Looking for resources

Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application for
the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
Smartphones etc. Presumably C++ is the way to go? Is there an API
available which makes it easier to develop for cross platform mobile
devices? What are the best web sites, and best books to buy on the
subject?

Cheers,
BlackSmith.

ctacke/>
Fri Feb 18 05:57:11 CST 2005

The OSes are vastly different. Expect all UI code to have to be re-written
(plus quite possibly any data storage stuff). For portability, Java may
actually be better, but again, not sure how much will be leverageable, and
if the JVMs differ, portability may not be so great anyway. Really you're
likely to write most of the app over for each target.

-Chris


"Blacksmith" <invalid@email.address> wrote in message
news:qckRd.17454$8B3.137@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application for
> the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
> Smartphones etc. Presumably C++ is the way to go? Is there an API
> available which makes it easier to develop for cross platform mobile
> devices? What are the best web sites, and best books to buy on the
> subject?
>
> Cheers,
> BlackSmith.
>

r_z_aret
Fri Feb 18 13:33:40 CST 2005

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:20:54 GMT, "Blacksmith" <invalid@email.address>
wrote:

>Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application for
>the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
>Smartphones etc. Presumably C++ is the way to go? Is there an API
>available which makes it easier to develop for cross platform mobile
>devices? What are the best web sites, and best books to buy on the
>subject?

I've never tried any of these, but:
http://www.appforge.com/
http://www.nsbasic.com/
http://www.orbworks.com/

>
>Cheers,
>BlackSmith.
>

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
Boston, MA 02118
www.penfact.com

Leo
Sat Feb 19 03:14:34 CST 2005

Blacksmith wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application for
> the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
> Smartphones etc. Presumably C++ is the way to go? Is there an API
> available which makes it easier to develop for cross platform mobile
> devices? What are the best web sites, and best books to buy on the
> subject?
>
> Cheers,
> BlackSmith.
>
>

It will very much depend what type of application and if you need any
hardware interactions. I found J2ME the most portable solution for the 3
platforms. But if you have to access device specific info - there is no
such such as write once run everywhere (not even on J2ME - write once
debug everywhere is more to the point)

But there is Java VM's for all of the 3 platforms you mentioned.

Some VM's for PPC (most newer machines come pre-installed)
Sun Compliant:
http://www.nsicom.com/ --> Creme
http://www.insignia.com/ --> Jeode

http://www.javaonpdas.com/ Check amazon.com or other bookshops.

HTH

Leo Gaggl
Adelaide, South Australia

ig
Mon Feb 21 01:51:43 CST 2005

"Blacksmith" <invalid@email.address> wrote in message news:<qckRd.17454$8B3.137@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>...
> Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application for
> the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
> Smartphones etc.

If you really want a full cross-platform, you will not find anything
else than Appforge's Crossfire for .NET.
Unlike somebody stated that it's impossible to "write once, run
everywhere", you could even use the same forms on all three devices -
though this is not recommended: You would need some resizing logic to
fit all object's to a certain device's screen size and this would
never look so 'nice' as if done for each device manually.
In general: you create an appropriate set of forms for all target
devices (with the same controls and the same names), but don't put any
logic into the form. Instead you put all of your app logic into a
class module that is called from the form.
You should try the eval version from
www.appforge.com
and should also check the support forum:
forum.appforge.com

Blacksmith
Mon Feb 21 08:01:32 CST 2005


"Ingbert Grimpe" <ig.google@igrimpe.de> wrote in message
news:9c5ac679.0502202351.2f81b59a@posting.google.com...
> "Blacksmith" <invalid@email.address> wrote in message
> news:<qckRd.17454$8B3.137@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>...
>> Hi, I'm new to mobile development, and I want to write an application
>> for
>> the Pocket PC, which will eventually be ported to Palm OS, Symbian,
>> Smartphones etc.
>
> If you really want a full cross-platform, you will not find anything
> else than Appforge's Crossfire for .NET.
> Unlike somebody stated that it's impossible to "write once, run
> everywhere", you could even use the same forms on all three devices -
> though this is not recommended: You would need some resizing logic to
> fit all object's to a certain device's screen size and this would
> never look so 'nice' as if done for each device manually.
> In general: you create an appropriate set of forms for all target
> devices (with the same controls and the same names), but don't put any
> logic into the form. Instead you put all of your app logic into a
> class module that is called from the form.
> You should try the eval version from
> www.appforge.com
> and should also check the support forum:
> forum.appforge.com

AppForge sounds nice, but the user has to install the Crossfire Client if
they want to run your application. This would be fine if you could install
the Crossfire Client as part of your application install, but I don't think
you can? Is there any way around this? It seems fairly unrealistic to
expect the user to purchase and install another piece of software, just to
get your software to run.

ig
Mon Feb 21 16:36:24 CST 2005

Blacksmith wrote:

> AppForge sounds nice, but the user has to install the Crossfire
Client if
> they want to run your application. This would be fine if you could
install
> the Crossfire Client as part of your application install, but I don't
think
> you can? Is there any way around this? It seems fairly unrealistic
to
> expect the user to purchase and install another piece of software,
just to
> get your software to run.

You can include the Client in your install package (check 'include
booster') if you like.
Appforge does not target 'shareware developers', but more enterprises
with own IT staff or developers who work on contract base. If you are
on a project for 20-100$ per hr, the price of the client is not of
interest for the customer usually.