Today is the launch of the Gold version of the BlackBerry 10.1 SDK for Adobe AIR. Thank you to everyone that has been helping us test it so far! For a full list of API updates and fixes, please head over to the release notes.

Port your AIR apps

Re-compile your existing BlackBerry PlayBook AIR applications to BlackBerry 10. If you’re already using the fuse component set that debuted with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK for Adobe AIR, the port should be quick and easy. You can get more details from this blog post.

For more details on what’s coming after Gold for the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, please visit our Adobe AIR roadmap.

Hot on the heels of our last episode, which covered the Momentics tooling, this particular video will fill you in on our SDK for Adobe AIR. Julian Dolce joins us to discuss upcoming roadmap items that we’re looking at to improve the AIR SDK.

BlackBerry Jam Unplugged is an ongoing series that gives a bit of color and insight into the BlackBerry 10 SDK roadmap. We’ll run this video series leading up to BlackBerry Jam Americas in Orlando to give some background on the topics that we will discuss at length during the conference.

So tune in, and find out which upgraded version of the Adobe AIR Runtime will come to BlackBerry 10!

For those who don’t me, my name is Pratik Sapra and I work as a Gaming Consultant on the Developer Relations team at BlackBerry. In my role, I work with game developers on the technical side and help them bring awesome gaming titles to the BlackBerry platform. I am really looking forward to this weeks Game Developer Conference along with the rest of the BlackBerry gaming crew.

In that regard, I am very excited to share that we have a great set of in-booth sessions (Booth 1216) lined up at our GDC booth. We will be presenting a wide range of topics covering everything you need to know about game development on BlackBerry 10. You will be hearing directly from BlackBerry gaming experts on topics including Native Development, Cocos2dx, Unity, Scoreloop and many more. We will be kicking off each day with a general overview session followed by a set of how-to sessions focused on specific topics and technologies. Scroll down below for the full session schedule.

Wednesday, March 27^th

10:00 – 10:15AM            Native Game Development on BlackBerry 10

11:00 – 11:15AM            How to set up a native game in under 10 minutes on BlackBerry 10

1:15 – 1:30PM                  How to add gamepad support to BlackBerry 10 games

2:00 – 2:15PM                  How to write an HTML 5/ WebGL game on BlackBerry 10

2:30 – 2:45PM                  How to write an Adobe AIR application on BlackBerry 10

3:00 – 3:15PM                  How to write a multiplatform game on Blackberry 10

Thursday, March 28^th

10:00 – 10:15AM            Social Gaming on BlackBerry 10

11:00 – 11:15AM            How to bring your Unity 4 game to BlackBerry 10

1:15 – 1:30PM                  How to port your iOS game to BlackBerry 10, Tips & Tricks

2:00 – 2:15PM                  How to bring your Cocos2dx game to BlackBerry 10

3:00 – 3:15PM                  How to add Leaderboards and Achievements to BlackBerry 10 games using Scoreloop

Friday, March 29^th

10:00 – 10:15AM            Building your Gaming Strategy for BlackBerry 10

10:30 – 10:45AM            How to add in-game advertising to BlackBerry 10 games

11:00 – 11:15AM            How to add in-app payment services to BlackBerry 10 games.

1:15 – 1:30PM                  How to package, publish and distribute your BlackBerry 10 game on BlackBerry World

2:00 – 2:15PM                  How to save BlackBerry 10 game state in the cloud

2:30 – 2:45PM                  How to convert, build and debug BlackBerry 10 games with Visual Studio

Today is the launch of the Gold version of the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR. Thank you to everyone that has been helping us test it so far! For a full list of API updates and fixes, please head over to the release notes. Below are some of the benefits of using the gold release of the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR.

BlackBerry UI / Same components as native

The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR has been rebuilt from the ground up to allow developers to create applications that adhere to the BlackBerry UI branding guidelines. Basically all of the components you would get if you were a native developer, you also get in the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR.

Performance

Developing Adobe AIR applications that perform well on mobile is a challenge, and is also one of the main reasons why so many Flash developers shy away from mobile development. The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR was built specifically for BlackBerry 10 and mobile development. If you use the components of the SDK, you can be assured that they are the best performing components for BlackBerry 10.

Multi-screen development

With the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, developers can use the Container API to organize the application’s UI controls. By using a layout, a Container manages the positioning and size of any UI component that it contains. This allows developers to target multiple aspect ratios and orientations easily without having to specify set dimensions for their application.

Native capabilities

The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR has native capabilities baked right in. You can easily take advantage of things such as invocation, sensors, push, notifications, payment and more.

Port your AIR apps

Re-compile your existing BlackBerry PlayBook AIR applications to BlackBerry 10. If you’re already using the fuse component set that debuted with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK for Adobe AIR, the port should be quick and easy. You can get more details from this blog post.

For more details on what’s coming after Gold for the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, please visit our Adobe AIR roadmap.

