Summary

This chapter has covered a lot of ground, owing to the wealth of graphical and multimedia APIs provided by Series 60. Sound and graphics can add much user value to your application, so mastering these techniques is important if you want to create desirable applications.

This chapter introduced the fundamental drawing APIs that you will soon become familiar with, such as those for drawing shapes and managing fonts. More advanced graphics techniques, including double buffering and image scaling and rotation, were introduced as you progressed through the chapter. Techniques for producing smooth animations were explained and the Direct Screen Access framework discussed. While animation may not always be appropriate, it can sometimes enhance your application greatly. Direct Screen Access should probably be used exclusively for games .

The addition of sound can also benefit the usability of your application ”but take care not to overdo things. This chapter has covered the main APIs for recording and playing sounds and provided example applications to demonstrate their use.

It is important to remember that the media architecture has been updated for Series 60 2.x. This means that when you need to consider carefully your target platform(s) before creating your application. Many of the media- related APIs have been deprecated in Series 60 2.x, and alternative APIs introduced. This chapter has pointed out the main changes to the media APIs in Series 60 2.x and should therefore help you to make an informed choice about which to use.

Having read this chapter, you now have strong foundations with which to create visually compelling applications, potentially enhanced further by the wide variety of audio utilities available.