Update – Brian Scheirer pointed out that there have been some awesome community samples too! -Ed.

For me, 2012 has definitely been a year of helping developers learn about our native and Cascades development tools. If you’re like me, you’re probably spending the holiday nights doing some coding – so I’ve put together this list of “The Best of Native Development for 2012″.

Cascades Webcasts
Thousands of developers from across the globe joined us for four webcasts to learn beginner to advanced Cascades concepts.  We were able to interact with developers directly, answer questions, and get immediate feedback as samples and code were displayed.  The format proved so successful that we’ve hosted many more webcasts on topics such as the BBM social platform, augmented reality apps, and OpenGL integration.

The live web casts were recorded and are available for viewing here.

Porting Guides
If you have existing content for another platform, we are making it easy to bring that content to the BlackBerry 10 platform.  Being able to re-use code across platforms reduces development and maintenance costs.  Distributing your application to multiple platforms opens you up to whole new market segments and increases your potential user base.  There a number of informative porting guides available to help you build for BlackBerry 10.

• iOS to BlackBerry 10 - http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/12/porting-ios-apps-to-blackberry-10/
• Android to BlackBerry 10 - http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/11/porting-android-game-to-blackberry-10/
• Qt to BlackBerry 10 - http://devblog.blackberry.com/2012/11/porting-qt-apps-to-blackberry-10/

Samples
The best and easiest way to learn to program is to look at sample code.  For every feature that BlackBerry 10 offers there is a sample project showing you how to put it into action.  Whether it’s integrating with BBM, using the Invocation Framework, getting sensor information, or communicating via Bluetooth, we’ve got you covered.

There are samples built right into the Momentics development environment, on the Cascades and Native microsites, and hosted on our github repo.  And if you find a feature that we missed, or an API without a clear example then let us know on Twitter @BlackBerryDev or in our developer forums and we’ll add what you need to get started!

• Cascades Samples - https://github.com/blackberry/Cascades-Samples
• Native SDK Samples - https://github.com/blackberry/NDK-Samples
• Cascades Microsite - https://developer.blackberry.com/cascades/sampleapps/

Stump the BlackBerry Devs
In August we launched a challenge to the BlackBerry Developer community to come up with a UI that would be difficult to implement in the Cascades UI framework.  The Cascades tools development team would try to implement the submissions in a flexible manner that could handle multiple screen resolutions and form factors.  They implemented three of the challenges and presented the solutions during the Unconference Day at BlackBerry Jam Americas.  We were able to show that Cascades is robust framework that is able to create stunning interfaces even when faced with challenging design requirements.  All the solutions are hosted on ourgithub repo.

If you have any Cascades or native dev questions – check out our forums and connect with me on Twitter.

Everyone loves a good webinar. OK, perhaps that’s an overstatement. Nevertheless, we hear loud and clear that our developer community loves them. The series of webinars we have run throughout the summer in conjunction with each successive SDK release have been extremely successful. So why stop now? Tomorrow – Tuesday, December 18th – we are bringing you two webinars that will cover all the latest information related to gold release Native and HTML5 SDKs for BlackBerry 10. The launch event date is coming up fast, so head on over to the registration pages and mark your calendars.

BlackBerry 10 Native SDK

We will take a quick look at what we have achieved so far with our native SDK. We will then look at the latest and greatest API and tooling features that have arrived in this most recent beta as well as the beta that preceded it. This includes things like advertising, SMS and invocation framework enhancements. Also, for the first time you will get a quick preview of the cards that are available to invoke and how you can invoke them. We will also cover some of the important IDE enhancements that have arrived, including the update manager, a brand new spanking project wizard, and the latest and greatest features that have been added to the Microsoft Visual Studio Plugin.

