WidgetAvenue

WidgetPublisher:Blackberry

BlackBerry is a line of wireless handheld devices that was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager. In 2002, the more commonly known smartphone BlackBerry was released, which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services as well as a multi-touch interface. It is an example of a convergent device. Developed by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), it delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies. BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on e-mail.

While including PDA applications (address book, calendar, to-do lists, etc.) as well as telephone capabilities on newer models, the BlackBerry is primarily known for its ability to send and receive e-mail wherever it can access a wireless network of certain cellular phone carriers. It has a built-in QWERTY keyboard, optimized for "thumbing", the use of only the thumbs to type. System navigation is primarily accomplished by a scroll ball in the middle of the device (Source: Wikipedia).

WidgetPublisher provides 2 implementations on the Blackberry:

The BlackBerry Widget feature recently launched by RIM is not yet supported by WidgetPublisher, as it is available only on BlackBerry Device Software version 5.0 and later.

Standalone

Installation

Widgets can be viewed on the BlackBerry browser using the following URL:

http://www.widgetavenue.com/wdg/loaders/blj.php?[Encoded list of args]

For example,using the Hello World widget built here, if your source HTML file is located at http://myserver.com/HelloWorld.html, you will be able to display your widget on a BlackBerry using the following link: 

http://www.widgetavenue.com/wdg/loaders/blj.php?root=html&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmyserver.com%2FHelloWorld.html

Features

Issues

  • The Flash format is not supported
  • Javascript needs to be enabled on the BlackBerry browser:
  1. In the BlackBerry Browser, press the Menu key.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Click Browser Configuration.
  4. Select Support JavaScript .
  5. Select Allow JavaScript popups.
  6. Press the Menu key.
  7. Click Save Options.
  • Javascript is very slow on the BlackBerry

Standard App

Compilation

Blackberry apps can be compiled using the SDK provided on the Blackberry website.In order to compile the app, the source code of the WidgetAvenue Blackberry runtime is needed. The source code of this runtime can be made available to 3rd party developers upon request.

Installation

A .jad file is generated by the compiler, and can be hosted on WidgetServer or any 3rd party server. This file can be downloaded from the BlackBerry, and used to install the BlackBerry app on the device over the air. Once downloaded, the application is located in the "Downloads" folder.

Features

Issues

  • The Flash format is not supported on the BlackBerry.
  • If the BlackBerry smartphone user already has the browser open in the background when the app is run, then the browser that opens will contain the BlackBerry smartphone user's recent browsing history. This will cause the browser's back button to return to the BlackBerry smartphone user's most recent web page rather returning to the calling application.

Requirements

For a full support, BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6 is required. This includes the following devices:

  • BlackBerry Storm
  • BlackBerry Bold 9000
  • Blackberry Curve 8900 and 8350i