Information Management (PIM) APIs effectively.

• Sending email messages (ZIP)
• Using PIM functions (ZIP)
• Using the Options API (ZIP)
• Using the MenuItem API (ZIP)
• Listening for email and triggering notifications (ZIP)

The BlackBerry platform is a multi-threaded environment, so why not build background applications to listen for push data or do data processing? In this lab, we'll cover the basics of creating auto-start background applications to act as push listeners. Also, you'll learn how those applications communicate with other applications on the BlackBerry smartphone.

• Listening for pushed data (ZIP)
• Communicating with other applications (ZIP)

Does your application use sensitive data? In this lab, we'll introduce you to the powerful and flexible Cryptography API that comes with the BlackBerry platform. You'll learn how to encrypt and decrypt data along with how to use digital signatures to help ensure the authenticity of information.

• Basic Encryption and Decryption (ZIP)
• Advanced features of the Cryptography API (ZIP)

Learn how to get more out of your BlackBerry applications by learning about some of the advanced features, including Bluetooth®, Location-based Services and Multimedia.

• Bluetooth Demonstration (ZIP)
• Introduction to Location-based Services (ZIP)
• Multimedia Labs (ZIP)