Come and get it! We’ve just released an update to the BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 and BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment (JDE) v7.0. Download the new versions today to take advantage of the latest upgrade.

You’ll find updates to the API documentation, code samples and an auto-complete feature. Multiple fixes to the BlackBerry smartphone simulator and MDS-CS Simulator are also included and the BlackBerry Java SDK now includes Mac. Download it today!

• BlackBerry® Java® Plug-in for Eclipse® v1.5 (Windows) – this includes the BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0
• BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 – note BlackBerry Java Plug-in v1.5 must be installed first
• BlackBerry JDE v7.0 MR

Have a look at the release notes for a complete list of changes in this release.

You can find out more about the features and APIs that were new in BlackBerry 7 at our BlackBerry 7 development page.

For all you hard-working developers out there, the BlackBerry® Smartphone Simulator is an essential tool: it enables you to run BlackBerry® smartphone applications on your computer. The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator includes the BlackBerry native applications that are typically available on BlackBerry smartphones, and enables you to load and test your own applications. You can even simulate and test various connectivity and state changes – definitely useful when you’re trying out a new app! When you use the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator to perform testing, you might need to simulate additional BlackBerry services; the BlackBerry® Email and MDS Services Simulator Package are available for this purpose.

In short, the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator allows you simulate all the aspects of the BlackBerry smartphone including battery conditions, network conditions, SD Card, GPS capabilities and more. In this post, I will briefly describe how to simulate some of the functionalities of the BlackBerry smartphone. Before we go further, let’s quickly recap where you can find the latest BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators. All the most up-to-date BlackBerry simulators can be found at the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators page under the Developer Resources section of the website. You can also head here for the complete instructions on installation details, and you can find more detailed information on the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators at the BlackBerry Documentation site.

How to Simulate Battery Conditions

1. On the Simulate menu, click Battery Properties.
2. Set one of the following options:

How to Simulate Network Coverage

The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator can simulate various states of network coverage, from a strong signal to a very weak signal. The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator can also simulate a loss of network coverage.

Add a network

1. On the Simulate menu, click Network Properties.
2. Click Add.
3. Type the network properties in the dialog.
4. Click OK.

Set the network signal strength

1. On the Simulate menu, click Network Properties.
2. Select the network you want to simulate from the Networks list.
3. If you want to edit the network properties, click Edit and type new values. Click OK.
4. Select or clear the In coverage check box.
5. Move the Signal strength (RSSI) slide bar to set a value. The signal strength can be between -120 dBm and -40dBm.

How to Simulate a Media Card

The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator loads and saves the media card image to < session_name >*.sdcard in the working directory, unless you have set the /sdcard=< path > option. When the simulator starts, it loads the media card image for the BlackBerry smartphone profile. If no image exists or you have specified /clear-sdcard, the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator will create a new media card image when the simulator starts. The size of the media card image is 32MB, unless you specify otherwise using /sdcardsize=< size >. In this case, you must clear the existing card image using /clear-sdcard to create a new card with the specified size. If a media card image exists, its size will be retained even if you specify a different size using the /sdcard-size command.

The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator inserts the media card within the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator unless you specify /no-sdcard-inserted.

Change the media card

1. On the Simulate menu, click Change SD Card.
2. Complete one of the following tasks:

How to Use Hotswap with the BlackBerry Simulator

Hotswap, the ability to reload an application on to a running simulator without having to stop and start the simulator, is now part of the 5.0 BlackBerry Simulator.

BlackBerry Smartphone JDE 5.0

In JDE 5.0, you need to change your Simulator preferences. Toggle the “Reuse Simulator” checkbox to on. (If the Reuse Simulator checkbox is grayed out, that simulator is not compatible with Hotswap.) Then, when debugging your application, you can change the code at any time and redeploy it without restarting the simulator by going to Debug > Restart or pressing Shift-F9.

