Programming for PDA

1
Programming for PDA

• Personal Digital Assistant

2
The Hardware

• The Dell Axim X51v will be the deployment system
  of choice.

• Processor Intel PXA270
• Processor Speed 624 Mhz
• RAM Size 64 MB
• ROM Size 256 MB
• Connectivity WiFi Bluetooth
• Display 3.7 TFT 640 x 480
• Graphics System 2700G 16MB
• OS Window Mobile 5.0

3
The Hardware - Essentials

• USB Cable and Docking Station for Synchronisation
  with Desktop System
• Bluetooth Enable Keyboard for ease of data input

4
The Software Essentials - ActiveSync

• This typically comes with the PDA but can also be
  downloaded from Microsoft
• It allows for the synchronisation of files and
  the viewing of the mobile devices file system
• When transferring files it is essential to turn
  off File Conversion when copying files
• See Tools -gt Advanced Tools -gt Edit File
  Conversion Settings

5
Screen Capture

• The ability to carryout screen captures is
  especially useful when testing programs
• Many applications are available for this purpose
• Some are downloaded and executed directly on the
  PDA
• Others are installed on your Development Desktop
  System and use ActiveSync to retrieve the Screen
  Capture

6
Screen Capture - Example

• HauteCapture 1.1 (Shareware Application)
• Available from http//www.windowsmobiletoday.com/
  software/pocketpc/HauteCapture-2006-1-17-ce-pocket
  pc.html

7
What VMs are available for PocketPC

• This is the most popular question and also the
  biggest barrier for deploying Java Applications
  on PocketPC
• The Solution Use IBMs J9 or NSICOMs CrEme JVM
• Several others are available but suffer from
  several problems
• Suns Personal Java Not supported anymore
• SuperWaba Not fully Java compatible
• Ewe Not fully Java compatible
• Jeode on Sale to OEMs only (HP PDAs for
  example)
• Mysaifu JVM Version 0.2.2 March 3rd 2006

8
Virtual Machines

• Jeode Developed by www.esmertec.com
• It is free with some Compaq iPAQ devices
• Available for Dell PDAs from Handango
• Execution Speed Fast
• CrEme Developed by www.nsicom.com
• 30 Day free trial available
• Execution Speed Fast
• IBM WebSphere Studio Developed by IBM
• Available as a 30 day trial
• Includes the J9 Virtual Machine
• Execution Speed - Fast

9
Developing Applications with J9

• The following link is to a modified version of
  PlaceLab, It includes the J9 VM and is the
  easiest way to acquire J9.
• http//www.ece.ucdavis.edu/chuah/classes/EEC173B/
  project/placelab.zip
• Once downloaded and unzipped it must be copied to
  the root directory of the mobile
• An unmodified version is available at
  http//www.placelab.org/toolkit/

10
Developing Applications with J9

• To compile and execute on a Windows Machine a
  platform-specific executable is required
  http//www.placelab.org/toolkit/
• Unzip this file and place the application folder
  at the root level of your HD
• Compiling a sample application with J9 will
  result in errors
• incorrect classpath C\placelab-win32\j9\lib\jclM
  ax\classes.zip
• incorrect classpath C\placelab-win32\j9\lib\jclM
  ax\locale.zip
• To resolve this create a directory called jclMax
  in the lib directory and copy the classes.zip and
  locale.zip to the new directory

11
Edit the Path Environment Variable

• To remove the need for stating c/placelab-win32/j
  9/bin/j9c.exe every time you wish to compile edit
  your path settings so the OS will look in the
  specified directory for applications
• Right Click My Computer -gt System Properties

12
Compiling

• C\helloworldgtc/placelab-win32/j9/bin/j9c.exe
  -classpath c/placelab-win32/j9/lib/classes.zip
  helloworld.java
• C\helloworldgtjavac -classpath c/placelab-win32/j
  9/lib/classes.zip helloworld.java

13
Running the PDA Application from DOS

• C\helloworldgtc/placelab-win32/j9/bin/j9.exe
  "-Xbootclasspathc/placelab-win32/j9/lib/classes.
  zip" helloworld
• Hello and Welcome to CS5014 PDA Programming
• C\helloworldgtc/placelab-win32/j9/bin/j9.exe
  helloworld
• Hello and Welcome to CS5014 PDA Programming
• C\helloworldgtjava helloworld
• Hello and Welcome to CS5014 PDA Programming
• j9 cp hello.jar helloworld
• Hello and Welcome to CS5014 PDA Programming

14
Running an Application on the PDA

• There is no DOS prompt / console on the PDA
• To execute a program it is necessary to write a
  simple text file (Link file) .lnk
• The contents of the .lnk file, all appear on a
  single line
• 255 (The number of characters in the file 255
  Max)
• -XBootclasspath Location of the essential
  library files
• -cp /helloworld The directory location of the
  program to execute
• Helloworld the name of the class file to execute

