DEVELOPERS BLOG

Built for BlackBerry Boilerplates: The Essential Starting Point for Web, and Native Development

Built for BlackBerry Boilerplates

With the revitalization of the Built for BlackBerry program, you’re probably thinking, “That’s super great guys, but how can I make an app that delivers the signature BlackBerry 10 look and feel users have come to expect?”

I’m glad you asked.

To give you some foundation and help you rapidly develop an app that provides the user with the BlackBerry 10 experience they expect, we’ve produced three simple, yet incredibly useful, sample apps.

Whether you’re a Cascades or WebWorks developer, these samples will provide you with the perfect starting point for creating an app capable of qualifying for Built for BlackBerry, leaving you more time to focus on the actual development of your application.16

Let’s take a quick look at each of the samples.

WebWorks “Boilerplate” for bbUI.js v0.9x by Chad Tetreault

The bbUI.js Boilerplate offers BlackBerry WebWorks developers a solid starting point for creating a great app. It includes a full BlackBerry 10 UI experience, BBM, Invocation, Toasts, Window Covers, Splash Screen examples for Q5, Q10, Z10, Z30, Application Menu, Tabs, and Action Overflow.

Cascades “Boilerplate” by Tim Windsor

This sample also provides the perfect starting point for Cascades developers looking to create an app that could earn the Built for BlackBerry designation. The features included in this are the same that are in the WebWorks version. In fact, we’ve tried to align them as closely as possible, and it will help you achieve the signature BlackBerry 10 experience right out of the box.

Cascades “Showcase” by Par Kjellberg and Olof Stenlund

Written by our teammates out of Malmo, Sweden, the “Showcase” sample takes the idea of a boilerplate one step further and teaches you how to create a complete full-featured application that could qualify for Built for BlackBerry. Cascades developers will learn how to parse RSS feeds, display images asynchronously and how to integrate with the services on the device.

You can find all of these samples in the official BlackBerry GitHub repos:

WebWorks

BfB Boilerplate for bbUI.js

Cascades

BfB Boilerplate
BfB Showcase

If you find this post useful, have questions, or just want to keep up-to-date on the world of BlackBerry Development, follow me on Twitter at @chadtatro.

Chad Tetreault

About Chad Tetreault

A developer at heart, I’ve been coding in some shape or form since the age of 13. Nowadays I focus on building awesome cross-platform (Android, iOS, BlackBerry) mobile web applications powered by Cordova, JavaScript, and AngularJS.