John.Wiley.and.Sons.Rapid.Mobile.Enterprise.Development.for.Symbian.OS.An.Introduction.to.OPL.Application.Design.and.Programming.May.2005.eBook-LinG (Symbian Books)

Rapid MobileEnterpriseDevelopmentfor Symbian OSTEAM LinGTITLES PUBLISHED BY SYMBIAN PRESS• Wireless Java for Symbian DevicesJonathan Allin0471 486841512pp2001Paperback• Symbian OS Communications ProgrammingMichael J Jipping0470 844302418pp2002Paperback• Programming for the Series 60 Platform and Symbian OSDigia0470 849487550pp2002Paperback• Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones, Volume 1Richard Harrison0470 856114826pp2003Paperback• Programming Java 2 Micro Edition on Symbian OSMartin de Jode0470 092238498pp2004Paperback• Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones, Volume 2Richard Harrison0470 871083448pp2004Paperback• Symbian OS ExplainedJo Stichbury0470 021306448pp2004Paperback• PC Connectivity Applications for Symbian OSIan McDowall0470 090537480pp2004PaperbackRapid MobileEnterpriseDevelopmentfor Symbian OSAn Introduction to OPL Application Design andProgrammingEwan SpenceWithPhil Spencer and Rick AndrewsReviewed byPhil SpencerManaging editorPhil NorthamAssistant editorWilliam CarnegieCopyright  2005 by John Wiley & Sons, LtdThe Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester,West Sussex PO19 8SQ, EnglandTelephone (+44) 1243 779777Email (for orders and customer service enquiries): cs-books@wiley.co.ukVisit our Home Page on www.wiley.comAll Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning orotherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms ofa licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP,UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher, with the exception of any material suppliedspecifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system for exclusive use bythe purchaser of the publication.

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Allbrand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks orregistered trademarks of their respective owners. The Publisher is not associated with any product orvendor mentioned in this book.This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subjectmatter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in renderingprofessional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of acompetent professional should be sought.Other Wiley Editorial OfficesJohn Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USAJossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741, USAWiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Boschstr.

12, D-69469 Weinheim, GermanyJohn Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, 33 Park Road, Milton, Queensland 4064, AustraliaJohn Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd, 2 Clementi Loop #02-01, Jin Xing Distripark, Singapore 129809John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd, 22 Worcester Road, Etobicoke, Ontario,Canada M9W 1L1Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content thatappears in print may not be available in electronic books.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSpence, Ewan.Rapid mobile enterprise development for Symbian OS : an introduction to OPLapplication design and programming / Ewan Spence, with Phil Spencer and RickAndrews.p.

cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN-13 978-0-470-01485-1 (alk. paper)ISBN-10 0-470-01485-7 (alk. paper)1. Cellular telephone systems–Computer programs. 2. Operating systems (Computers)3. OPL (Computer program language) I. Spencer, Phil. II. Andrews, Rick. III.Title.TK6570.M6S66 2005005.26 8 – dc222004027113British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryISBN-13 978-0-470-01485-1ISBN-10 0-470-01485-7Typeset in 10/12pt Optima by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, IndiaPrinted and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, King’s LynnThis book is printed on acid-free paper responsibly manufactured from sustainableforestry in which at least two trees are planted for each one used for paper production.ContentsForewordixAbout This BookxiAuthor BiographyxviiAuthor AcknowledgmentsxixSymbian Press AcknowledgmentsxxiPART 111 Programming Principles31.11.21.31.4The Language of ComputersSpeaking the LanguageLearning the VocabularySummary2 Introducing the Tools of OPL2.12.22.32.42.5Parts of OPLOrganizing your ProjectsGathering ToolsHow we ProgramSummary3 Event Core3.1 Event Core? What is it Good for?359171919212226303333viCONTENTS3.2 Planning the Event Core, Init:3.3 Other Procedures3.4 Summary4 A Conversion Program: Event Corein Practice4.1 First Steps with Event Core4.2 Summary5 Using Graphics in an Othello Game5.15.25.35.45.55.65.7Using Graphics in OPLDesigning OthelloRepresenting the BoardReading the Player’s MoveThe Computer’s Move – Doing A.I.Putting it Together – the Main Game LoopSummary6 Databases and a Notepad Program6.1 What is a Database?6.2 Our First OPL Database6.3 Summary7 Publishing your OPL Application7.17.27.37.47.5Types of ApplicationHow Distribution Affects your Application DesignHow to Make your Application AvailablePromotion – Tell Everyone it’s AvailableSummary36495961617779798485879497991011011021121131131141161191208 Creating Applications and Installers1218.1 Creating an OPL Application8.2 Symbian Installation System – SIS Files8.3 Summary1211231289 Where Now With OPL?9.19.29.39.4RMRBank, by Al Richey (RMR Software)Fairway, by Steve LitchfieldEpocSync, by Malcolm BryantFinal Summary.

