When you write software you need to take responsibility of any bug that users might blame you for. No matter if it is your fault or not. If the end users think it is your fault, then you should take responsibility to fix the problem no matter where it actually lies.

As posted by Brandon Bloom:

When you run a business, if your software has a bug, your customers don’t care if it is your fault or Linus’ or some random Rails developer’s. They care that your software is bugged. Everyone’s software becomes my software because all of their bugs are my bugs. When something goes wrong, you need to seek out what is broken, and you need to fix it. You fix it at the right spot in the stack to minimize risks, maintenance costs, and turnaround time. Sometimes, a quick workaround is best. Other times, you’ll need to recompile your compiler. Often, you can ask someone else to fix it upstream, but just as often, you’ll need to fix it yourself.

True hackers have come to terms with a simple fact: If it runs on my machine, it’s my software. I’m responsible for it. I must understand it. Building from source is the rule and not an exception. I must control my environment and I must control my dependencies.

Although this attitude needs to extend beyond dependencies, and also cover things like your distribution.

The following code will help you post to Facebook or Twitter from a BlackBerry Java application. This code requires the use of some API elements that were not introduced until OS 7 so you will want to use a different build in order to continue to support older devices. This code was used in version 3.1 of the game Pixelated.

Code for posting to Facebook


public void postToFacebook(String text)
{
JSONObject context = new JSONObject();
MenuItem fb = null;
try
{
context.put(SendCommandContextKeys.TEXT, text);
SendCommand[] sendCommands = SendCommandRepository.getInstance().get(SendCommand.TYPE_TEXT, context, false);

if (sendCommands != null && sendCommands.length > 0)
{
SendCommandMenu scm = new SendCommandMenu(sendCommands, 0, 0);
SendCommandMenuItem[] scmi = scm.getSendCommandMenuItems();
for(int i=0;i<scmi.length;i++)
{
if(scmi[i].toString().equals("Facebook"))
{
fb = scmi[i];
}
}
fb.run();
}
}
catch(Exception e){}
}


Code for posting to Twitter


public void postToTwitter(String text)
{
JSONObject context = new JSONObject();
MenuItem tw = null;
try
{
context.put(SendCommandContextKeys.TEXT, text);
SendCommand[] sendCommands = SendCommandRepository.getInstance().get(SendCommand.TYPE_TEXT, context, false);

if (sendCommands != null && sendCommands.length > 0)
{
SendCommandMenu scm = new SendCommandMenu(sendCommands, 0, 0);
SendCommandMenuItem[] scmi = scm.getSendCommandMenuItems();
for(int i=0;i<scmi.length;i++)
{
if(scmi[i].toString().equals("Twitter"))
{
tw = scmi[i];
}
}
tw.run();
}
}
catch(Exception e){}
}

RIM has announced the availability of the BlackBerry Curve 9220. Supporting this new device is as simple as following the three easy steps below.

• Step 1: Find which build supports the Curve 9300
• Step 2: Use the build that supports the Curve 9300
• Step 3: Eat nachos*

*Technically, step 3 is optional (but still recommended)

I have decided to end support for all BlackBerry phones running OS 4.x and require OS 5.0 or higher for all apps going forwards. Version 3.1 of Pixelated which was updated two weeks ago will be the last update for these devices. Apps that support OS 4.6 and 4.7 will still be available for download in BlackBerry AppWorld, but they will not receive any more updates.

Many Ebscer apps have required a minimum of OS 5.0 for a while now. Twinkle, Liar’s Dice, Xploding Boxes, and 9 Men’s Morris have all required OS 5.0 from the start. The Jack-O-Lantern app has required OS 5.0 since the update to version 2.0 last September, and Binary Clock has done so since the update to version 2.0 in January. Furthermore, many of the new features added to the other apps didn’t apply to the builds for OS 4.x anyhow as they were dependent on API calls such as the BBM API, the purchase API, or the SendMenu API, that are only available in the more recent operating system versions.

Last month showed only 4.6% of BlackBerry users running an OS older then 5.0. This percentage continues to go down every month. At this point there isn’t much need for additional updates on these outdated devices.

If you are still using a device that runs on OS 4.6 you should view this as proof that it is time to get a new phone. Every phone released since mid-2008 (almost four years ago), can be updated to at least OS 5.0 including (now ancient) devices such as the Bold 9000, Curve 8900, and the Nextel branded Curve 8350i. If your phone is even older then that you should have replaced your phone twice by now. If you have a 4.x device that you can’t replace because it was issued to you by your work, you should take it as a sign that your boss hates you, and that you should just quit your job.

While it has been available for awhile now, RIM has recently open sourced their AdvancedUI for Java classes and added them to github. If you have not downloaded these classes before, you should do so.