BlackBerry® Java® Plug-in or BlackBerry® Web Plug-in

No changes are needed – you no longer need to close your simulator. While the simulator is open, simply make changes to your code and press debug – it will automatically redeploy the change to the running simulator.

Do you have any questions or comments about using the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulators? Please leave a comment and let us know!

Do you know what it takes to make a Super App? There are certainly many aspects you can take advantage of to create the Super Apps experience, but today let’s look at using the Application Messages API introduced in 4.6 OS – also known as message list integration, which allows applications to add entries into the message list. Leveraging this API in your application will allow you to seamlessly integrate with the native email application.

New Classes or Methods:

net.rim.blackberry.api.messagelist

Why should we be using Application Messages API? Simple: a BlackBerry smartphone user primarily looks at their messages application throughout the day. By displaying custom information directly in the message list, you can create that integrated experience with the messages application.

So how does this work? Basically, your application will create an ApplicationMessageFolder which will contain any messages created by your application. When an application message is added to the folder, it will be placed in the message list using the provided information from the ApplicationMessage Interface. This enables the user to open the application message, which then opens in the applications screen and contains the contextual information about this object. As shown in the screenshot above, all your application specific messages are in a single folder and appear in the user’s main messages application.

One common use case for this feature is adding a welcome message to the applications message list when the user first installs your application. You will find that applications such as BlackBerry® App World™, Facebook and Twitter do this today, making the applications more compelling and more useful for the end users. Additional examples using the Application Messages API to create this integrated experience include:

• Notifying the BlackBerry User upon the receiving new information; examples include weather alerts, status of flight, or even notifying the user if friends are in the same city.
• Alerting the user on application upgrade availability. For example, BlackBerry App World integrates with the Application Messages API and notifies the user on application upgrade availability.

Now let’s look at the Application Indicator API, which goes hand-in-hand with the Application Messages API. As shown in the screenshot below, the Application Indicator API allows applications to leverage the top banner area to display a new notification, in order to inform the user of an event occurring with your application.

Similar to how the email application displays a counter for the number of unread emails, an application can provide an image and optional count that is specific to the application itself. As shown in the above image, an application icon appears in the banner section with a value shown as 19. As best practice, your application message should always be paired with ApplicationIndicator, using it as an unread count as seen in the above screenshot (although ApplicationIndicator may not necessarily require ApplicationMessages).

Another best practice to consider when using the Application Message API is to not clutter your end user’s main inbox. To avoid this negative experience, you should provide your users an option to disallow your application-specific messages from appearing in the main inbox. One other important note I want to mention is that when using the Application Messages API, your application needs to perform an initialization on device startup by registering the application indicator and message list. This is also demonstrated in the Message List Demo sample application which can be found as part of your BlackBerry JDE installation.

As you can see, Application Messages API integration gives your application the ability to provide an effective user experience. Since your application is now one step closer to delivering the Super App experience, I’d like to remind you that you can qualify for the BlackBerry Super Apps Developer Challenge and win some great prizes – this is your last weekend to enter (here are some additional tips to help you out if you’re stuck)!

Please write your thoughts in the comments section, and let us know what your favorite applications are that take advantage of Application Messages API integration. Also, if you have any questions please ask away!

With the latest simulators and BlackBerry® Java Plug-in or BlackBerry® Web Plug-in, it’s possible to change your code and publish it to a running simulator without a reset. This new feature will greatly improve your development experience and is particularly valuable for those little UI tweaks when you’re working on getting something just perfect.

The hot swap feature is integrated right into the debugging process, so all you really need to change about your existing workflow is to stop closing the BlackBerry® Simulator. After you’ve launched the simulator and need to make a change to the code, just jump back to your code and make the change without closing your app or the simulator. When you’ve completed the change, run the debugging configuration that you ran before.

In the background, the tools will:

1. Rebuild your code.
2. Unload the modules from the running simulator.
3. Load the new version to the simulator.
4. Reconnect the debugger.
5. Return to the application that was in the foreground.