REGISTRATION:
http://www.blackberrydeveloperevents.com/events/webcast/registration/register.html?scoid=1079239157

BlackBerry 10 WebWorks SDK

We’ll take a look at the latest gold release as well as the most recent beta that preceded it. Starting with a quick overview of BlackBerry WebWorks, we will move to a summary of all of the latest features. We will then dive deeper into some of the more interesting features with a live look at code and functioning samples.

REGISTRATION:
http://www.blackberrydeveloperevents.com/events/webcast/registration/register.html?scoid=1079318388

Then continue the discussion after the webcast in our BlackBerry Developer Forums.  From 1 PM to 3 PM EST, we’ll be closely monitoring the forums for any questions, comments and feedback related to the BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform, replying as quickly as we can to foster a live discussion.

The webcast will cover the basics of integrating your BlackBerry 10 application with BlackBerry Messenger.  Learn about the benefits of the BBM Social Platform, including how to help increase the discovery of your application.  By the end of the series, you will be knowledgeable in the features of the BBM Social Platform and know how you can integrate them into your own application.

Topics Covered Include:

• Benefits of the BBM Social Platform
• Features of the BBM Social Platform Including:
  • BBM SP Invite To Download
  • BBM SP Profile Boxes
  • BBM SP User Profile
  • BBM Chat
  • Invoking BBM from Your Application

We hope you’ll be able to attend online or in person, but if not the session will be recorded made available for viewing shortly after the event.

Augmented Reality is a way to enhance what you see around you with the use of your mobile phone’s camera, sensors, and location services. If done right, applications of this technology can take the experience of the consumer to an entirely new level. Implementing this technology can be exciting and challenging at the same time. For those seeking a mature solution, we are extremely delighted about the recent announcement on the BlackBerry® 10 support for the Wikitude SDK.

Following up with that announcement, we are pleased to announce our next webcast on Augmented Reality (AR) Development for BlackBerry 10. Join us to learn how to make use of the Wikitude SDK to create cool AR apps and games for the BlackBerry 10. Get a deeper insight into the concepts of creating AR content using HTML5/JavaScript/CSS and integration into BlackBerry10 Cascades™ applications. Hear directly from Wolfgang Damm, Lead Software Architect from Wikitude Team that created the “Best Augmented Reality Browser 2012“.

Registration is open now! Please signup to reserve your spot for the webcast on November 20th, 2012 at 11:00am EST

http://www.blackberrydeveloperevents.com/events/webcast/registration/register.html?scoid=1075028770

Get up to speed on the features of Wikitude SDK for BlackBerry 10 before the webcast:

http://www.wikitude.com/developer/sdk/wikitude-sdk-blackberry-10

If you want to write your own Cascades™ app using OpenGL ES, you can’t miss our webcast on Building Compelling 3D Apps using Cascades and OpenGL ES, which will take place on July 31, 2012 at 11am EST.

This fourth Cascades webcast will focus on how to combine Cascades and OpenGL ES to create compelling 3D apps. The techniques discussed were first presented at BlackBerry® 10 Jam in Orlando by discussing the creation of GoodCitizenCascades, a Cascades version of the NDK sample app Good Citizen (the original version of this sample app will be posted to the Cascades-Community-Samples repository on GitHub soon). The sample app featured best practices for how to properly structure the OpenGL code and link it in with Cascades, how to leverage Actions and the use of NavigatorPanes for multiple panels, and how to process touch events and use them to control a 3D scene rendered in OpenGL using Qt objects and JavaScript®. In the webcast, we will also expand on the original content with more Cascades tips and tricks based on new Cascades features coming in the next BlackBerry 10 beta release, and demonstrate at least one additional sample app demonstrating some of the integration techniques not covered before.

Registration is now open, so get signed up and reserve your seat today!

Miss the first three webcasts? No problem!

If you would like to attend the fourth webcast but missed the first three, don’t worry — they are available on-demand from the Cascades microsite. Feel free to watch these webcasts, follow along with the sample applications demonstration, and code at the same time. You’ll be able to get caught up on all the information needed to take full advantage of the fourth webcast session.