The BlackBerry SDK for Adobe AIR has support for Flash Builder 4.7 but developers should note that the installation process is different. As of Flash Builder 4.7 developers must install the BlackBerry SDK for Adobe AIR then install the BlackBerry plugin through Flash Builder 4.7.

Full installation instructions can be found in the documentation here.

*Note: Flash Builder 4.7 tries to default all applications to use AIR 3.4 so when developing for BlackBerry developers must force the Adobe AIR run-time to version 3.1. Instructions on how to do this can be found here.

Here’s a guest post from Marysia – Ed.

Calling all UK devs! Want to develop an app for BlackBerry 10?

Have a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha testing device, but hit a few stumbling blocks and need some help to just get it moving again?

Got an Android, iOS or Qt app that you want to port to the platform?

Are you an HTML5 dev with a great app that could be a hit on BlackBerry 10?

Then look no further! We are holding a series of open days at our Tech Centre in Slough in December with a technology focus for each event! Just book your place at the event that suits you, come along and spend the day with our experts who will guide you through the process and give you some one to one help with your development issues.

To find out more and register for a place visit https://developer.blackberry.com/supportjams and click on “BlackBerry Support Day” and hover over the relevant date on the calendar!

• 4^th December – Come port your Android apps to BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 10
• 6^th December – Learn from the experts on how to port from iOS to BlackBerry 10
• 11^th December – No platform loves HTML5 like BlackBerry does – come learn how to port your PhoneGap, Sencha, or jQuery based app to BlackBerry 10
• 13^th December – Love C and C++? This is the day for you.
• 18^th December – Qt pros – come learn how to expand your market using BlackBerry Cascades.

One thing we heard over and over again during the BlackBerry® Got Game Port-a-Thon was that developers loved getting almost instant responses to their questions from one of the many members of our Developer Relations team.  Why stop a good thing?  Starting Wednesday, November 21^st and continuing right up until January 30^th, we’ll have be offering live time in the forums, where you can expect to get responses as quickly as we can type them.

How will it work?

Two hours a week, every week, we’ll address one of the developer audiences listed below.  We know we have an active developer community, and we want you to participate.  Since there’s no way to lock a forum thread, we’ll go low tech: if you know the answer to a question and you intend to respond to it, simply reply to the thread indicating “got it” then go ahead and type your response.  This simple claim of ownership will prevent multiple devs from responding to the same question at the same time.  And as per usual in the developer forums, if your question was answered, mark it as “solved” or if you see a good response, put a “like” on it.  Basically, just give recognition to those who deserve it.

When and where?

Mondays:
Marmalade: 10 AM to 12 PM (GMT-5) in Marmalade’s developer forums.
Sencha: 12 PM to 2 PM (GMT-5) in Sencha’s developer forums.

Tuesdays:
Cascades™ – BlackBerry Java porting to BlackBerry 10: 10 AM to 12 PM (GMT-5) in the BlackBerry developer support forums.
PhoneGap: 12 PM to 2 PM (GMT-5) in the BlackBerry developer support forums.

Wednesdays:
Qt: 10 AM to 12 PM (GMT-5) in the BlackBerry developer support forums.
jQuery: 12 PM to 2 PM (GMT-5) in jQuery’s developer forums.

Thursdays:
BlackBerry WebWorks™: 10 AM to 12 PM (GMT-5) in the BlackBerry developer support forums.
Android: 12 PM to 2 PM (GMT-5) in Stack Overflow.

Fridays:
AIR: 12 PM to 2 PM (GMT-5) in the BlackBerry developer support forums.

Watch for more time slots to be added in the near future to better accommodate our developers in Asia-Pacific.  See you in the forums!

Speaking of porting, don’t forget our 36 hour The BlackBerry Got Game Port-a-Thon  starts tomorrow! Check out this post for details and how you can get some awesome rewards for porting apps to BlackBerry® 10. – Ed.

The BlackBerry® 10 SDK for Adobe® AIR® has been created to make it easier for you to create Adobe AIR applications on multiple screen sizes while keeping mobile performance in mind. If you’re a developer that has one or more of the 6000+ Adobe AIR applications on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, this article will help point you in the right direction for getting your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet application updated for BlackBerry 10. This blog post will cover:

• Getting started
• User interface guidelines
• Support for multiple screen sizes
• Fuse UI
• Layouts
• Application icon size
• Samples
• Help

Getting Started

The first thing you’re going to want to do is download and install the latest versions of the BlackBerry 10 Beta SDK for Adobe AIR 3.0 from this location. This link also provides steps on how to download and install the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Simulator, which you’ll also need if you haven’t attended a BlackBerry Jam event and got yourself a Dev Alpha unit. To get your development environment set up, you can follow one of the many guides located here. If you are porting content that was originally created using Adobe® Flash® Professional, there is a guide you can follow here.

