webOS tutorials, forums and resources for developers

What you need to know about the webOS PDK

team@weboshelp.net (Ken Young) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:48:26 +0000

Palm has announced that they will be releasing a Plug-in Development Kit for webOS developers, allowing them to take advantage of new capabilities on webOS devices. What does this mean for application developers? Lots:

Easy to port existing C/C++ applications to webOS, including those that use OpenGL ES 1.1 or 2.0
Easy integration of C/C++ components to enhance the capability of webOS applications built with Mojo

This means hardware accelerated games and other applications that require more computing horsepower than Mojo can provide. Check out the technologies behind the PDK after the break.

webOS 1.4 is here!

team@weboshelp.net (Ken Young) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:22:58 +0000

After much anticipation, webOS 1.4 is now available for the majority of Pre and Pixi users! (Sorry Canada and Verizon users.) You can grab it by going to the Updates application. Some interesting points for developers:

An application developer can feature a video in App Catalog by providing a YouTube URL for the developer’s application. The URL appears as a link on the app details screen. Tapping the link opens the video in the phone’s YouTube application.
With the new video recorder, users can now record video on their webOS device. (How video functionality will be opened up to developers in the webOS 1.4 SDK remains to be seen.)
This release offers better overall performance, including faster loading time for apps and increased battery life across a wider range of user scenarios.
This release includes support for the Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta plugin. Note that the plugin is a standalone app that will be available in App Catalog.
A new Sleep Settings application menu item allows you to change a setting so that if Wi-Fi is on and the phone screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature turns off. By default, if Wi-Fi is on and the screen turns off, the Wi-Fi feature stays on. This setting may affect some applications with persistent data connections.
This release implements a security fix to the developer portal. It now uses HTTPS to protect all sensitive data. We'd like to thank Andrew King and Michael Siroskey for reporting this issue.

Check out the full list of changes after the jump.

Mojo SDK v1.3.5

team@weboshelp.net (Ken Young) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:03:54 +0000

As you probably already know, Mojo v1.3.5 dropped recently and v1.4 should be hot on its heels. Here's a list of the new goodies for developers in v1.3.5 of the Mojo SDK:

APIs

StageController.setWindowProperties() method now supports the fastAccelerometer property to increase the frequency of acclerometer events from 4Hz to 30Hz

Emulator

Emulator ROM updated to webOS 1.3.5
Emulator now simulates orientation and shake events via function keys:
- F5: Simulate shaking
- F6: Simulate "up" (12:00 or normal) orientation
- F7: Simulate "down" (6:00) orientation
- F8: Simulate "right" (3:00) orientation
- F9: Simulate "left" (9:00) orientation
Emulator: keyboard shortcuts to simulate device orientation changes and shake events

Tools

Added option to palm-log to control the system logging level on device. By default, release builds running on a production device will only log errors. If you also wish to see warnings and info messages, you can now change the logging level with the palm-log command, as follows:

$ palm-log-level --system-log-level

Set to either error, warning, or info. Note that logging levels are progressive, that is "info" will show info, warnings and errors, "warning" will display warnings and errors, and "error" will only display errors.

Bugfixes

Apps now installed on the media partition, allowing available space to be used for apps
- If your app uses a hard-coded path to the app directory for any purpose, you will need to update it
- You should use Mojo.appPath to compose paths to resources within your app directory, rather than hard-coding paths
Fixed a bug that was causing playback of some audio files to be clipped at the end
Upgraded sqlite to version 3.6.20 to address certain reproducible crashes in sqlite
Updated the app sandbox file-access whitelist: apps can again display contact photos returned by the People Picker widget
Fixed an issue affecting the ImageView widget: the widget can again display local images regardless of whether the ???noextractfs??? parameter is set to true
Launching Palm Emulator will now display an error message if an unsupported version of VirtualBox is installed. Currently the supported versions are 3.0.0 to 3.0.12. Note: If you installed VirtualBox 3.1 and then downgraded to 3.0, you will need to delete your VirtualBox directory (~/Library/VirtualBox on Mac, ~/.VirtualBox on Linux, etc) as the VirtualBox metadata has changed between versions.
Fixed an issue where launching Palm Emulator with "palm-emulator -- start" would require escaping spaces in the image name. This is no longer required although quotes are still needed around the name.

