Native Development

[logan10]

are there UI components we can use? buttons, pickers and input text fields? I'm not sure where to start.

[peter9477]

There are no "native" ones in the NDK, yet.

This is expected as part of the Cascades framework, which is about to enter beta testing in January (probably a closed beta for a while, then perhaps an open beta, then eventually release, in a few months).

Until that's available, you would either have to roll your own, or use what's available in a package like the Qt framework, which may be in a usable state at this point (not sure, I don't follow it closely).

[logan10]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've messed around with some of the opengl stuff, but I'm completly brand new to that also. I just wanted to make a simple form like we could on the blackberry phones. Any idea how they developed the standard apps that come on the playbook? it would be nice to use the same UI components for a similar look and feel.

[peter9477]

Most of the standard apps were done with the "Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR". A few (such as the calculator and, I believe, clock) were done with early versions of the NDK, and very likely with internal releases of the Cascades stuff. (I used to know that for sure... don't remember with certainty.)

The AIR SDK includes a set of packages named qnx.* (e.g. qnx.text) which is where you'll find those standard components.

[lcaro]

Hello Peter,

I've downloaded the BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS 2.0.0-beta3 IDE and I'm checking the documentation and I still don't see any code to add UI components to the screen. Qt is still the only solution?

Thank you very much

Regards

Lucas

[peter9477]

Icaro, correct, Qt will still be the only solution for now. Cascades is still in beta, with no reports as to how long it may be before it's out.

I'm not following the Qt stuff closely, but there is a #qt-qnx IRC channel on Freenode which has some active discussion. From the sounds of it, binaries for the Qt IDE (or a "plugin", or both... I'm not up to speed on all this yet) have just been built and are being tested by a few people there. Anyone can join in.

Some people are using Linux successfully to cross-compile Qt apps, and the results are looking pretty good. I understand it can be done on Windows but is rough around the edges (or even more rough might be the best way to put it).

Note that even when Cascades is out, apparently it builds on Qt in some fashion, as either something adding to or providing a variant of QML (from QtQuick). From the sounds of it, learning QtQuick stuff will not put you at a disadvantage, one way or the other.

If anyone else knows better than I (and I'm sure many do) please chime in here. Is learning QtQuick a good foundation for future native development on the PlayBook, or is it merely going to be an option and the Cascades stuff will look totally different?

[lcaro]

Hi again Peter,

You said that UI components are ready for Adobe Air for the PlayBook. My question is: all the developers are using Flash Builder at the moment to create their apps? Because it's not a free tool. 

Thanks and regards

Lucas

[peter9477]

It's not required to use the IDE. I used a text editor and command line tools for both my apps. All free.

[jheron]

Why not use qml for your ui?
See here for a couple screen shots from some apps I released for the playbook last week: http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Native-SDK-for-BlackBerry-Tablet/QML-symbian-qt-components-fo...
Cheers,
Jon

[bdaemon]

"calculator","picture' are NDK,   clock is Air, 

 while swipe the apps screen,  you can feel the diffrents between NDK, Flash Air ,

NDK is more smooth and better,

I'm so surprise , RIM, why not all system app  coded  by NDK?