by Jon Lansdell, Cheng Luo, and
Michelle Somerville
Tizen
™
Tizen™ For Dummies®, Tizen Developer Conference Edition
Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ... 1
Part I: Introducing Tizen ... 5
Chapter 1: Getting an Inside Look at Tizen ... 7
Chapter 2: Exploring the Tizen Architecture ... 17
Part II: Getting Practical ... 29
Chapter 3: Getting Started ... 31
Chapter 4: Piecing Together the Application Jigsaw ... 47
Chapter 5: Testing and Debugging ... 73
Chapter 6: Porting Your Web App to Tizen ... 91
Part III: Tizen in Detail ... 107
Chapter 7: Building Your UI ... 109
Chapter 8: Taking Advantage of Location-Based Services ... 121
Chapter 9: Working with Multimedia ... 129
Chapter 10: Using Hardware in Tizen ... 145
Chapter 11: Messaging ... 159
Chapter 12: Working with Contacts ... 171
Chapter 13: Getting Organized with Calendars ... 181
Part IV: The Part of Tens ... 189
Chapter 14: Ten Really Useful Resources... 191
Chapter 15: Ten Reasons You Should Develop for Tizen ... 195
Table of Contents
Introduction ... 1
About This Book ... 1
Conventions Used in This Book ... 1
Who Should Read This Book ... 2
How This Book Is Organized ... 2
Part I: Introducing Tizen ... 3
Part II: Getting Practical ... 3
Part III: Tizen in Detail ... 3
Part IV: The Part of Tens ... 3
Icons Used in This Book ... 4
Where to Go from Here ... 4
Part I: Introducing Tizen ... 5
Chapter 1: Getting an Inside Look at Tizen . . . .7
Discovering Tizen ... 7
Focusing on HTML5 ... 8
Tizen’s place in the mobile world... 8
Figuring Out What Makes Tizen Different ... 10
Tizen is based on standards... 10
Tizen is open ... 11
Tizen is innovative ... 12
Tizen has industry support ... 12
Comparing Tizen to Other Platforms ... 12
Getting Familiar with the Tizen Association ... 13
Getting Involved ... 13
Submitting patches ... 14
Mailing list and IRC ... 14
Forums ... 15
Bug tracker ... 15
Chapter 2: Exploring the Tizen Architecture . . . .17
Introducing Web Apps... 18
The web runtime ... 19
Installer ... 20
Runtime core ... 20
Plugin core ... 21
Exploring the Tizen Device APIs ... 22 Tizen ... 23 Alarm ... 24 Application ... 24 Bookmark ... 24 Bluetooth ... 24 Calendar ... 24 CallHistory ... 24 Contacts ... 25 Content ... 25 DataControl ... 25 DataSynchronization ... 25 Download ... 25 Filesystem ... 25 MessagePort ... 26 Messaging ... 26 NetworkBearerSelection ... 26 NFC ... 26 Notification ... 26 Package ... 27 Power ... 27 Push ... 27 SecureElement ... 27 SystemInfo ... 27 SystemSetting ... 27 Time ... 28
Part II: Getting Practical ... 29
Chapter 3: Getting Started . . . .31
Installing the IDE ... 32
Creating Your First Tizen Web App ... 34
Using a sample app ... 35
Using your own template ... 35
Importing an existing project ... 37
Tizen web application ... 37
Other web applications ... 38
Writing the Code ... 39
HTML Web Page Editor ... 39
HTML Preview ... 41
CSS Preview ... 41
Minifying CSS and JavaScript ... 42
CSS ... 42
JavaScript ... 43
Tizen For Dummies, Developer Conference Edition
Table of Contents
vii
Building Your Project ... 43
Running Your Project ... 43
Help Is on the Way ... 44
Help documentation ... 44
Sample applications ... 45
Chapter 4: Piecing Together the Application Jigsaw . . . 47
Examining the Pieces ... 48
The Application Package ... 48
Localized content ... 49
The configuration file ... 50
Breaking down the config file ... 50
config.xml the easy way: the Configuration Editor ... 52 Start file ... 59 JavaScript ... 59 Style sheet ... 60 Application icon ... 60 Author signature ... 60 Distributor signature ... 61
Third-party source code or libraries ... 61
Adding source code or libraries to a project ...62
Adding source code or libraries in index.html ...62
Putting the Pieces Together ... 63