Performance

Additional garbage-collection performance tuning

Also, if you've been paying attention, webOS will soon support Flash 10, and it looks pretty good! We'll have a quick intro to Flash article coming soon so you can take advantage of this support with the release of webOS 1.4.

Happy New Year!

team@weboshelp.net (Ken Young) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:48:23 +0000

Yes, it's a bit late, but that's been the norm around here lately, hasn't it? Well, no more. After a ~~brief~~ extended hiatus due to moving house to a new country followed by a month-long trip to Nepal and China, we're finally back...and boy did we miss a lot. Get ready for a flurry of "catch-up" articles, most of which you will probably already know about, followed by some great new content and new community-driven site features!

Also, from now on we're going to really focus on developer-related news and eliminate all the "other" Palm webOS news that other sites with more resources (read: cash) can cover faster and better.

Got an idea? Drop us a comment below; we'd love to hear from you.

webOS 1.3.1 update released; Facebook app now available

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:55:39 +0000

Palm released their latest update to webOS today to Sprint and Bell users, notes Precentral, with the 126MB OTA download bringing the version on the Pre to 1.3.1. New features include:

Yahoo now fully integrated into Synergy
E-mail - notification improvements, Google Apps and Yahoo Small Business now supported
Track scrubber in Music
Text messaging - forwarding and custom ringtones
Google contact sync improvements
Timer for PIN lock

Many bugfixes and minor feature changes to existing apps have also been included in the update. Check out the full release notes for Sprint and Bell respectively. If you're in Europe fear not, the GSM update is expected by the end of the month.

In addition, the Mojo SDK has also been updated to match, and the anticipated native Facebook App is now available in the App Catalog. Functionality is quite limited right now, but like other platforms, new features are sure to be added for the social networking gurus out there. So far you can:

Read a list of your friends' status updates.
Comment on their status updates and make them as "liked."
Update your own status.
When a friend updates a photo album, you can view the album within the Facebook app.
Comment on a friend's photo album.

Many other webOS apps have been added recently to the App Catalog; remember you can keep track via the @PalmNewApps feed.

Palm Mojo SDK 1.3.1 now available

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:35:18 +0000

With the release of webOS 1.3.1 today, Palm has updated the Mojo SDK to 1.3.1 with numerous enhancements including some Pixi-friendly ones. Here's the breakdown of what's new:

Tools:

Emulator ROM updated to webOS 1.3.1
Emulator now provides a user interface for choosing Pixi or Pre resolution at launch
Emulator now checks to ensure a supported version of VirtualBox is installed
The Mojo SDK v1.3.1 officially supports VirtualBox 3.0.10. Earlier 3.0.X versions may work, but you will need to upgrade if you are still using 2.2.X.
The palm-install command-line tool from earlier versions of the SDK is incompatible with webOS 1.3.1 device ROMs, so the 1.3.1 SDK is required to install apps on a device running 1.3.1.

APIs:

New StageController.setWindowProperties() method to prevent screen from dimming / turning off
App Help/Support scene Mojo.Controller.StageController.pushAppSupportInfoScene() may now be auto-generated from info provided in appinfo.json
File-access restrictions added to the application sandbox environment for increased security

This is in addition to new and revised documents to help you on your way. Check out the full release notes or get it via the download.

PDN Blog

Flash 10.1 coming to webOS in first half of 2010

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:01:05 +0000

A new teaser page on the Flash website states that Adobe Flash 10.1 is coming to Palm webOS in the first half of next year. This is a positive move from last month, when Adobe demonstrated an optimized version of Flash 10.1 on the Pre and stated that beta should be available to developers by the end of the year (meanwhile, iPhone users still get this teaser page). From the Adobe Max Conference:

Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 is the first runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and video across devices...A beta is expected to be available for Windows Mobile, Palm webOS and desktop systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year."

So the earlier part of next year for a final, end-user release sounds about right. It's quite possible Flash 10.1 will be released alongside a major webOS update (webOS 2.0 perhaps?) and no doubt will bolster the application and games lineup on the Pre and Pixi with new and established content. Who here is looking forward to the beta?

Engadget

Palm Ares SDK to add drag-and-drop JavaScript functionality to webOS

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:40:43 +0000

For those still learning the ropes to webOS, Palm will be introducing a new web-based development environment for webOS applications called Ares by the end of the year. The new toolkit, unveiled recently at the Open Mobile Summit conference in San Francisco, is designed to make it easy to integrate components in JavaScript in building webOS apps for the Pre and Pixi.

