Java Development

[kedarkarthik]

Hey Guys,

I am .NET/Java developer. We have a requirement to create Chart application. Which is a good way to get this done

1. BlackBerry widgets Visual studio

2. ASP.NET application

3. Black Berry JDE

4. Eclipse plugin

5. J2ME application

Eagerly awainting your responses!!!!!

Thanks.

[peter_strange]

How and when will this application be used?

[kedarkarthik]

thanks for replying

It shold be anything, webpage/app ( i prefer app as it looks better ), that will show some values in grid format and then each row clicked will correspond to a graph (line graph) ... and this is specific to BB's. I will probably pull vlaues from web service externally

thanks again !!

[peter_strange]

At this stage I'm trying to figure out how the user will display these charts, how they will know that there are charts to display and how they will get the data to chart.

For example, one easy solution might be to push a web page with charts on it whenever the charts are changed.  That will work and requires no BB development, but does it meet the requirements of your application. 

So can you be a bit more specific about your actual requirements, as these may immediately rule out some of the options.

[kedarkarthik]

Ok. Here's the scenario. And I dont think I need to push anything onto the cell phone for now. I will have a web service which will process latest movie information and theaters and city etc etc ... This app when ever started will contact the web service, pull the latest information from the web service, display tabular movie information (Like DataGrid ).... and when they click on a movie .... below the table I want to show a graph of ( Rating Vs Popularity) a simple 2 lines line-CHart.

I can get the chart thingy in ASP>NET very easily. BUt the looks suck. I didnt see any CHarting api's in BB. I was wondring .. how do i start ... J2ME, BB JDE, Widgets or eclipse BB plugin ....

Let me know if u want more specific information.

Thanks.

[kedarkarthik]

let me Add ..

I can get the chart thingy in ASP>NET very easily. BUt the looks suck. I didnt see any CHarting api's in BB. I was wondring .. how do i start ... J2ME, BB JDE, Widgets or eclipse BB plugin .... OR VS BB WIDGET PLUGIN .... anything thats faster ,,,,

thanks

[peter_strange · Accepted solution]

OK thanks, let us go through the options then:

1. BlackBerry widgets Visual studio

Only OS 5.0.  People will be moving to OS 5.0 I've not doubt, but not in the next few months.  Will it do what you want?  Probably, though I'm not Widgets expert.  As I understand it, you are basically creating web pages that are displayed to the user, which might mean you can create a nicer UI quicker and integrate Web stuff easier.  You will also be able to persist some data. 

2. ASP.NET application

Sounds like you know what to do here.  I presume that when you say this sucks, you are saying that the display does not look great and the user interface is not slick.  I believe there are some very good web apps around, sorry this is not an area that I've ever really looked at.  There is a Web app forum, I suggest you ask the question over there too.

3. Black Berry JDE

See 4

4. Eclipse plugin

Java application, either created with Eclipse or the JDE, seems on the surface to be useless in this situation.  However have you seen this Thread.

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Java-Development/class-for-plotting-XY-graphs/m-p/381926#M728...

There is some sample charting code which may help.  But unless you can persist some of this data in a useful way, or integrate some preferences into the app, there is no real point in having a java application.

5. J2ME application

No advantages on the BlackBerry platform when compared with Options 3/4.  Only useful if you wanted to use the same code on other platforms.

Summary, I think the Web app is the best option, certainly the quickest to develop, unless you can cache some data or maintain preferences or even have some data pushed to the device that means the device can do something useful without connecting to the web server or can maintain some 'status' information that would not be possible with a web app.

just my opinion.....