On the topic of videos: if you are unable to attend this fourth session, rest assured that it too will be posted to the Cascades microsite shortly following its presentation, so keep watch of the site for updates.

I am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming webcasts and interacting with you all again!

It has been just over one month since we announced the first of a series of webcasts dedicated to creating applications using the astonishing Cascades™ UI framework for BlackBerry® 10.

The first webcast focused on the Cascades framework at a high level; how it works, what it can do, and what makes it a fantastic development approach. The second webcast delved deeper into the technical aspects that go along with the major concepts in Cascades; animations, custom components and lists.

We had developers from around the world join. The caliber of feedback received during the sessions was amazing. My favorite part was the ability to interact with developers directly; answer questions, see reactions, and get feedback right as samples and code were being displayed.

How about some more webcasts?

The next webcast will focus on a major aspect of any application – data.  How do you retrieve data over the network? How do you store data? How do you bind data to the user interface? All these questions and more will be answered in Cascades – connect, retrieve, store and display your data which will take place on July 10, 2012 at 11am EST.

Registration is now open, so get signed up and reserve your seat.

Miss the first two webcasts? No problem!

If you would like to attend the third webcast but missed the first two don’t despair, they are available on-demand from the Cascades microsite.

Feel free to watch through these webcasts, follow along with the sample applications demonstration and code at the same time, getting caught up on all the information needed to take full advantage of the third webcast session.

On the topic of videos: if you are unable to attend this third session, rest assured that it too will be posted to the Cascades microsite shortly following its presentation, so keep watch of the site for updates.

I am eagerly looking forward to the upcoming webcasts and interacting with you all again!

After the phenomenal response to the first Cascades™ webcast, I am pleased to let you know that we will be continuing with a second supplementary session Tuesday June 26th: Astonishing UIs using the new BlackBerry® 10 framework continued.

This session will use the knowledge gained in the first session and build upon some of the key concepts that make up Cascades, digging deeper into their functionality. The key features being discussed will be: animations, lists and custom UI components. We will be focusing mostly on the QML aspect of development but will begin to introduce some C++ concepts that will be required to perform some more advanced tasks in Cascades.

Registration is now open — hope to have you there! Come armed with your questions and knowledge gained from the first session.

Get Registered Here:
http://www.blackberrydeveloperevents.com/events/webcast/registration/register.html?scoid=1047459465

If you weren’t able to attend the BlackBerry® 10 Jam event at the start of May in Orlando to get some see some of the great Cascades™ presentations then here’s your second chance! On June 19^th I will be hosting a webinar which will help give you an understanding of Cascades and provide the information needed to get started developing using the new SDK: Astonishing UIs using the new BlackBerry 10 framework 

Consider this your invitation to all things Cascades! Come see what all the hype is about and learn how to get started with the next evolution of application framework for the BlackBerry 10 platform. The session will include an overview of what Cascades is and cover the basics of developing in Cascades; after which we should have some time for a live coding example and a brief Q&A period.

Registration is open now so get signed up to reserve and I will see you on June 19^th!

Register Now!

Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Duration: 1 hour
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion® (RIM®)

The webcast will cover:

• How to quickly port your current BlackBerry® platform application to BlackBerry 7 and key considerations when designing your app for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones
• BlackBerry 7 API Overview: Includes new hardware enabled features on BlackBerry 7 devices such as Magnetomer, Near Field Communications, Augmented Reality, OpenGL ES 2.0 as well as APIs that enhance the Super Apps experience
• Q&A with RIM application development expert

Don’t miss out on this event! You must be registered in order to attend, so register today!