So if you left your application in the foreground, you’ll see your changes without even launching the application again, and all this takes only a few seconds. Watch the video above to see an example of hot swap in action.

Added to the improvements is the simulator startup time; it’s faster and easier than ever to get developing on the simulators, and you still benefit from the simulators running the same Java code as the BlackBerry® smartphone does for outstanding accuracy.

If you upgraded from the BlackBerry® Java Plug-in for Eclipse® v1.1.1, make sure you are using the new JRE by following these steps:

1. Manually select the upgraded BlackBerry JRE by navigating to Windows > Preferences > Java > Installed JREs.
2. Select the old BlackBerry 5.0.0 JRE and click Edit.
3. Change the Definition File by navigating to the new BlackBerry JRE (with the File button).
4. In the components folder, select the BlackBerry.ee file and click Finish
5. Your Definition File path should look like this:

Have you tried out the hot swap feature yet? Leave us a comment and let us know how it worked out for you!

As part of the BlackBerry® Developer Relations team here at RIM, we are continually working with our development teams to design and deliver improvements to the developer tools available for building applications for BlackBerry smartphones.

In general, the most popular development tools in the market are Eclipse and Microsoft® Visual Studio®. Today I want to share some more with you on what Eclipse means for BlackBerry development, and what some of our philosophies and goals are moving forward for these tools.

We definitely understand the power and flexibility of Eclipse for many different types of development. This is the key reason why we have really been moving forward with a plug-in approach to Eclipse for both our Java and Web tooling and moving away from our traditional Java Development Environment.

We have been taking feedback and suggestions from the community and are now looking at our integration with Eclipse from a new angle. This new vision is apparent in our recently introduced Eclipse Web tooling for BlackBerry Widgets as well as combining that with major changes in the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse version 1.1.

We really want to let Eclipse do what it does best, and add in BlackBerry tooling functionality where it is needed (BlackBerry Simulator support, Debugging, etc.). This allows you as a developer to use Eclipse for your development exactly as you would for any other project.

Some of the enhancements to v1.1 are:

• Getting started page: Easy access to BlackBerry KB articles, videos and BlackBerry® Developer Zone content
• Support for Eclipse project artifacts and folder structures: Compatibility with source code control systems and Eclipse methodologies
• Leverage familiar Eclipse functionality for BlackBerry development: Enable use of Eclipse features such as multiple source folders in a project, Eclipse variables, file and folder linking in projects, refactoring, working sets and launch configurations, and inclusion/exclusion patterns in projects
• Support for multiple BlackBerry OS versions within a workspace: Reduced development time, cleaner project organization
• Define project properties in a BlackBerry Application Descriptor File: XML-based files enable easy maintenance and tracking of changes using a source control system
• Wizard to import sample applications or BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment (BlackBerry JDE) based projects into a workspace: Reduced development lifecycle

If you have suggestions and/or feature requests for our Java tooling, please be sure to leave me some comments on this post, because it is your feedback that will continue to help us shape our tooling.

The BlackBerry® Developer Conference is fast approaching, bringing with it a truckload of exciting sessions for both the experienced and budding developer. While we highly recommend you check out the Session Catalog yourself, who better to fill you in than the esteemed blogging team at the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog? Below you’ll find Application Development Consultant Tim Windsor’s three most exciting enterprise related sessions.*

DEV11 Hidden Gems – Little Known, But Highly Useful BlackBerry Java APIs and BlackBerry JDE Features
Personally, I always enjoying finding those little known APIs that I might have overlooked, but fit some perfect niche when I know what they can be used for. I’ve also known Denver for several years and he has the attention to detail, passion for programming and good API development that ensures this will be a great session. Expect to leave with new tools to enhance the overall performance and construction quality of your apps.

