DEVELOPING FOR THE BLACKBERRY

 The BlackBerry was one of the first mobile

platforms to give developers a complete software-development kit (SDK), along with tools to develop applications for the platform.

Based on Java, the BlackBerry development platform is easy to learn and is able to support demanding applications. It also gives developers access to device hardware such as the built-in GPS, which is included in many of the latest BlackBerry models.

RIM's BlackBerry developer website [http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/] is the place to start for anyone thinking of building BlackBerry applications. On here, you can download development tools, read documentation and meet other developers.

There are three ways to develop BlackBerry applications :

1 Browser applications.

2 RAD applications using MDS Studio.

3 Java applications.

Each has its strengths, but you can use them to deliver very different types of application.

BlackBerry browser applications can take advantage of the Mobile Data System (MDS) to give remote users direct access to intranet applications. There are also unique tags that let developers add Black Berry-specific features to their applications.

 This is the road to take if you have an existing intranet application you want to access with a BlackBerry. You can work with your favourite web-development tools and need only to add a little browser-sniffing code to your pages to direct users to the BlackBerry version of your site.

MDS Studio is RIM's rapid application-development platform. It's a quick way of delivering client applications where you already have your servers up and running. Studio applications work using web services to connect to existing servers and a set of user-interface components you can drag and drop on to a screen, making application development quick and easy.

 DEVELOPMENT BASICS

With versions that link to common development tools, such as Microsoft's Visual Basic or the open-source Eclipse, MDS Studio is a quick way to build BlackBerry user interfaces (Ul) for your most important applications. It plugs into Visual Studio, so you can also make developing for BlackBerry a part of your application-development lifecycle.

If you can write Java applications, you can code for the BlackBerry. RIM's BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) has everything you will need to build Java applications.

Unlike with most other mobile platforms, you won't be using a mobile version of Java; instead, you will get access to many of the enterprise features you have used for desktop and server Java applications.

RIM has also implemented several, key, Java standards that mean you can build location-based applications with access to GPS hardware (used to its fullest extent in Google's BlackBerry version of its mapping service). There are also features for handling accessibility and internationalisation, as well as working with multimedia using the BlackBerry media player. You can even write applications that run in the background or that take advantage of the push server.

BlackBerry devices are not just for business and you can use RIM's tools to personalise your handset. Themes can contain icons and fonts, as well as background images - the latest tools even allow you to use animated backgrounds to deliver a very different look and feel from the text-only BlackBerry of old.

An online developer community contains all of the tools you need to build Blackberryapplications, as well as forums and help content. The BlackBerry developer community is active and very helpful, so make the developer forums a first port of call if you have any problems.