UPDATE: We have added more convenient times to our BlackBerry 7 webinar schedule for developers who are based out of Europe or Asia. The details and registration links are below, so sign up today! You must be registered to attend these events:

EMEA
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm BST
Duration: 1 hour
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion (RIM)

AP
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Time: 12:00 pm HKT
Duration: 1 hour
Registration: Sign up here for this webcast
Presenter: Paul Bernhardt, Application Development Consultant, Research In Motion (RIM)

Sincere thanks to everyone who joined us for the “Developing using the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK” Webcast series. The recordings for each session of the webinar are available to access online. If you haven’t already done so, please schedule some time to set aside and watch them at your own convenience.

During this series, attendees were presented with a variety of topics, code samples and best practices. The goals of each of these sessions were to provide developers with new information they can use to build great applications for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, as well as enabling them to share the knowledge they learn within their own development communities. Here’s an overview of what each webcast covered:

Webcast Part 1 – Getting Started: Discover the purpose and capabilities of the BlackBerry WebWorks platform. Learn how to setup your development environment and build a “Hello World” application. Understand how to configure and deploy applications to a BlackBerry® Tablet OS virtual machine.

Webcast Part 2 – My First App: Learn how to add visual enhancements and application functionality to your BlackBerry Tablet OS applications using BlackBerry WebWorks. Discover how easy it can be to leverage existing assets in constructing your application. Become more confident and efficient at using the development tools.

Webcast Part 3 – BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Integration: Understand what platform features and supported APIs exist that can be used to add functionality to your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet applications. Discover how to use the BlackBerry WebWorks JavaScript® APIs to integrate your application content with the underlying BlackBerry Tablet OS.

Webcast Part 4 – User Interface Guidelines and Best Practices: Learn how to design great BlackBerry PlayBook tablet applications that optimize the experience for your end users. Incorporate best practices and habits in your development processes to help reduce overall development and troubleshooting time of your BlackBerry WebWorks applications.

As always, our attendees were eager to participate in the discussion, and as a result we held extremely popular Q&A periods at the end of each webcast. Many of these questions have already been posted to the BlackBerry Web Development Community Forum (Webcast #1 Q&A summary and Webcast #2 Q&A summary); however, I wanted to paraphrase and share the five most popular questions asked:

What Web technologies can I use to develop my BlackBerry WebWorks application?
WebKit is the Web rendering engine used to power BlackBerry WebWorks applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet (and BlackBerry® 6). For a complete listing of supported Web standards, please refer to the BlackBerry browser guides. This includes reference guides for HTML, CSS and JavaScript which detail supported features and elements. As well, developers can make use of custom JavaScript APIs from the BlackBerry WebWorks API collection to integrate their content with the underlying BlackBerry Tablet OS.

How can I use assets from my existing Website, such as a MySQL® database, Web page or Service?
You can use all of this content in your app! A BlackBerry WebWorks application can connect directly to live Web content via direct HTTP or AJAX requests. By combining the power of Web-connected database with RESTful Web services, developers can produce very compelling applications!

What virtual machine players are available to use for running the BlackBerry Tablet OS?
We recommend that Windows developers use VMWare Player, and Mac developers use VMWare Fusion. Understanding that developers are interested in free tools – and that VMWare Fusion is a paid license – we also wanted to share that some Mac developers have reported success using the Open Source Virtual Box. That being said, it is very important to note that our product management and development teams have evaluated VirtualBox already and do not recommend it due to performance and security concerns.

Why does media (audio/video/flash) content not play in the BlackBerry Tablet OS simulator?
This is a known issue that we are working on resolving. The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet simulator currently does not have the proper media codecs necessary for playing audio/video from the BlackBerry Tablet OS. We are very interested in providing developers with this capability and are working closely with VMWare towards a solution.

I received when deploying my app to the BlackBerry Tablet OS simulator – why?
There are a couple possibilities. Please see the following Knowledge Base article for more info: Troubleshooting: Common failure reasons while deploying applications to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet simulator

Thanks again for your interest in using the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK to produce BlackBerry PlayBook tablet applications! Please let me know how your development goes. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, feel free to reply directly to this blog post, send a message via the Web Community Forums, or even mention @BlackBerryDev on Twitter®.