Developing Software for Symbian OS 2nd Edition A Beginner's Guide to Creating Symbian OS v9 Smartphone Applications in C++

by Babin, Steve

• ISBN13: 9780470725702
• ISBN10: 0470725702
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-28
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

Many problems encountered by engineers developing code for specialized Symbian subsystems boil down to a lack of understanding of the core Symbian programming concepts. Developing Software for Symbian OS remedies this problem as it provides a comprehensive coverage of all the key concepts. Numerous examples and descriptions are also included, which focus on the concepts the author has seen developers struggle with the most. The book covers development ranging from low-level system programming to end user GUI applications. It also covers the development and packaging tools, as well as providing some detailed reference and examples for key APIs. The new edition includes a completely new chapter on platform security. The overall goal of the book is to provide introductory coverage of Symbian OS v9 and help developers with little or no knowledge of Symbian OS to develop as quickly as possible. There are few people with long Symbian development experience compared to demand, due to the rapid growth of Symbian in recent years, and developing software for new generation wireless devices requires knowledge and experience of OS concepts. This book will use many comparisons between Symbian OS and other OSes to help in that transition. Get yourself ahead with the perfect introduction to developing software for Symbian OS.

Author Biography

Steve Babin works at IBM developing enterprise software for smartphones based on Symbian OS and MIcrosoft Windows Mobile. He has a BSEE from Louisiana State University and over 20 years of software development and leadership experience on a variety of products - including medical devices, Java accelerators, avionics, Internet appliances, and system-on-chip silicon devices - using numerous operating systems. Steve is married to Sharon and has a daughter named Hillary. They live in Austin, TX. He is an Accredited Symbian Developer.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Biography	p. xiii
Author Acknowledgments	p. xv
Symbian Press Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Symbian OS Code Conventions and Notations Used in the Book	p. xix
Smartphones and Symbian OS	p. 1
Notes on this New Edition	p. 1
Smartphone Concepts	p. 2
Smartphone Features	p. 3
The Mobile OS	p. 11
Symbian OS - A Little History	p. 12
Symbian OS Smartphones	p. 15
Other Smartphone Operating Systems	p. 20
Symbian OS Quick Start	p. 23
What Do You Need to Get Started?	p. 23
Firing Up the Development Tools	p. 31
Simple Example Application	p. 38
Building and Executing on the Emulator	p. 56
A Carbide.c++ Project	p. 58
Building for the Smartphone	p. 59
Symbian OS Architecture	p. 63
Components in Symbian OS	p. 63
Multitasking in Symbian OS	p. 64
Shared Code: Libraries, DLLs, and Frameworks	p. 65
Client-Server Model	p. 68
Memory in Symbian OS	p. 70
The Kernel	p. 77
Active Objects and Asynchronous Functions	p. 81
GUI Architecture	p. 83
High-Performance Graphics	p. 85
The Communication Architecture	p. 86
Application Engines and Services	p. 90
Platform Security	p. 90
Symbian OS Programming Basics	p. 93
Use of C++ in Symbian OS	p. 93
Non-standard C++ Characteristics	p. 94
Basic Data Types	p. 94
Symbian OS Classes	p. 95
Exception Error Handling and Cleanup	p. 101
Libraries	p. 115
Executable Files	p. 118
Naming Conventions	p. 119
Summary	p. 122
Symbian OS Build Environment	p. 123
SDK Directory Structure	p. 123
Build System Overview	p. 126
Basic Build Flow	p. 126
Build Targets	p. 131
What is a UID?	p. 135
The Emulator	p. 137
Building Shared Libraries	p. 141
DLL Interface Freezing	p. 144
Installing Applications on the Smartphone	p. 149
Strings, Buffers, and Data Collections	p. 161
Introducing the Text Console	p. 161
Descriptors for Strings and Binary Data	p. 165
The Descriptor Classes	p. 168
Descriptor Methods	p. 186
Converting Between 8-Bit and 16-Bit Descriptors	p. 198
Dynamic Buffers	p. 199
Templates in Symbian OS	p. 203
Arrays	p. 205
Other Data Collection Classes	p. 213
Platform Security and Symbian Signed	p. 217
What is Platform Security?	p. 217
What Platform Security is Not	p. 218
What this Means to a Developer	p. 219
Capabilities for API Security	p. 219
Application Signing in Symbian	p. 232
Getting Your Application Symbian Signed	p. 238
Developer Certificates	p. 244
Asynchronous Functions and Active Objects	p. 247
Asynchronous Functions	p. 247
Introducing Active Objects	p. 249
The Active Scheduler	p. 254
Active Scheduler Error Handling	p. 258
Active Object Priorities	p. 260
Canceling Outstanding Requests	p. 260
Removing an Active Object	p. 262
Active Object Example	p. 262
Active Object Issues	p. 269
Using Active Objects for Background Tasks	p. 271
Processes, Threads, and Synchronization	p. 277
Processes	p. 277
Using Threads on Symbian OS	p. 286
Sharing Memory Between Processes	p. 292
Memory Chunks	p. 293
Thread Synchronization	p. 297
Client-Server Framework	p. 303
Client-Server Overview	p. 304
A Look at the Client-Server Classes	p. 305
Client-Server Example	p. 306
Symbian OS TCP/IP Network Programming	p. 323
Introduction to TCP/IP	p. 324
Network Programming Using Sockets	p. 327
Symbian OS Socket API	p. 334
Example: Retrieving Weather Information	p. 345
Making a Network Connection	p. 356
GUI Application Programming	p. 359
Symbian OS User Interfaces	p. 360
Anatomy of a GUI Application	p. 365
Application Classes	p. 367
Resource Files	p. 377
Dialogs	p. 387
Symbian OS Controls	p. 405
View Architecture	p. 409
Application Icon and Caption	p. 409
References	p. 413
Index	p. 415
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.