Friday, September 26, 2008

Runtime Delivered Schema

This sample was used to present Diamond Powder during Just Java 2008 and was shown to Roger Brinkley in the interview for Java Mobility Podcast.

The data collector that's been used collects time sheet entries. The cool features of this sample are:
  • The schema can be maintened outside the Midlet application, in a web application
  • The Midlet application is able to request new schema versions to some web server
  • The Collector is able to parse a new schema on the fly
First download the timesheet_dynamic sample from here.

You'll get two projects from the zip file:
  • dynaschema - is a regular NetBeans 6.1 Java EE Web project - once deployed to Tomcat it allows one to edit a schema definition using Diamond Powder syntax.
  • dynaschemaConsumer - is a data collector Midlet application that asks for a timesheet schema, through a HTTP connection.
The screen shot bellow shows the web application being accessed, with a predefined (and editable) schema:


Next we see the Midlet application running, and the first menu option, that has to be selected to request a schema (the application starts with no schema):



Once the schema is loaded from the web application we're able to enter some timesheet activities, and to browse amongst them:




The real fun starts when we switch back to the web application and type some new schema definitions - to enable schema edition, click on Define Schema link, on the main web app page:



In this example, we've added a second page, and modified the flow to introduce such page. Once the schema edition has been done, click on "submit button".



Now we can use the same running Midlet instance to load the brand new schema version (the 1st option on the main menu), and benefit from a more sophisticated data collector:
  • New activities will be collected along 2 pages;
  • Old collected activities can be reviewed to be complemented with cost account management info.


You can go further and define new pages and fields on the schema with the web application and reload it from the Midlet. Just keep in mind that this Midlet application manages timesheet entries, and expects to receive a schema named "timesheet", and browse amongst records that supply at least the following fields : "date", "time1" and "activity". If you change the schema name, or supress some of this three fields in the schema definition, the Midlet is supposed to stop working.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Roger Brinkley at Just Java 2008

This year Just Java 2008 (a very important Brazilian Java conference) was remarkable, due to the presence of Roger Brinkley (the gentleman playing golf on the stage, below) - who is a Senior Engineer at Sun Microsystems and the Mobile & Embedded Community Leader at java.net.

Roger attended our congress to talk about several subjects concerning Java ME development:

In the picture below Roger attached a Sun Spot device at the end of his club and measured his "swing" in the graphics on the left.


Not only did he brought essential and up to date information to our community, but also interview Brazilian ME project developers, in order to disseminate such initiatives through Java Mobility Podcast.

In this context Diamond Powder was presented to him, and we discussed the project in a interview, released on Java Mobility Podcast.

In the next post I'll show a Time Sheet project, based on Diamond Powder, that was shown to Roger and used as example to present Diamond Powder to the Brazilian Java Community during the congress.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Just Java 2008

From September 10th to 12th, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the congress Just Java 2008 will take place.
This year I'll be presenting two talks with Wagner Santos:
  • Java EE 6 / EJB 3.1 and the future of Enterprise Java
  • Diamond Powder - Open Source Productivity with Java ME
For general information about the event, click here.
Check the programming here.