Example 1: A 5-minute application ... 63
Creating the application project ... 64
Editing the icon file ... 64
Editing the configuration document ... 64
Editing the start file ... 65
Running the application ... 65
Example 2: Something a bit more complicated ... 66
Using the Tizen APIs ... 68
Looking at index.html ... 68
Figuring out what is in main.js ... 70
Defining style attributes in style.css ... 71
Chapter 5: Testing and Debugging . . . .73
Testing Your App ... 74
Running in the Simulator ... 74
Testing with the Emulator ... 75
Using the Emulator Manager to create an image ... 76
Launching an Emulator instance ... 78
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viii
Running your application in the Emulator ... 80
Using the Event Injector ... 80
Testing your app on a device ... 82
Connecting the device ... 83
Running your app on the device ... 83
Tracking Down the Bugs ... 83
Debugging in the Simulator ... 84
Debugging in the Emulator ... 85
Debugging on the device ... 86
Debugging JavaScript ... 86
Using the Smart Development Bridge ... 88
Using SDB commands ... 88
Discovering the connected devices ... 89
Chapter 6: Porting Your Web App to Tizen . . . .91
Everything You Wanted to Know about Web Apps (But Were Afraid to Ask) ... 92
Web apps on different platforms ... 93
Tools and frameworks ... 94
Standards ... 94
Distribution ... 95
Porting Problems Solved... 95
Handling different package formats ... 96
Making your layout flexible ... 98
Fixing inconsistent behavior ... 101
Porting device specific libraries ... 103
Making your app more portable ... 104
Part III: Tizen in Detail ... 107
Chapter 7: Building Your UI . . . .109
Delving into the Nuts, Bolts, and jQuery Mobile... 110
Embedded custom data attributes ... 110
Page structure ... 110
Events ... 111
Exploring the Tizen UI Widgets ... 112
The UI Builder: Just Drag and Drop ... 113
Choosing your widgets ... 114
Implementing events in the UI builder ... 116
Table of Contents
ix
Chapter 8: Taking Advantage of
Location-Based Services . . . .121
Finding Your Way ... 122
Displaying a Map ... 122
Finding an Address ... 125
Google Geocoder API ... 125
X Marks the Spot ... 126
Chapter 9: Working with Multimedia . . . .129
Introducing the Multimedia APIs ... 130
Discovering Content ... 130
Content ... 131
Getting permission ... 132
Example: Creating a playlist ... 132
Capturing Images and Video... 134
Using the Application Manager ... 134
Application Control object ... 134
Launching an application ... 135
Example: Taking a photo ... 136
Playing Audio and Video ... 138
Example: Playing local audio files ... 138
Example: Playing local video files ... 140
Multimedia Streaming ... 141
webkitGetUserMedia ... 141
Example: Streaming video from your device’s camera ... 142
Chapter 10: Using Hardware in Tizen . . . .145
Introducing NFC ... 146
Using NFC in your Tizen Apps... 147
Setting up NFC ... 149
Setting up the listeners ... 149
Reading a tag ... 150
Writing a tag ... 152
Using NFC in peer-to-peer mode ... 153
Detecting Device Orientation ... 154
Detecting Device Motion ... 157
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Chapter 11: Messaging . . . .159
Introducing the Messaging API ... 160
Message service ... 160 Message structure ... 160 Message ... 161 MessageBody ... 161 MessageAttachment ... 161 Message storage ... 162 Getting Permission... 162
Getting Practical: Searching for Messages... 162
Creating the page ... 163
Filling the message list ... 165
Initialisation ... 165
Searching for messages ... 165
Drawing the list ... 166
Searching the message list ... 168
Processing user input ... 168
Searching for messages ... 169
Chapter 12: Working with Contacts . . . .171
Meeting the Key Personnel ... 171