DEV14 The Cutting Edge of User Interface Design
This session is going to be very cool. Enterprise apps today require a high quality user experience in order to be successful, in much the same way that consumer apps have always needed a bit of ‘flare’. Users expect a great deal of polish and ease of use. Here you can expect the very best of what is possible: they are here to show you how to make your apps look incredible. If there’s any room at all, I’m going to be sneaking in the back.

DEV17 Deliver the Complete BlackBerry Smartphone Experience: Integrating Your Applications with Nati…
One area that I’ve frequently seen done minimally is integration with the core apps or using the core apps to do their part while the 3rd party app handles its niche. It’s a significantly better user experience to leverage the core apps as users are comfortable with them and they’ve undergone years of user experience refinements. Of course, if you don’t have to write the same features into your app, that will save valuable time. Cassidy will also be talking about some of the excellent new APIs in BlackBerry OS 5.0 which have been high on the developer community’s wish list. These APIs will allow you to bring core features and data into your apps easily – again saving time and maintaining a consistent experience. Overall, this session is going to help you make an application that fits with the other core apps so your users get the best experience on their BlackBerry smartphone, and that’s key to any successful app.

Post a comment and let us know which sessions you’re excited for. We hope to see you there!
*Bloggers were not allowed to choose sessions that they are running.

Building on the momentum of our extremely successful Web Development and Toolkits webinar , we will be hosting our second ever developer webinar on Tuesday, October 20th, addressing mobile design considerations for application development. Read on for a more detailed overview of this live and free webinar.

Presenter: Sarim Aziz, Senior Application Development Consultant, Developer Relations
Panelists: Mike Kirkup, Director, Developer Relations
Date: Tuesday October 20, 2009.
Time: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST.

Overview:
Join us in an online discussion for BlackBerry Java developers which will help you better understand mobile application design considerations through a review of best practices and real world examples.

We’ll help you address design considerations specific to mobile applications, from Network Communication and User Interface, to Data and Memory management. We’ll also take a look at how you can leverage the BlackBerry Java Development Tools for debugging and optimizing your BlackBerry applications.

After the information presentation, developers will have an opportunity to interact with BlackBerry experts in a real time Q&A session. What are you waiting for? Click on the link below for registration information!

BlackBerry Developer Webinar: BlackBerry Java Development Tools

Here’s what a spin box looks like:

As seen in the screenshots above, developers can use one or more spin boxes, which are managed by a spin box manager. The manager is responsible for enforcing a common look across the controlled spin boxes e.g. height, visible rows, and padding.

Spin boxes do not necessarily have to contain only text. While RIM currently provides a text version of a spin box, developers are free to implement their own spin boxes. For example, developers can create a custom spin box that renders bitmaps. Creating custom spin boxes will be covered in a future post.

Using spin boxes in your application

As mentioned previously, the BlackBerry Java Application Development v5.0 Beta 3 release provides a text version of the spin boxes. The key components when using spin boxes include:

• One or more sets of choices
• One or more spin boxes
• A spin box manager

Here is a code snippet that will produce a spin box similar to the screenshots above.

Interested in learning more? In future posts, we will discuss:

• Advanced use of spin boxes
• How to create custom spin boxes
• The new date and time picker which uses the spin boxes

Stay tuned!

BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator Initial Launch

The BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator keeps all simulated flash memory in .DMP files – you can find these in the simulator’s working directory. Whenever you need to get rid of any persistent data that you have accumulated, you can either delete these files manually or do it from within the BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment (BlackBerry JDE) or the BlackBerry® JDE Plug-in for Eclipse. This acts as a grand reset giving you the equivalent of a brand new BlackBerry® smartphone. However, the next time the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator launches it will need to load all the OS files (including any applications it finds in the current directory) and link them within the newly created file system. This obviously takes time – possibly up to 3 minutes. On the IBM® ThinkPad W500 I use at work it takes 32 seconds which is still a considerable wait time.

So, rule number one: delete the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator file system only when necessary.