255\placelab\j9\bin\j9.exe "-Xbootclasspath\plac
elab\j9\lib\classes.zip" -cp "/helloworld"
helloworld
15
Creating JARs - Java ARchive Files

• JAR files are used to package all the resources
  and classes together into one neat file
• To create a JAR file use
• jar cvfm myjar.jar mymanifest.mf .
• The above example will create a JAR file called
  myjar.jar
• The file to execute is specified by mymanifest.mf
• . will include all files in the current
  directory
• Below is an example of mymanifest.mf
• The file helloworld will be the file to execute

Manifest-Version 1.0 Main-Class helloworld
16
Java ARchive Options

• Usage jar ctxuvfm0Mi jar-file
  manifest-file -C dir files ...
• Options
• -c create new archive
• -t list table of contents for archive
• -x extract named (or all) files from archive
• -u update existing archive
• -v generate verbose output on standard
  output
• -f specify archive file name
• -m include manifest information from
  specified manifest file
• -0 store only use no ZIP compression
• -M do not create a manifest file for the
  entries
• -i generate index information for the
  specified jar files
• -C change to the specified directory and
  include the following file
• If any file is a directory then it is processed
  recursively. The manifest file name and the
  archive file name needs to be specified in the
  same order the 'm' and 'f' flags are specified.
• Example 1 to archive two class files into an
  archive called classes.jar
• jar cvf classes.jar Foo.class Bar.class
• Example 2 use an existing manifest file
  'mymanifest' and archive all the files in the
  foo/ directory into 'classes.jar'
• jar cvfm classes.jar mymanifest -C foo/

17
J9 It just Java

• public class HelloCS5014
• public static void main(String args)
• System.out.println(Hello CS5014, Welcome to PDA
  Programming!)
• System.exit(0)
• Writing Applications is the same as it always has
  been

18
Beyond AWT GUIs - SWT

• SWT The Standard Widget Toolkit
• Available from http//www.eclipse.org/swt/
• It is an open source widget toolkit to provide
  efficient and portable UI facilities
• Useful Articles on using SWT with PocketPC
• A small cup of SWT http//www.eclipse.org/articles
  /Article-small-cup-of-swt/pocket-PC.html
• First PocketPC SWT App http//blogs.bytecode.com.a
  u/glen/2004/11/15/1100468897135.html

19
SWT - Widgets
20
SWT - Widgets
21
SWT - Widgets
22
A Free Alternative Mysaifu JVM

• Version 0.2.2 released 3rd March 2006
• Its a JVM which runs on PocketPC (2003)
• The objective is to produce a JVM that confirms
  to J2SE Footprint quite small (About 10MB
  required)

On PDA
On Windows XP
23
Image Viewer Example

• import java.awt.
• import java.awt.event.
• import java.awt.image.
• import java.io.
• public class ImageViewer extends Frame implements
  ActionListener, MouseListener, MouseMotionListener
  
• private static final String FILE_OPEN_COMMAND
  "FILE_OPEN_COMMAND"
• private static final String EXIT_COMMAND
  "EXIT_COMMAND"
• private Canvas canvas
• private ScrollPane scrollPane
• private String filename
• private int dragStartX, dragStartY, lastX,
  lastY
• public ImageViewer()
• super("ImageViewer")
• this.canvas new Canvas()
• public void update(Graphics g) paint(g)
• public Dimension getPreferredSize() return
  getSize()

24
Image Viewer Example

• public void paint(Graphics g)
• if (filename ! null)
• Image img Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(
  filename)
• if (img ! null)
• g.drawImage(img, 0, 0, this)
• int width img.getWidth(this)
• int height img.getHeight(this)
• if (width ! -1 width ! getWidth())
  setSize(width, getHeight())
• if (height ! -1 height ! getHeight())
  setSize(getWidth(), height)
• else
• final Dialog d new Dialog(ImageViewer.this)
• d.add(new Label("Faild to load " filename))
• Button b new Button("OK")
• b.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
• public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
• d.dispose()
• )
• d.setModal(true)

25
Image Viewer Example

• public boolean imageUpdate(Image img, int
  infoflags, int x, int y, int width, int height)
• if ((infoflags ImageObserver.WIDTH)
  ImageObserver.WIDTH)
• setSize(width, getWidth())
• if ((infoflags ImageObserver.HEIGHT)
  ImageObserver.HEIGHT)
• setSize(getWidth(), height)
• getParent().doLayout()
• return super.imageUpdate(img, infoflags, x, y,
  width, height)
• this.canvas.addMouseListener(this)
• this.canvas.addMouseMotionListener(this)
• this.scrollPane new ScrollPane(ScrollPane.SCRO
  LLBARS_AS_NEEDED)
• this.scrollPane.add(this.canvas)
• add(this.scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER)
• MenuBar menuBar new MenuBar()
• Menu menu new Menu("File")