User interface guidelines

The user experience for BlackBerry 10 has changed significantly from the experience on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Creating a cinematic experience, having fluid workflows, and emphasizing high performance are just some of the key principles that BlackBerry 10 applications should follow. The BlackBerry 10 UI Guidelines cover these principles and specify design, interaction, and style guidelines for your app.

Support for multiple screen sizes

Your BlackBerry 10 application should support the different screen sizes so that it looks consistent across devices. You specify the splash screen in the BAR application descriptor file and you can add them for each supported screen resolution. The BlackBerry 10 OS chooses the correct icon and splash screen to use based on the device that the application is running on.

Currently, the BlackBerry 10 OS supports the following screen sizes:

To support multiple screens in your BlackBerry 10 application, modify the bar-descriptor file.

<splashScreens>
   <image>splash-1024x600.jpg</image>
   <image>splash-600x1024.jpg</image>
   <image>splash-1280x768.jpg</image>
   <image>splash-768x1280.jpg</image>  
</splashScreens>

Fuse UI

In BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR 2.0, the qnx.fuse.ui API was introduced as a replacement for the qnx.ui API used in version 1.0. While the qnx.ui was deprecated, it remained available to applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook OS.

In the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, the qnx.ui API has been removed, and you must update up your application to use the qnx.fuse.ui API.

In order to use the qnx.fuse.ui API in your application, you must add the QNXSkins AIR Native Extension to your application. For more information, see Adobe AIR native extensions.

Layouts

In BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR 2.0, the container methodology (highlighted in qnx.ui.core) was deprecated in favor of using layouts to organize your UI components.

In the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, the container concept has been removed, and you must update your application to use the layout method.

You can use the Container class to organize your application’s UI controls. By using a layout, a Container manages the positioning and size of any UI component that it contains. Any controls that are added to a container are known as children. A container can also contain other containers, called sub-containers.

Below a container is created and a rowLayout is assigned to it:

//Create container
container = new Container();
container.scrollDirection = ScrollDirection.VERTICAL;
container.height = stage.stageHeight;
container.width = stage.stageWidth;
//Create layout
var row:RowLayout = new RowLayout();
container.layout = row;
row.spacing = 5;
row.padding = 5;

Application icon size

When creating new application icons, make sure that your application icon is the appropriate size for the application platform.

Samples

There are some BlackBerry 10 Adobe AIR samples that you can download the source for that will help you get started. You can find a description and the download location here. If you’re new, I recommend starting with the “Starship Settings” application and then moving on to the “Weather guesser” application for some more advanced layout techniques.

Help

If you need help, here is a list of resources that you can reference:

The Adobe AIR Development BlackBerry Support Community Forum
BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR API Reference (beta)
The BlackBerry SDK for Adobe AIR Documentation
The Adobe AIR Development BlackBerry Resource Center

If all else fails, you can tweet me @dustinmalik or tweet @BlackBerryDev.

In honor of 10/10 and the opening of BlackBerry App World™ for BlackBerry 10 app submissions, we’ve put together a list of the 10 most viewed blog posts in the developer blog about BlackBerry 10. It’s been an eventful couple of months! Check out how far we’ve come:

1. BlackBerry 10 Cascades™ is here!
2. Introducing Built for BlackBerry and the $10K Developer Commitment
3. Standardizing on Screen Resolutions for BlackBerry 10 devices
4. The BlackBerry 10 Native SDK Experience
5. BlackBerry 10 WebWorks™ SDK Released!
6. BlackBerry 10 – The Evolution from Beta to Gold
7. Flight Arrival Boards have been posted!
8. The BlackBerry 10 User Agent String Has Arrived!
9. BlackBerry 10 Samples Galore
10. Creating Outstanding Apps with bbUI.js – Community Tutorial

Now, you can submit your app to the BlackBerry App World for BlackBerry 10.

What was your favorite BlackBerry 10 related blog post? Share with us in the comments below!

• The flow of developing your first application by following the Adobe AIR developer site needs some improvement. We discovered there are some disconnects with how developers go from downloading the tools to getting their helloWorld application created and deploying it to a simulator or a device.
• Finding our way through the documentation was confusing. We found that when we were trying to complete certain tasks, the docs were not very straightforward or easy to find.
• The downloads page doesn’t include links to everything you need to download. For example, if you don’t have JRE 1.6, you’ll need to download and install it before you install the SDK. Also, to use FDT, you’ll need to download and install the Flex 4.6 SDK.
• There were system requirements for each tool you needed to download. It would have been nice to see one amalgamated requirements list.
• Samples need to be easier to download and should be easy to get working in supported platforms.
• There needs to more information and documentation around developing a BlackBerry 10 experience in AIR and more best practices.

We have many more pages of notes that we took throughout the day. The next step is to create bugs in the Developer Issue Tracker so that you can follow along with the progress as we make improvements for a better Adobe AIR development experience. You can expect those to come next week. We hope to address the top issues in the coming weeks.