There is also an option to automatically reset the file system every time you start the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator – make sure it is also turned off unless you really need it.

• In the BlackBerry JDE, you can find it by selecting Edit -> Preferences -> Simulator -> Memory and unchecking the “reset file system on startup” option.
• In the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse, select Debug -> Run Configuration and uncheck the option under the Memory tab.

Debug Sessions

The debug session is a connection established between the BlackBerry JDE and the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator to enable… well, debugging. Establishing a debugging session requires many prerequisites to be prepared both on the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator side and on the debugging tool side. When the debugging session is established on my laptop it takes 32 seconds for initial launch and 16 seconds for subsequent runs.  Without debugging it takes 23 seconds for initial launch and 10 seconds for subsequent launches!

Rule number two: establish a debug session only when you have a specific problem to debug.

Don’t worry – if you run the application and find a problem, you can still attach the debugger:

• In the BlackBerry JDE, select Debug -> Attach To -> Simulator or press Ctrl-Shift-0.
• In the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse, choose “Running BlackBerry Simulator” as your Debug Configuration.

How to run the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator without Debugging

Now that it is apparent how much time we can save, let’s see what we need to do in order to avoid establishing a debug session. With the BlackBerry JDE Plug-in for Eclipse it’s pretty straightforward – simply select “Run” instead of “Debug” or use the CTRL-F11 shortcut and the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator will launch right away. Using the BlackBerry JDE requires the slightly more involved process of creating a batch file:

• Open the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator Properties menu and select Edit -> Preferences -> Simulator and then select the Advanced tab.
• Here you have the actual command line that can launch the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator with all the necessary command line options; every time you change an option under the Simulator tab it is reflected in this command line. You also have the proper working directory where the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator should start in order to pick up any compiled applications.

• Now you can create your runBBSim.bat:

pushd "[workingDirectory]"

"[cmdLine]"

popd

• Now replace [workingDirectory] and [cmdLine] with the contents of the corresponding fields on the Advanced subtab of the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator preferences: Command Line and Working Directory. Don’t forget to put quotes around any paths containing spaces to make the Windows command-prompt happy.

Here is what my batch file looks like:

pushd "C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry JDE 4.7.0\bin\..\simulator"

"C:\Program Files\Research In Motion\BlackBerry JDE 4.7.0\bin\..\simulator\fledge.exe" /app=Jvm.dll /session=9500 /app-param=DisableRegistration /app-param=JvmAlxConfigFile:9500.xml /data-port=0x4d44 /data-port=0x4d4e /pin=0x2100000A /handheld=9500

popd

Now you can compile the application in the BlackBerry JDE, start the batch file, and in 10 seconds you will have a running BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator with your application installed on it! Sounds like too much trouble? Believe me it’s worth the effort!

Do you have any other tricks for speeding up the BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator? Let us know by posting a comment.

New BlackBerry® smartphone releases can prompt a whole new set of development requirements and best practices in order to maximize software potential for that device; this is a development reality. So we’ve put together a list of handy links to help educate developers on the BlackBerry® Storm™, the first touchscreen BlackBerry smartphone. These should be useful for both new BlackBerry developers and BlackBerry developers new to the BlackBerry Storm. Check them out below!

BlackBerry® Java® Development Environment Fundamentals Guide – OS 4.7.0
One of the most important reference guides for BlackBerry developers, covering all fundamental areas of BlackBerry development for OS 4.7.0.

BlackBerry Developer Guide (PDF)
An extension of the BlackBerry Java Development Environment Fundamentals Guide that covers additional topics for BlackBerry developers.

BlackBerry Developer Newsletter featuring BlackBerry Storm Development
A MUST READ for BlackBerry Storm development information. Includes tips and tricks, video tutorials and the ever popular Open Mike with Mike Kirkup podcast!

Please post a comment below if you find these resources helpful, or if you have any additional BlackBerry Storm questions.