Address books ... 172
Contacts ... 173
Getting Permission... 174
Managing Your Contacts ... 174
Adding a contact ... 174
Retrieving a contact ... 176
Deleting contacts ... 177
Exporting a contact ... 178
Chapter 13: Getting Organized with Calendars . . . .181
Introducing the Calendar API ... 181
CalendarManager ... 182 Calendar ... 182 CalendarItem ... 182 Getting Permission... 183 Creating a Task ... 184 Retrieving Tasks ... 185 Setting an Alarm ... 187
Table of Contents
xi
Part IV: The Part of Tens ... 189
Chapter 14: Ten Really Useful Resources . . . .191
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide ... 191
Douglas Crockford’s JavaScript Lectures ... 192
JavaScript: The Good Parts ... 192
JavaScript Patterns ... 192
Browser Developer Tools ... 192
JavaScript Libraries ... 193
Keeping up with HTML5 ... 193
Smashing Magazine... 194
The Linux Foundation on YouTube ... 194
And . . . You ... 194
Chapter 15: Ten Reasons You Should
Develop for Tizen . . . .195
Tizen Is Easy to Learn ... 195
Tizen Doesn’t Reinvent the Wheel ... 196
Tizen Supports the Latest Standards ... 196
Tizen Supports These Standards Very Well ... 196
Tizen Fills in the Gaps ... 196
Tizen Is Consistent... 197
You Can Easily Get Help ... 197
You Can Give Back ... 197
Tizen Isn’t Just for Mobile... 197
Tizen Isn’t Just for Web Developers ... 197
Tizen For Dummies, Developer Conference Edition
Introduction
W
elcome to Tizen For Dummies. This book will be your best friend to help you understand the technologies and story behind the Tizen platform.If you already know about web technologies, such as HTML and JavaScript, you can use the information in these pages to give you a head start in developing Tizen apps.
About This Book
The information in this book is based on the Tizen 2.1 release. Tizen is a fast-moving, evolving project, and you may be run-ning a later version. Changes happen, bugs are fixed, behav-iors change, but the key concepts don’t. These key concepts are the heart of this book.
The Tizen SDK Help will always provide the most up-to-date reference information. Check out https://developer. tizen.org and the resources listed throughout this book to ensure that you stay up to date.
Conventions Used in This Book
When this book was printed, some code or web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that hap-pened, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra charac-ters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using this code or one of these web addresses, just type exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.
When you’re choosing a series of menu commands, we use ➪ to indicate the different commands you’re choosing. So when you see choose File➪New➪Tizen Web Project, you should simply click the File menu, click New from the menu that appears, and then click Tizen Web Project.
Tizen For Dummies, 2nd Edition
2
In addition, we often refer you to the Tizen website or the SDK Help file. You can open the Help file from within the Tizen IDE by choosing Help➪Help Contents. You can also find help online at the Tizen website at https://developer.tizen. org/documention.
Who Should Read This Book
When writing this book, we made a few assumptions about you, the reader. You’re either:
✓ A software engineer with experience developing for the desktop, but no experience developing mobile apps. You’re keen to start developing mobile apps and want to know what Tizen offers.
✓ A technical manager, evaluating the opportunities Tizen offers for your next project on mobile.
✓ A developer with a good grasp of web technologies, such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, who is curious about Tizen. (Don’t worry if you’re not a web guru; we don’t expect you to be.)
