BlackBerry Developer’s Blog

Announcing the BlackBerry Developer Day at CTIA Wireless

03.11.10 Mike

With the success of the Mobile World Congress Developer Day and the event this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I am pleased to announce that RIM will be hosting a two-day BlackBerry® Developer Day event for attendees of CTIA Wireless on March 23rd and 24th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Located in the North Hall Booth #6775, we will be leading 10 sessions covering the basics of the BlackBerry Development Platform, including Java apps, Web apps, Widgets, Themes, BlackBerry App World and of course, how to be successful at creating Super Apps. We will also have experts on hand to answer any of your platform questions.

We look forward to meeting everyone at the event. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about the potential of the BlackBerry platform from the experts!

Filed in: news | Tagged: developer day, developer-zone

Verizon Wireless V CAST Apps: Coming Soon!

03.10.10 Ian

In addition to BlackBerry App World™, our direct-to-consumer application store, our strong partnerships with operators and third party application stores mean that you have more choice, and more opportunity to commercialize your efforts.

Through our partnership with the Verizon Developer Community, we’re happy to tell you that the V CAST Apps store will soon be available on five BlackBerry smartphones: the BlackBerry® Storm™ smartphone, the BlackBerry® Storm2™ smartphone, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8330 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8530 smartphone and the BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630.

The V CAST Apps store provides a great opportunity for BlackBerry developers to put applications in the hands of Verizon Wireless customers.

To submit an application to the V CAST Apps storefront, go to developer.verizon.com and create a free account by clicking ‘Register’ in the top right-hand corner. If you already have an account, click ‘Sign In’. Once you’ve signed in, click ‘Go-To-Market’ on the top navigation bar. Click ‘Submit App’ on the Smartphones pod, and then click ‘Submit V CAST Apps Concept’.

Need more information on V CAST Apps? Here are some resources:

V CAST Apps Quick Reference Guides
V CAST Apps Forum
To email the V CAST Apps team, contact VCAST-Apps@verizonwireless.com

Happy Selling!

Filed in: news

How To Find That Memory Leak (Part Three): Why An Object is Leaking Into Memory

03.9.10 Kamen

This is the third of a three-part series on how to detect a memory leak. In part one, I explained the most common cases for a memory leak in a Java® development environment, and how that can affect your application. In part two, I discussed how to detect potential leaks. Today, we’re going to investigate why an object is leaking into memory in the first place.

How to investigate a memory leak »

Filed in: how-to | Tagged: java, memory leak, virtual machine, weak-reference

BlackBerry Web Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio – Setting the default browser

03.8.10 Prosanta

One of the questions I’m seeing coming across my desk more frequently is “How do I set my default browser to be the BlackBerry® Browser in Microsoft® Visual Studio®?”

The beauty of using the BlackBerry Web Plug-In for Microsoft Visual Studio is that it integrates seamlessly in with the development environment. What that means is that you would switch over to the BlackBerry simulator as your default browser the same way you would switch browsers if you were debugging a desktop site.

How to set the default browser »

Filed in: Tips and Tricks | Tagged: Browser, Tools, Visual-Studio

BlackBerry Community Programs – New England BlackBerry Developers Group!

03.5.10 Ian

At the Mobile World Congress 2010 App Planet event we announced the introduction of a new program supporting local, community-led BlackBerry Developer Groups.

Now, we are sending an open call to all BlackBerry developers in the Boston area who are thinking about developing for BlackBerry smartphones and would like more information. The New England BlackBerry Developer Group is now online and will have its first meeting on March 16th in Cambridge, MA! You can find out more about the New England BlackBerry Developers Group here: http://www.meetup.com/New-England-BlackBerry-Developers

To help kick off this new group, Mike Kirkup, Director, Developer Relations at Research In Motion will be on hand as a guest speaker to talk about programs and services available to you as a BlackBerry Developer, and how you can make your app into a Super App!

Members of BlackBerry Developer Groups will benefit from participation in a local community with shared interests in learning, networking and support, will receive regular platform and program updates from RIM, and have access to exclusive discounts for developer certification exams and select BlackBerry developer events and conferences.

More information about BlackBerry Developer Community Programs can be found on Developer Zone – www.blackberry.com/developers/community

Stay tuned – we will continue to keep you updated about news and events from the BlackBerry Developer Community Programs here on the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog!

Filed in: community, news | Tagged: Community Programs, developer-zone

BlackBerry Developer Day at Game Developers Conference 2010

03.4.10 Brian

Here’s a fun fact: we are going to be at the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California! Similar to our participation at Mobile World Conference 2010, Research In Motion (RIM) is sponsoring a full developer day at GDC on Tuesday, March 9th. The day will feature an exhibitor stand, developer sessions, and all the key people you’ll want to talk to if you’re thinking about developing mobile games for BlackBerry® smartphones.

Game Developers Conference attendees will have the opportunity to hear presentations on both the business and technical side of BlackBerry smartphone gaming. After a full day of sessions on Tuesday, be sure to stop by our exhibitor stand – it’s a sure fire way to make business contacts and get the answers to your burning technical questions. Whether you’re a hobbyist, an indie game developer, or a big time publisher, if you’re into mobile gaming, we want to see you at GDC!