. . Moving Forwards Yourself129129130130131CONTENTSviiPart 2 Introduction to Part 2: CommandListing133Appendix 1 OPL Command List135Appendix 2 Const.oph Listing263Appendix 3 Symbian Developer Network279Appendix 4 Specifications of Symbian OS Phones287Index313ForewordHoward Price, Senior System Architect, System ManagementGroup, SymbianI have had the pleasure of being involved in the development of theOPL language since its earliest days, when Psion first provided OPLfor the Organizer II, a device that had two lines of LCD text available.OPL programs were then mainly used to query and write to the built-indatabase system, with some mathematical, date, and string manipulationfunctions. Even then OPL was very popular with third-party developers,such as Marks & Spencer, which used OPL Organizer II programs at itscheckout counters.

In my opinion OPL was a key factor in Psion’s successin the PDA market.I wrote the Series 3/Series 3a OPL, adding support for modules,powerful graphics capability, GUI menus and dialogs, and direct access tothe EPOC OS functions. By then over 90% of third-party applications werewritten in OPL, despite strong efforts by Psion to encourage developersto use their object-oriented C. OPL was the language of choice bothfor commercial applications and for shareware, including a lot of gamessoftware.

A large and very active OPL developer community grew,with authors working from home or on the train to develop manyshareware programs.For the Series 5, I led the five-person OPL development team wherewe also added, among other things, the OPX framework. An OPX is aC++ DLL containing OPL extension functions that an OPL applicationcan call as easily as calling OPL procedures. OPXs can also call-back tothe OPL application. With OPXs, an OPL application can be as powerfuland perform as well as a C++ application.In 2002 Symbian decided to release OPL to the Open Source community, where the opl-dev project on sourceforge started in April 2003.xFOREWORDWhy is OPL so popular? Well, here are a few reasons.• From the beginning OPL, in all its device-specific incarnations, hasbeen carefully designed to enable an OPL application to be fullyintegrated into the application architecture, to the extent that a userwould be very hard-pressed to tell whether an application has beenwritten in OPL or C/C++.• OPL is a simple, intuitive but powerful language and can be learntvery quickly.• Over the years the OPL development community has developed alarge set of incredible OPL applications, showing just what can bedone and encouraging others to try.• The OPL development community provides OPX libraries for use byother developers.• The OPL SDK and many other useful resources are freely availablefrom the opl-dev project on sourceforge.• Applications written in OPL are multi-platform – they will run asexpected with very little change on any Symbian OS device.

Devicespecific features are generally provided in OPXs.• Applications can be developed on the PC, or on a communicator/PDAthat has a keyboard.With the increasing efforts of the Open Source OPL community, andEwan in particular, OPL is getting more attention than ever and I am sureOPL has a bright future, and with it I would predict that OPL will onceagain account for a majority of Symbian OS applications.About This BookIn this introduction, you will learn:• what OPL is• the history of OPL• what you can do with OPL• how the rest of the book is structured.What is OPL?The shortest answer is that OPL stands for ‘Open Programming Language’and it is a way of programming your Symbian OS Smartphone to make itdo what you want!If you’ve downloaded an application into your phone (for example,from the Internet) then you’ve already started to realize that your phonecan do more than what it did, out of the box.

There are thousands ofapplications out there that you can put on your phone. OPL will helpyou program your own applications that do exactly what you want themto. These applications could be for yourself and your own enjoymentor needs; they could be to help you and your colleagues at work solvea specific business problem; or you could look to putting them on theInternet and selling your software to other users.Any programming language supported by Symbian OS can offer this toyou, so why choose OPL? The first thing is that OPL itself is free. It doesn’tcost you to download and use the tools needed. It is also Open Source.This means that a competent Symbian OS C++ programmer can look atthe code that makes OPL work and see if they can improve it, add to it,and help maintain it. . .

all to the benefit of OPL and the programmerswho use it.xiiABOUT THIS BOOKBut the main thing about OPL is that it is very easy to learn, and ittakes very little time to program a new application.The History of OPLOPL first made its appearance on the Psion Organizer II in 1984. BeforeOPL, all programs for Psion’s machines had to be written in a verytricky, complex form of code called ‘Assembler’ using a PC developmentkit, requiring the developer to have a good, in-depth knowledge ofprogramming.By this time, the BASIC programming language was available for mosthome computers, making computer programming accessible to anyonewho owned a computer.