In the demo, a Palm engineer created a search application for Flikr. Using a simulation of the webOS interface, he dragged logos, a search field, button, list widget and other components to successive screens, and linked the app to Flikr using an Ajax request that called a Flikr API. Ares then allowed him to see a preview of the app in both portrait and landscape view using the phone emulator.

To simplify the development process, the tool will also allow you to package up the completed app, download it to the Pre or Pixi, share it with friends; even submit it to the App Catalog. It will be compatible with a variety of browsers, including Firefox and Safari. According to Palm's senior VP of application software, Michael Abbott, Ares is designed to help web developers make the leap to mobile development, and won't require any downloads or configuration, as well as including debugging and a way for developers to share libraries and APIs.

This looks like a useful web tool that should help streamline the app building process and attract some new talent to webOS. Do you plan to use Ares when it is released?

PC World

Palm to boost webOS performance with next update?

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:43:23 +0000

Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer spoke yesterday in London about changes in webOS, including CSS transformation and performance improvements that should improve multitasking on the Pre and bring it more in line with the iPhone 3GS:

On ease of use, multitasking has been great; UI latency is still an issue even though the hardware is comparable to 3GS. The problem is the path to the GPU didn't exist, but now with CSS transforms, that will be solved in the future.

Some developers already have webOS 1.3.1 in their hands, and are no doubt experiencing the improvements for themselves. As for CSS transformation, it is essentially animation using CSS (examples here). Palm is also apparently considering options for obfuscating code (to give you more control over who can view your source code). Also, assuming Palm's new ATI graphics engineer hire is already being put to work on the Pre's GPU, we should also see OpenGL support in the not-too-distant future, and with it, more engaging 3D games. In terms of priorities, Palm has implied that it's definitely up there:

They’re evolving the platform pragmatically and they feel other things might have more immediate impact, e.g. OpenGL support.

Some predict this will come in the form of WebGL, which is already in the latest version of the webkit. For those interested, Ajaxian has all the highlights from the webOS developer event in London.

Besides speed improvements, what are you most looking forward to in the next version of webOS?

Precentral

Palm scoops AMD/ATI Linux Graphics Engineer

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:20:51 +0000

The last time we reported on notable hires at Palm was last month, when Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith, of Mozilla Developer Tools Lab were recruited to the developer team. Their latest employee, Matthew Tippett will now be working for Palm as the head of Linux kernel development. An Australian native, Tippett served as engineering manager for Linux Core Engineering at AMD/ATI. Matt's work with ATI's Linux graphics drivers was given high praise, notably that he played a "critical role" in bringing the Catalyst drivers for Linux to near-parity with Windows, among other things. He will be moving from Toronto to Sunnyvale, CA to start work on webOS.

With the new engineer on board and recent focus on game development, will Palm start putting the capabilities of the Pre's GPU to work?

Palm Infocenter

Palm to offer early access to webOS updates (UPDATE: 1.3.1 now distributed)

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:24:18 +0000

For those worried about future webOS updates inconveniently breaking compatibility with their apps (in the App Catalog), Palm will soon have you covered. Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach writes on webOSdev:

"We are setting up a way for developers with apps in the catalog to have access to upcoming releases of the software to test compatibility of their application. Please drop me an email (chuq@palm.com) with the email addresses of the people you need to have access to the early release and what application you've published and I'll set you up. We're also setting up a private area here on the forums to support this early access."

Other device makers already give early access to updates for developers, so we're happy to see Palm get on the bandwagon. So if you already have an app in the App Catalog and would like to get hooked up with preview builds of webOS, be sure to send off an e-mail to Chuq with your request. It's still unclear though, whether Palm will offer early access to developers distributing via the upcoming web distribution model.

Precentral

UPDATE: That was fast. reports are in that webOS 1.3.1 is already being distributed to select developers!

Apple breaks webOS iTunes sync once again

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:58:02 +0000

Apple's latest incremental update up to iTunes 9.02 shuts out the Pre once again, continuing the cycle of breaking and fixing media sync that Palm seems to have down to a science.

No details have been released yet as to changes to the USB ID structure that prevent the device from syncing, but with webOS 1.3 rumored to arrive with the Pixi on November 15, Palm may get the gears going for another fix. As usual, if you want to keep sync intact keep a copy of iTunes 9.01 handy or use a third-party program such as doubleTwist (now supporting Pixi) or The Missing Sync as alternatives.

