How to write a BlackBerry application – Lesson 3: Open a webpage, system-wide menu Item, adding an icon and yes/no dialog
This is lesson 3 in a series of BlackBerry application development lessons. These lessons are intended to bring someone with no experience in developing applications for BlackBerry, up to speed with the latest development techniques. It’s easier than you think so try it out!
Before starting, this lesson, make sure you have read Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.
1. Go into the folder where your BlackBerry Lections.jdw file is
2. Create a folder there called Lection 3
3. Open up your JDE and open the Workspace called Lections.jdw
4. Right-Click on Lections.jdw
5. Select Create new Project
6. Name the Project Lection_3 and save it to the Folder \Lection 3
7. Copy the two files HelloWorld.java and Lesson3Screen.java into the \Lection 3 folder
8. In the JDE right-click on Lection_3 and add the two files HelloWorld.java and Lesson3Screen.java into the project
In a recent interview with RIM VP Jeff McDowell, it was brought up that App World had hit its 2,000th application. This may seem insignificant compared to the 40,000 applications in Apple’s App Store but there is a lot going on that is skewing the numbers.
While Jeff’s answer was good, saying “I don’t think it matters whether it’s 40,000 or 2,000, you’ve still got a broad range of choice,” there is something deceptive going on that should have been exposed during the interview.
Apple’s App Store, to put it simply, is bloated with “bulk apps.” These are template-based applications sold at the same price point with the same look and feel but different content. These applications are responsible for the spike in applications added to Apple’s App Store during the first six months of 2009, according to a new study published by hybrid location system developer Skyhook Wireless.
According to Skyhook, the App Store, which now has over 65,000 applications, added thousands of 99-cent bulk apps during the first half of the year. One unnamed developer, sells more than 850 travel applications based on the same template, with each individual app swapping out content based on specific vacation destinations. These mass-produced local search and travel guide apps now account for around one third of total iPhone LBS apps, Skyhook adds. Continue reading about the deceptive numbers behind the App Store
In an effort to help you all out with expanding your BlackBerry devices media capabilities, each week we are gonna take a look at some of the hottest downloads from Videos4BlackBerry. As we’ve mentioned before Videos4BlackBerry is a one stop shop for videos on your Blackberry covering a lot of your TV favorites such as True Blood, Deadliest Catch, Rescue Me and so much more. So lets have a look at this week’s top videos. Check out this week’s top videos for your BlackBerry
Pandora has launched version 1.1.0 today. In previous versions, you could only get mono AAC via your mobile connection. Now, stereo AAC+ is available just like you find on your wi-fi connection! You can download Pandora for free via your BlackBerry Browser at http://www.pandora.com. Check out all the new features and bug fixes after the jump.
ZenMinder is a simple reminder application with a very clean user interface. The app lets you set multiple reminders for activities, tasks and other important events in your life that you might otherwise forget.
While it is possible to set reminders in your BlackBerry calendar, it’s nice to have an application that offers a better UI as well as the ability to set a variety of sounds to the reminder alerts.
ZenMinder includes the following features:
Simple and elegant user interface for a remarkable user experience
Set reminder at a certain date and define recurrences
Four available Zen reminder sounds
Possibility to play custom sound files from your BlackBerry
Xobni is a must-have application for those using Outlook. Simply put, it connects your Outlook contacts and emails with the major social networks, thus giving you an additional layer of detail to your mail and contacts. The service also provides better search functionality to the Outlook platform. Bill Gates called it “very, very cool. The future of social networking.”
With Xobni Plus, you get all the functionality of the free version, with some new features including:
Advanced search query builder
Ability to search within conversations and networks
Support for phrases and Boolean queries
Xobni Rank-powered autosuggest
Advanced conversation and network filtering
I’ve been told by the company that Xobni for BlackBerry will be available this summer. I’ll get some updates about the BlackBerry product as soon as possible, and you can register to be notified when it launches.