26
Image Viewer Example

• public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
• String command e.getActionCommand()
• if (FILE_OPEN_COMMAND command)
• FileDialog dialog new FileDialog(this, "Open
  file", FileDialog.LOAD)
• dialog.setVisible(true)
• String d dialog.getDirectory()
• String f dialog.getFile()
• if (d ! null f ! null)
• File file new File(d, f)
• this.filename file.getAbsolutePath()
• this.canvas.repaint()
• else if (EXIT_COMMAND command)
• System.exit(0)

27
Image Viewer Example

• public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e)
• this.dragStartX e.getX()
• this.dragStartY e.getY()
• this.lastX getX()
• this.lastY getY()
• public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e)
• public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
• public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e)
• public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e)
• public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e)
• public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e)
• if (e.getX() ! this.lastX e.getY() !
  this.lastY)
• Point p this.scrollPane.getScrollPosition()
• p.translate(this.dragStartX - e.getX(),
• this.dragStartY - e.getY())
• this.scrollPane.setScrollPosition(p)

28
A Free Alternative Ewe

• Ewe like Superwaba is a free alternative, but
  both are not fully java compatible
• Available from http//www.ewesoft.com/
• Latest Version 1.49 (December 2005)
• Necessary Applications
• Download and install the Windows Desktop VM
  http//www.ewesoft.com/Downloads/Ewe149-Installer-
  Win32.zip
• Download the VM for the target device
  http//www.ewesoft.com/Downloads/Ewe149-CAB-Pocket
  PC2003-HighResolution.zip (for 640 x 480 screens)
• To install on the target device copy the CAB file
  to the device using ActiveSync
• Clicking on the CAB file will install the VM on
  the PDA

29
A Free Alternative Ewe

• Download the Ewe SDK (Four separate files)
• The Class library / Java VM and Ewe Package
  generation application (Jewel) http//www.ewesoft.
  com/Downloads/Ewe149-Developer-SDK.zip
• The Ewe API (Javadoc) http//www.ewesoft.com/Downl
  oads/Ewe149-Developer-API.zip
• The Ewe Application Development Guide
  http//www.ewesoft.com/Downloads/Ewe149-Developer-
  Guide.zip
• Sample Ewe Applications http//www.ewesoft.com/Dow
  nloads/Ewe149-Developer-Samples.zip

30
Ewe Example (Quite Different to Java)

• package tests
• import ewe.ui.
• import ewe.fx. 
• public class Welcome 
• public static void main(String args)
• ewe.sys.Vm.startEwe(args)
• MessageBox mb new MessageBox(Title Bar
  Text", Experiments with
  Ewe.",MessageBox.MBOK)
• mb.execute()
• ewe.sys.Vm.exit(0)
• The above application will create a Message Box
  displaying some text and an OK Button
• Note all Ewe applications must begin with
  ewe.sys.Vm.startEwe(args)
• All applications must end with ewe.sys.Vm.exit(0)

31
Further Information (Books)
32
References

• Jonathan Knudsen, Wireless Java Developing with
  Java 2, Micro Edition, Apress, 2001.
• Java Programming for IPAQ 4350,
  http//www.ece.ucdavis.edu/chuah/classes/EEC173B/
  java-on-pda.html
• Place Lab, Software Downloads, http//www.placelab
  .org/toolkit/
• Java Support on Pocket PC, http//www.comp.lancs.a
  c.uk/fittond/ppcjava.html
• Java on PocketPC, the Unofficial FAQ,
  http//www.vikdavid.com/mobile/
• Reducing the J9 Footprint Required and Optional
  Libraries, http//www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws
  s?rs840contextSSSUDGuidswg21112481locen_US
  csutf-8langenen
• Java Forums JVM on PocketPC 2003 -
  http//forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?forumID80h
  ilitefalsestart15threadID466221range15q
• Java Forums CDC and Personal Profile,
  http//forum.java.sun.com/forum.jspa?forumID80st
  art0
• Java Forums J2ME Technologies,
  http//forum.java.sun.com/category.jspa?categoryID
  23
• Suns Programmers Guide, J2ME Personal Profile
  V1.0, http//java.sun.com/j2me/docs/pdf/PP_Program
  mer_Guide.pdf

33
References

• Using Java on the PocketPC the complete
  tutorial, http//www.pocketpcmag.com/forum//topic.
  asp?TOPIC_ID16612
• Yahoo Groups, j2me-cdc, http//groups.yahoo.com/gr
  oup/j2me-cdc/
• Free PDA Books, http//www.j2meolympus.com/freeboo
  ks/freepdabooks.jsp
• Waba, http//www.wabasoft.com/
• MIDP Installation Guide For Windows Mobile
  2003 Devices, (J9), http//x.msmobiles.com/portal/
  user_manual/ibm-java.html
• Using SerialPort with J2ME MIDP WME (aka J9 VM)
  on Palm OS and Windows CE / Pocket PC,
  http//www.serialio.com/support/jspWME_J9_Notes.ht
  m
• Configuring Java (J9) on a Pocket PC with RMI and
  SWT using CDC Personal Profile some experiences
  and issues, http//awareness.ics.uci.edu/rsilvafi
  /pocketPC/index.html