Palm Infocenter

Palm talks webOS App Distribution, more at Sprint DevCon

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:20:39 +0000

Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer, Directors of Palm Developer Relations and former Mozilla gurus, gave a keynote at the Sprint Developer Conference this week laying out the upcoming web distribution model that Palm is opening up in December. The program will favor open source developers as well as avoiding some of the fees associated with the App Catalog. For those interested in the scoop, see the video below. Also from the DevCon, Palm demonstrated the code for adding a snooze function to the webOS clock.

Air Hockey creator Acceleroto details webOS development experience

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:54:02 +0000

Pre users have been enjoying paid apps in the App Catalog for several weeks now; but what are the real challenges that webOS game developers face? How did the company behind the very first paid webOS application (and former #1 game on the iPhone App Store), Air Hockey, choose a price point, and how does developing for webOS differ from the iPhone? Development house Acceleroto answered these questions and more earlier this month in their blog.

The company has been through the full approval process, from applying early for the Mojo SDK, being accepted into the beta program, creating a technical demo and finally going live in the App Catalog. Definitely worth a read for those who want insight into the development cycle. Highlights after the break.

Add snooze functionality to the webOS Clock: Sprint DevCon tutorial

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:08:27 +0000

Today at the Sprint Developer Conference, Palm's Matt Hornyak, the lead engineer responsible for the webOS phone app and Clock that ship with the Pre, gave a tutorial on how to change the length of a snooze alarm in the Clock app. This was done in just five minutes in front of a live audience of about 500, and was running on the device by the end of his presentation.

The PDN Blog posted a "sneak preview" of the code used to add the snooze feature to the clock, with Hornyak's annotations in boldface. Definitely worth a look for JavaScript and Mojo gurus who have a hard time getting out of bed.

According to the conference schedule there's an upcoming Palm Keynote from developer relations tomorrow, so we should have more webOS news soon. Palm promises an article later with detailed instructions on how to add this feature, but for now here's the code to play around with (after the break):

Palm Pixi coming to Sprint November 15 for $100 after rebate

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Today, Palm and Sprint announced that the new webOS Pixi handset will hit the US on November 15th, exclusively on Sprint, on-contract for $99 after $100 mail-in rebate. The phone will be distributed through Sprint stores, Best Buy, RadioShack, and select Walmart locations. This confirms promises of a launch in time for the holidays from Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein on The Engadget Show, among other outlets.

Other information such as processor specs have already been detailed. Whether Best Buy will make the mail-in rebate an instant one like for the Pre is still in the air. At this price point, will you be putting the Pixi on your gift list this year?

Hopefully this will be another boost to Palm, who are enjoying successful Pre releases in Europe, and soon on Verizon back home. With the new device just around the corner and sporting a reduced resolution with no WiFi, have you ensured your apps are Pixi-ready?

Engadget

webOS App Catalog growing rapidly; more ways to keep up-to-date

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:23:51 +0000

Palm's app catalog is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, with the total number of apps now passing 255. Precentral reports on the latest apps, noting that many were homebrew now finding a place in the App Catalog. So good job to those with apps moving up to the big leagues!

YDice: Yahtzee clone - Free (ScSoft)
The Tip Calculator: $1 (Pictureplaza.eu)
Mezzoman Free: Free version (Marc Zider)
Cow Can: Makes your Pre say "Moo" when you tip it - $0.99 (Ken Torimaru)
Knot Guide: Go back to boy scouts and perfect your knots - $2.99 (WinkPass Creations)
Absolute Fitness: Nutrition and fitness info - $4.99 (Aqua Eagle)
Blackjack: $0.99 (Taylor Marshall)
15 Puzzle: Free (Janni Kovacs)
vCrumbsFree: Find your way home with "virtual breadcrumbs" - Free version (mikagika)
vCrumbs: $1.49
Twee Free: Twitter client - Free version (Delicious Morsel)
Twee: Full-featured twitter client - $2.99
Tiny Twitter: Twitter Client, ported from Windows Mobile - $1.99 (Tiny Byte Software)
GoodMuslim: Free (Xivix Software)
Jobr: Job search app - Free (WebFusion5)
FlashCards Lite: Flash cards - Free version (James Harris)
FlashCards: Full featured flash card app - $6.99
Calql8 Tips: Tip calculator - Free (Calql8)
Trivia: Test your knowledge - $4.99 (Europa Pictures)
Bible Trivia: Test your Bible knowledge - $5.99 (Europa Pictures)
Blocked: $1.99 (Brandon VanBelle)
Tally Counter: For counting things as they pass - $0.99 (InspiringApps)
Timebits: Time tracker - $4.99 (Understandi.net)
Conmigo: Find exercise partners - $5.99 (ConmigoLife)
Stopwatch / Timer: $0.99 (6 Crackers Software)
Blocks: Classic traffic game w/ 100 puzzles - $2.99 (Den Falske Zebra)

