CREATING YOUR OWN APPLICATIONS

If the idea of creating your own applications for the BlackBerry is appealing to you, then this section is for you. How to develop applications for a BlackBerry is a book topic all by itself; this section is simply to provide a few pointers to let you know what to do to get started.

TOOLS YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD

The first thing to do is to visit the BlackBerry Developers site at http://www.blackberry.com/developers/index.shtml. There you can find instructions on how to download and install the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE). The JDE is a Java-based Interactive Development Environment (IDE) similar to Microsoft Developer Studio. With it, you can create and package applications for the BlackBerry. Of course you have to know the Java programming language to do so.

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It is also possible to download an application over the air (OTA). That is to say that the application is installed onto your handheld wirelessly. Some websites offer OTA downloading, or you can also use the BES to install the application OTA. In either case, you do not need to connect the handheld to your desktop computer nor do you have to run the Desktop Manager.

The latest versions of the JDE allow you to create applications that do a lot of different things. Some of the most interesting ones are

• Interacting with incoming email.

• Sending email from a program.

• Accessing data in the Address Book, Calendar, and Tasks applications.

• Interacting with attachments on email messages including providing a viewer.

• Sending and receiving wireless communication via HTTP or sockets.