Monday, June 30, 2008

Save me !

Lets explore the RMS management available in Diamond Powder.
The MIDlet project save-me-diamond-powder deals with new records and enable old record edition through StorageManager.


The numbered arrows are related to the following relevant code fragments:

(1) The collector gains focus to receive a new record. There is no difference from previous sample (hello world)
(2) The collector finishes his job and a StorageManager saves collected data into a RMS record. We can store a new record or update an old one.


(3) The StorageManager is asked about all record numbers from a given schema. Afterwards, the StorageManager is manipulated to retrieve values from specific fields for each identified record. This gives us enough information to build a menu of old records.


(4) The StorageManager is manipulated to load a whole record into our collector. At this point we use the collector to edit a previously stored record.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

A Hello World, step by step on NetBeans

This step by step is based on NetBeans 6.1 with Mobility Pack.
Check this out: besides schema sintax there are only two Diamond Powder API elements to learn - a constructor and a method.
Download Diamond Powder JAR and this hello world sample project at https://diamond-powder.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectDocumentList

Please, choose a slide-show format:

Friday, June 27, 2008

Project created at java.net

Hi everybody !
The Diamond Powder project has been created at java.net:
https://diamond-powder.dev.java.net/
This blog is going to be supplied with examples, tips and articles about the use of this framework.

About Diamond Powder:
  • Diamond Powder is an open source Java ME framework that speeds up the creation of data collectors inside MIDP applications.
  • By data collector we understand a software component, that helps the user to quickly take note of informations, and also manages the storage of such information.
  • In order to describe a data collector (forms, fields, help messages) Diamond Powder uses a simple and straightforward format - aka schema, based on key-value pairs, that resembles LCDUI API.
  • A data collector schema can be stored inside the device or delivered at runtime.
  • The central point of Diamond Powder is that a schema is parsed at runtime and rendered as a sequence of LCDUI forms to allow user input.
  • At the end of user interaction Diamond Powder is able to store gathered data, and to deliver it to another MIDP application layer (validation, network, ...).
  • It is based on MIDP 1.0 and CLCD 1.0, and fits for NetBeans Mobility Pack.