Browser Development
The BlackBerry Browser supports all the basic standards such as
-
Standard Markup Support
- WML, cHTML, xHTML, and HTML
- Dynamic Content Support
- JSP, ASP, PHP, etc.
- JavaScript® v1.5
- CSS v2.1
- View supported document formats
- Entirely new rendering engine
- JavaScript performance improvements
- AJAX support
- DOM L2 support
However, BlackBerry smartphones also have added functionality that is not typically available in a browser:
Enterprise Content Push uses the BlackBerry Enterprise server and can only push to those devices that are a part of that Enterprise server.
- Channel Push means proactively pushing a custom icon to a specific BlackBerry device. That icon appears on the device's home screen and acts as a "shortcut" to a specific website. When pushing an update to this website at a later time, the icon can change to an "unread" state in order to notify the user of the new content. All of this gives the user an application-like presence on the device.
- Message Push pushes a message to the device's inbox that automatically launches the browser to a specified website when clicked.
- Cache Push pushes an actual URL and content to the device's browser, so the browser does not have to download the information from the internet. This is an option for sensitive data that the user can view offline.
Consumer Content Push uses the BlackBerry Internet Service and can push to all devices using that service. BlackBerry Web Signals allows pushing a custom icon and text description to any BlackBerry device. That icon appears on the device's home screen and acts as a "shortcut" to a specific website. When pushing an update to this website at a later time, the icon can change from a "read" to an "unread" state in order to notify the user of the new content. This allows increased immediacy and visibility for the content provider. Currently, this service is only available to BlackBerry Alliance partners.
Hybrid Applications – Web Icons is used to push an application or web application to a BlackBerry device as an icon. It is a Java application that when clicked, launches the BlackBerry® Browser to a pre-determined website. The user advantages of Web Icon is that it allows an application-type presence on the device, as well as it provides easier access to their favorite websites. The developer advantage is that Research In Motion (RIM) provides sample code that is easily modified to meet your requirements.
BlackBerry Web Development Plugin for Eclipse
With this plugin, you can create JSP web content for BlackBerry smartphones, preview your web content on multiple BlackBerry smartphones simulators, as well as evaluate runtime JavaScript on the BlackBerry smartphone simulators.
Key Features
- Debug and Set Breakpoints on JavaScript code.
- Integrates with any view in Eclipse™
- View XMLHttp request, response and Header information
- Reporting on time-to-load for web-based content including images, JavaScript, CSS, etc.
- Remote website debugging
BlackBerry® Plugin 1.2 for Microsoft® Visual Studio®
With this plugin, you can create .NET 3.5 web content and applications for BlackBerry smartphones, preview your web content using BlackBerry simulators, and debug using the existing Visual Studio environment.
Key Features
- Set/remove/disable breakpoints in JavaScript
- Debug local and remote websites
- Use of all debugging windows for JavaScript debugging
- Reporting on time-to-load for web-based content including images, JavaScript, CSS, etc.
- Monitor XmlHttpRequest
Hybrid Applications – BrowserField2
If you are a Java developer or web developer, you can write a very simple application that embeds a BrowserField, or basically a browser, right into the Java application. It is called a hybrid application because you can run any Java code you want in your application and you can also run any Java script or web content inside the BrowserField. It is completely integrated…anything the browser can do, the BrowserField can do.
Key Features
- Embed web content from various sources within a Java Application
- Provide easy page navigation with respect to the BrowserField’s history (i.e. back, forward, stop, refresh)
- Access the DOM of loaded web content
- Monitor the state of a loading document
- Execute JavaScript in the context of the loaded web content from Java
- Extend JavaScript with functionality written in Java allowing JavaScript to effectively invoke Java code
BlackBerry Widgets
If you have a web application, you can feed it to the BlackBerry widget compiler and it will convert your web application to a Java application. One advantage is that you can leverage all the BlackBerry APIs (e.g. gain access to the device's camera, phone, GPS, file system, etc.) from your web application as long as you write those Javascript extensions. Note that there are a lot of existing extensions that you can leverage.
The process starts with the widget encapsulating all the web assets from your application or website and putting it into a package. A BrowserField is then used to show your application. The Widget is the same as a BrowserField, however, it eliminates the need to write the Java Application by a web developer. It gives a Java application-like presence on the device.