Visit the official Game Developers Conference website for more information on the conference and BlackBerry Developer Day.

Filed in: community, news | Tagged: gdc

New BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators Available!

03.2.10 Douglas

We had so many BlackBerry® Smartphone Simulators added to the BlackBerry Developer Zone last week, that the news was too much to be contained within our weekly BlackBerry Developer Resource Fridays post – they’ve busted out into their own post. We have the different simulators listed by BlackBerry Device Software and model type for reference, but you can find them all at the link below:

BlackBerry Developer Zone BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator Page

BlackBerry Device Software v5.0.0

Model	Theme	Language	Java Apps Version
9700	Generic	Multi-Lang	5.0.0.442
9700	Generic	East Asia	5.0.0.442
9700	ATT	Multi-Lang	5.0.0.405

More BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators »

Filed in: Tips and Tricks | Tagged: dev zone, java, simulator, Tools

BlackBerry Developer Resource Fridays: Week of February 26th

02.26.10 Douglas

Welcome to BlackBerry® Developer Resource Fridays, a reoccurring event here on the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog. We’ll keep you up to date on helpful articles that have been added to the Developer Knowledge Base and other new additions to the BlackBerry Developer Zone. Here are this edition’s pearls of wisdom:

How to – Implement advanced buttons, fields and managers (Knowledge Base Article)
How To – Protect persistent objects from access by unauthorised applications (Knowledge Base Article)
Known issue – UTF-8 characters in a JAD file fail to render when installing an application (Issue Tracker)
Network Transports Tutorial (.PDF)

Tune in next week for more Developer Resource fun, and don’t forget to post a comment about your favorite article and articles you would like to see!

Filed in: Tips and Tricks | Tagged: knowledge-base, network transports

MWC 2010 Follow Up: Interview with Adobe’s Serge Jespers

02.26.10 Douglas

Last week in Barcelona, Spain, Adobe took part in the Mobile World Congress 2010 BlackBerry Developer Day keynote, demoing new tools to aid BlackBerry application development. I had a chance to sit down with Adobe Evangelist Serge Jespers, who took part in the keynote demos, for a brief chat. You can find our discussion about the partnership between Research In Motion and Adobe below. Enjoy!

Who are you and what is your role at Adobe?

I am an Adobe® Platform Evangelist and longtime Flash enthusiast. For more than 10 years I’ve been working with Flash to develop award-winning online experiences, including projects for Belgium’s largest media company in support of numerous TV shows such as Idols, Big Brother, and Miss Belgium. I became an Adobe certified freelance Flash designer/developer in 2004 and joined Adobe in 2007.

I believe you can do virtually anything with Adobe Flash®, and I’m eager to prove it. Born and raised in Belgium, I currently live near Antwerp when I’m not traveling all over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) to spread the word about AIR, Flash, and Flex.

Tell us a little about what you previewed at the App Planet BlackBerry Developer Day keynote…

At App Planet we demoed some of the new workflows between Adobe’s creative tools and both the BlackBerry® and Adobe development environments. With the new BlackBerry plug-in for Adobe Illustrator® version X, it’s incredibly easy to create assets for different screen sizes. It also simplifies the designer’s communication with the developer as he only needs to import one file in to the BlackBerry application development environment he’s comfortable with. We’ve also demoed how you can soon build Flash based applications for BlackBerry® smartphones. With Flash Player support coming to BlackBerry smartphones later this year, this opens up a whole new world for Flash Developers and for BlackBerry users. With Adobe Device Central, developers can emulate their Flash based applications without even owning all the different BlackBerry smartphones. They can also use Adobe Device Central to test and tweak different screen resolutions and test the application as if it was running on the smartphone. A future version of Adobe Device Central will even allow you to test features like the accelerometer and multi-touch.

Tell us why this exciting for developers and designers. How will it make their lives easier?

Designers speak in pixels and developers speak in code. By providing tools like the ones we showed at App Planet, designers and developer almost speak the same language. The tools also make it easier for the designer to create graphic assets that look great on all BlackBerry smartphones and make it easier for developers to use those creative assets in the environments they feel most comfortable in. I’m also really excited to see the Flash Player coming to BlackBerry smartphones later this year. This is going to open up a whole new market for Flash Developers.

Filed in: editorials | Tagged: Adobe, flash, mwc, Tools

Super Apps Webinar Thursday February 25th

02.24.10 Mike

Last week during Mobile World Congress 2010, Mike Lazaridis, President and co-CEO of Research In Motion, introduced the concept of a “Super App”, representing a new class of mobile applications that make you wonder how you ever lived without them. I discussed this concept briefly in a BlackBerry Developer’s Blog post last week. I’m pleased to announce that tomorrow I will be hosting a developer webinar exclusively on the subject. You can find all the relevant details below. We hope to see you there!

Overview:
Learn how to make your application worthy of the title “Super App” by leveraging the unique capabilities of the BlackBerry platform.

In this webcast, we will introduce the concept of Super Apps for BlackBerry and show you how they offer a seamless, integrated and efficient experience. You’ll learn how to design Super Apps that BlackBerry smartphone users will not be able to live without.