I first found out about these classes in early 2010, and have pretty much used at least one of them in every release since then. For an example the menu on top of the statistics pages in Pixelated (as seen to the right) is done with the Pillbox Class from this collection.

The JustifiedVerticalFieldManager is another favorite, which makes many good looking designs much easier to create.

The bigger question is why these were have not been included in the OS for awhile now. Publicly posting these classes again is nice for giving them some added visibility, but nothing compares to simply adding them to the OS. While doing so now would be kind of pointless (is anyone ever going to make an app that requires a minimum of OS 7.1?) all indications are that they could have done so a few years ago. The copy in github has had its metadata updated, but when these classes were first released they were dated as having been created in 2008. Even if you allow for the fact that they may not have been ready for the launch of OS 4.7.0 I have no idea why they were not included in OS 5.0 when it was released in late 2009. Today OS 5.0 is the minimum threshold for most developers, and it would be nice to simply have these features baked in.

But far more importantly then the convenience for me, is the fact that these classes should be far more readily available for all developers. My guess is that there are many devs making BlackBerry Java apps without any clue that these classes exist. And that doesn’t help anyone.

While it may be too late for these classes to get the visibility that they deserve, lets hope that RIM doesn’t repeat this mistake with their BBX tools. Although on a related note, the WebWorks getting started page does not include any links to bbUI.js, perhaps that could be a start.

Most of the traditional ways to see if an object is contained in an array in Java require the use of sets and generics. However, generics were not included in Java until version 1.5, while the Java that runs on the BlackBerry OS is based off of J2ME, which is based off of version 1.4 of Java. As such a different approach needs to be used to determine if an object is in an array when coding for BlackBerry. While you could (of course) write your own method using a for loop, there is an easier way.

import net.rim.device.api.util.Arrays;

String[] nameArray = new String[]{"John","Paul","George","Ringo"};
String testValue = "Paul";
if(Arrays.contains(nameArray,testValue))
{

}


While this examples uses an array of strings, this approach will in fact work for any Object type.

For BlackBerry developers (and therefore users) the release of the BBM SDK is a much bigger deal then OS7. While the new operating system cleans up the homescreen, and includes new features based on additional hardware (such as NFC and AR) there is not much added in the new operating system for developers to add to existing apps (with the exception of location based apps).

So for developers looking to expand upon their existing app catalog, adding BBM integration is a far more attractive option. Additionally, using the BBM SDK doesn’t require users to all buy new BlackBerrys, and instead can be integrated with apps on existing devices all the way back to OS5, which covers the vast majority of in market devices.

RIM is really pushing the BBM SDK with a series of webcasts, and a Hackathon, but even before these announcements were getting many developers to spend time adding these features to their apps. None of the new options that RIM has introduced in the past few years has resulted in as much developer excitement as this SDK already has.

Twinkle was one of the first apps to add Universal Search, and Hockey Scores was one of the first to add in-app payments, however there hasn’t been as much interest in these options from other developers as there already is for the BBM SDK.

By default when user needs support for their application their only way of contact is to use the “Contact Support” button in BlackBerry AppWorld. While this does work it has many short comings. There is only one email address listed for all of a vendor’s apps, and unless the customer writes it out in detail there is no way of knowing even which app the user needs help with. Simple questions like “Does my device support this app?” can’t be answered, because there is no way of knowing the user’s device, or the app that they are interested in.

In order to get around this limitation, and provide better customer support Ebscer application user a built in email contact button that pre-populates the email’s subject line with the name of the application, the version of the application, the device model, and the version of the operating system on the device. The button for this is placed onto the about page in all apps, and sometimes also as a menu option.

The code for handling the button press in the Twinkle app is as follows:

String s = "Support for Twinkle V2.2 on BB"+DeviceInfo.getDeviceName()+" running OS"+CodeModuleManager.getModuleVersion(CodeModuleManager.getModuleHandleForObject(""));
Invoke.invokeApplication(Invoke.APP_TYPE_MESSAGES,new MessageArguments(MessageArguments.ARG_NEW,"twinkle@ebscer.com",s,""));

If your customers contact you with this method instead (and in my experience most will), then you can skip the preliminaries and get straight to answering their questions. This make life easier for everyone, as you don’t need to send extra emails back and forth just to get the basics.

Recently RIM has suggested that icons for BlackBerry 7 devices such as the 9900 should be 92×92 pixels. A quick look at this in the simulator, however reveals that this is way to big, and a 92×92 pixel icons looks absurdly large. While using the whole 92 pixels may be appropriate if you are filling the edges with transparencys and drop shadows, a more realistic size for a normal icon is 76×76 pixels. At 76 pixels you can still get a high quality icon, but also one that doesn’t dwarf all of those around it.