PreThinking also has the scoop on other recent apps, along with prices. For those on a downloading spree and pushing the app storage limit of their Pre, which of the new apps are your favorite so far?

In addition, Palm Infocenter notes that with Palm picking up the pace on getting new apps into the Catalog, an official PalmNewApps feed has been started to keep up with all the latest in the App Catalog. This is a good alternative to the online index that Palm started this week, which only seems to contain a subset of the available apps. Homebrew fans are also not left in the dark, with an Apps4WebOS feed also covering new homebrew apps.

Multi IM clients coming to webOS with video recording, more

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:38:05 +0000

With mobile social networking booming (a recent USA Today article highlights this trend), to help you get your fix two companies are moving forward on their plans to bring advanced multi IM clients to webOS. The first comes by way of Agile Mobile, who unveiled a preview of their new app for the Pre; and the feature list is quite substantial. The app will include:

Support for AIM, MSN, Windows Live, Yahoo Messenger, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber
Full buddy list connectivity: Send and receive messages OTA, any time.
Voice messaging push-to-talk: Use your phone as a walkie-talkie and send voice messages to your buddies.
Picture messaging: Snap pics and then send them to any of your buddies.
Video messaging: Video record and instantly send it to buddies on MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, or Google Talk.

The last point is particularly interesting, especially since video recording hacks for the Pre have proven rather primitive. Could this be the way to finally get video recording capabilities onto the device? If this pans out, it's clear that Agile has invested heavily in development to build up a framework for video recording and messaging, or have an untold partnership with Palm that could involve a future update to webOS and the Mojo SDK.

The other multi IM client in the works is coming by way of Mundu, whose messenger app for the Blackberry won the Handango Championship award for 2009; so we can expect a full-featured port to webOS. Support includes Google Talk, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Jabber. Proprietary features such as Mundu Radio and Mundu SMS are also part of their lineup, and should also see the move to webOS. They already have a mobile specific webpage available for webOS devices.

There is still no firm release date for either client except "coming soon". As for when native Yahoo! support on the Pre is coming, there is also no firm date, although this feature will be standard on the upcoming Pixi handset.

Precentral

New webOS patch adds closing slider hang-up; other tweaks detailed

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:38:09 +0000

You may remember the useful onscreen keyboard patch designed to add something that Palm probably should have done already by now. Another patch has been recently making the rounds, allowing you to hang up simply by closing the slider. You can already answer calls by opening it, so this patch finally completes the cycle. There's no more need to fish around for the end call button, or have your friends firmly slide it shut while the line stays open to unwanted dialog. Head over to Precentral for the install details.

"This particularly comes in handy when you are upset...and need a quick way to completely shut them up in a rude fashion," writes palmwebos.org. Sounds useful, and sure beats dunking your Pre in a mug of beer when angry.

For those curious about other patches along these lines, milo from Precentral has started a series entitled "There's a Patch For That". Now in its third installment, it details a variety of patches from the onscreen keyboard, to LED notifications, universal search, calendar, and everything in between. Worth a read.

webOS App Catalog now indexed online at Palm.com

team@weboshelp.net (Andrew Young) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:53:25 +0000

For those hoping to get a full rundown of the webOS App Catalog without the eyestrain (and battery drain) of searching on your device, Palm has you covered. By request, you can now check all available apps online by category, complete with screenshots and summaries.

The app database is limited to a short summary of each and covers only the US App Catalog, but we're hoping they'll expand it with additional app details (such as prices, download size, ranking, reviews, etc.) and to Canadian and European sites where the Pre is now available. Come December Palm will also offer the option for web distribution, where apps can be listed and sold via the web (and through the browser on the Pre). But the browsable listing is definitely a start, and something that the iPhone App Store is still lacking (you're still forced to browse on-device or through a bloated iTunes download).

Check out the official site here.