Eclipse Based Documentation Browser Fixes

Installing JDK/JRE 6 32-Bit and creating an appropriate eclipse.ini file fixes the Nokia Java SDK 1.1 for Java help browser on on x64/JDK 7 configurations.

The documentation browser provided by the Nokia SDK for Java 1.0/1.1 and the Web Developers Library (dowloadable) are based on versions of the Eclipse Platform pre 3.7, and does not start out of the box if you are using an x64 JVM or JDK 7. The simple solution is to install the JDK or the JRE based on the Java SE  6 32-Bit. Next we need to find the eclipse executable eclipse.exe, through our installation directory [Installation PATH]Nokia_SDK_1_1_Java\doc\docbrowser\eclipse\ for the Nokia SDK for Java 1.0 and create the eclipse.ini file adding a couple of lines in it responsible to launch the doc browser with the correct VM: -vm[Attention no spaces][RETURN] [PATH to your Java 6 32-Bit SDK]\bin\javaw.exe The same applies to the Web Developers Documentation, place the eclipse.ini in the same directory where the eclipse.exe executable resides. This fix is inteded to whom wants to use the standalone doc browser for a quick take and can be launched also through the emulator (it does not work on the SDK 1.0), since the documentation provided by the Nokia SDK for Java greatly integrates into Eclipse  and NetBeans IDEs, the installer will asks to choose the appropriate directory at the installation time. UPDATE 30/08/2012: The new release of the SDK (2.0) fixed above issues working gracefully out of the box in conjuction with Java 7, also to note a great integration with NetBeans 7.2 and Eclipse Indigo/Juno documentation where the provided modules/plugins can be installed manually.

Installing MonoDevelop Add-ins from Repository on Windows (TIPS)

MonoDevelop with the aid of its repository include a smart way of installing Add-ins where SpecFlow in particular, featuring Behavior Driven Development for .NET could lead to new programming paths.

A new version of MonoDevelop is out, it's very well made. I recommend to install it onto the default directory, otherwise it will not work (at least for me). During use i found a minor issue about the Add-ins management, i refer to the repository listed by default that it seems to be not in the correct form or leading to a non-existent page. To make things done you have to remove the default ones and replace it with http://addins.monodevelop.com/Stable/Win32/2.4/, you can also try to add a new repository entry replacing "Stable" with "Alpha" or "Beta" for other releases. Doing this you can look at the MonoDevelop Add-in Repository directly. I think that this little adjustment is necessary due to the nature of the repository at this moment in beta. You can find any related information as well as publish your Add-in for MonoDevelop at the Community Add-in Repository for MonoDevelop . After this little step installing Add-ins is very simple, (menu) Tools --> Add-in Manager --> (button) "install Add-ins..." and click on the "Refresh" button if it's necessary. There are few and growing to select from. Relevant ones are: Compilation support for different versions of GTK# (2.10,2.8,2.6,2.4) to allow building application for different targets, SpecFlow support for MonoDevelop IDE, aside a more recent version of the Subversion Version Control (already installed), as well as other Alphas and Betas that i suggest to review at the website. 23:00 - 01-12-2010 GMT+1 : "At time of writing adding custom repositories seems to be broken since restarting MonoDevelop cause the default repositories entries to be re-added, but the problem afflicting the wrong addresses seems to be gone. Try to disengage yourself with these tips, I'm sure the guys behind Mono will sudden correct this issues." 12:00 - 02-12-2010 GMT+1 : "Lluis Sanchez from Novell communicated that averything as been fixed. Great response. I have sent a Bug Report only a couple of days ago. Very happy. I tested everything on the Windows and Linux side, no Mac here sorry (emulator?), and everything is working very well." A word about SpecFlow and BDD  (Behavior Driven Development): formally it represent a development technique focused on Unit Testing, an approach to create code that try to fix every possible "breakable" element (unit) as it is created (failing by default) by the programmer himself. We can consider BDD as well as Test-driven development  (TDD), part of the Agile software development methodologies in turn part of the Extreme Programming software development philosophy. Obviously it was not possible to orientate myself too in this new interesting discover without Wikipedia, i think it's time for a donation. Things to eat at Breakfast.

ARTICLES and LINKS

Managed, Unmanaged, Native: What Kind of Code Is This? A clear definition of Managed Code, in this great article by Kate Gregory. http://www.developer.com//net/cplus/article.php/2197621/Managed-Unmanaged-Native-What-Kind-of-Code-Is-This.htm Writing High-Performance Managed Applications : A Primer MSDN Best Practices on .NET Framework's Common Language Runtime http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973858.aspx Say Hello To Behavior Driven Development (BDD)- Part 1 and 2 Useful explanations on BDD (Behavior Driven Development) and its implications. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/architecture/Say_Hello_To_BDD.aspx http://www.codeproject.com/KB/architecture/Say_Hello_World_To_BDD.aspx Writing Unit Tests in Visual Studio for Native C++ TDD and VisualStudio explained, John Socha-Leialoha's Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jsocha/archive/2010/11/19/writing-unit-tests-in-visual-studio-for-native-c.aspx

SuperWaba and Palm OS emulation

Development on mobile and handhelds devices sometimes could be difficult without proper testing. Maybe is the case to remerge old emulators.

I discovered SuperWaba due to my passion for emulation end discovered its support for the "old" Palm OS. The SuperWaba team is actively working in the mobile scene with its new products. Particularly interesting is LiteBase, "a simplified and low cost database management system for PDAs and smartphones compatible with the SQL language", that seems to be unique in its genre. "During my Linux exploration i was very attracted to the Palm OS Emulator, POSE for friends. POSE was well supported by the community and the emulator was available directly within the package repositories of the majority of Linux Distributions." TotalCross (totally cross-platform) is a mobile development framework, based on Java, targeting different mobile OSs. The SDK is freely available upon registration, and i have to tell that the people belonging SuperWaba are very gentle. I was surprised for the support for the Palm OS , as stated in the docs Palm OS 3 and 4 support were dropped to allow multithread support. Linux Packages of the Palm OS emulator can still be found at the project page of the Palm OS Emulator hosted by SourceForge.net , the Open Source community.

Qt SDK in evidence

Without need of presentations Qt SDK represents a step toward in fact of Cross-Platform development and richness of features.

This release of Qt SDK (4.5) is packed with a revamped set of tools and libraries, is a new adaptable framework keeping pace through releases, with enhanced features and many improvements. The Qt Development Tools overview and the features highlight summary shows a very complete set of functionality to play with: HTML5, WebKit, ODF  support, just to mentioning few. A very well context-sensitive help system, integrated within the Qt Creator Cross-Platform IDE, performance improvements and benchmarking, support for Cocoa API for 64-bit Macs, an advanced C++ editor and a Visual Debugger are a small part of the features of this collection that everyone should try. Qt Creator's sibling Qt Designer, the GUI layout and forms builder, also improves the experience of installing and looking through the SDK, with its capability to generate C++ or Java code from your interface prototypes, and a remarkable Reference Documentation  represent a secure addition. The SDK expandability is granted by third party Add-Ons like specialized widgets and controls and platform specific components and tools. The Qt SDK is fully cross-platform, supporting Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in favor of the portability of code. Furthermore the Qt Visual Studio Add-in let us manage Qt projects directly within the Microsoft IDE. Source code can be obtained from the Qt Git repository, a great wolkthrough about building it from source can be found at Qt Project Wiki --> QtVSAddin | Qt Wiki | Qt Project .