✓ A parent with small children, looking for something to read during the precious hours while the kids sleep. If any of the preceding applies to you, or you just stumbled upon this book and found your curiosity piqued, the infor-mation presented here will give you a good idea of what the Tizen platform is and how you can start developing for it.
How This Book Is Organized
To help you find the information you need, this book is divided into four parts.
Introduction
3
Part I: Introducing Tizen
If you want to know what makes Tizen different and discover Tizen’s place in the mobile landscape, you can find the answers in this part. We examine how Tizen compares to other platforms and explain the importance of the Tizen community.
We also give you a tour of the components of the Tizen plat-form, explain how web applications fit in and provide you with a quick summary of the Tizen Device APIs.
Part II: Getting Practical
Part II encourages you to fire up the Tizen IDE and start devel-oping apps. Think of the first three chapters of this part as a Tizen orientation trilogy, where you discover everything you need to know to build your first Tizen app. In addition, if you’ve built a web app for another platform and want to move it to Tizen, we explain many of the issues you’ll encounter when porting.
Part III: Tizen in Detail
Part III explains the Tizen Device APIs in more detail. We don’t include all the APIs or try to replace the information you can find in the Tizen SDK Help. Instead, we focus on what you need to know to build a fully featured Tizen web app.
Part IV: The Part of Tens
No For Dummies book would be complete without a part of tens. In this part, you discover ten really useful resources and ten reasons why you should develop for Tizen.
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Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book, you can see small pictures in the mar-gins. These icons have special meanings:
The Tip icon points out important information that can save you time or make a task easier.
This icon marks information you won’t want to forget. Be careful when you see this icon!
This icon highlights information that is nice to know but not crucial to the discussion. Feel free to skip this information if you’re not interested in it.
Where to Go from Here
The content in this book is designed to be easy to navigate. Dip in and dip out of each chapter as the mood takes you. We don’t expect you to read the book cover to cover, but if you do make it to the end before your friends do, please don’t spoil the ending.
Think of this book as your first stop on your Tizen develop-ment journey. We explain the concepts, identify gotchas, pro-vide hints, tips, and handy sample code, and draw on our own experience to help kick-start your Tizen development efforts. If you’re an experienced web developer, you may want to focus on the chapters that explain Tizen device APIs and show you how to apply your existing knowledge of HTML and JavaScript to create Tizen web apps.
If you’re new to web development, it may feel at times as if you’re navigating uncharted waters. Think of this book as your map. You discover how Tizen web applications are cre-ated using a mixture of technologies, including W3C APIs, third-party Javascript libraries, and Tizen-specific APIs, all mixed together to create powerful apps.
Part I
In this part . . .
T
his part is your Tizen orientation session, where we issue you with your virtual map, compass and back-pack as you start to explore this new platform. You learn about Tizen’s place in the mobile landscape and what makes this mobile platform different from the rest. You explore the structure of a typical open source platform, see where Tizen fits in and find out how you can get involved in the Tizen community.In Chapter 2 you learn how Tizen is organized and dis-cover how Tizen web applications look and behave like native ones. We also explore Tizen’s support for web stan-dards and introduce the Tizen device APIs which allow you to create powerful and feature-rich apps.
Chapter 1
Getting an Inside
Look at Tizen
In This Chapter
▶ Discovering what makes Tizen unique ▶ Becoming part of the Tizen community
Y
ou may have heard of Tizen, but not know what it is. No worries! In this chapter, you discover Tizen’s place in the mobile world and some of the many reasons why this open source software platform is one of a kind. You also find out how Tizen compares to other mobile platforms and how to become involved in the Tizen community.Discovering Tizen
Tizen is an open source, standards-based, cross-architecture device software platform designed to find a place in
everything from smartphones to smart TVs and beyond. The Linux Foundation announced the Tizen project in
September 2011 and the Tizen Association was formed in 2012 to drive industry engagement and support for the project. Currently, the main contributors to Tizen are Samsung and Intel, but with increasing industry support, you can expect more organizations to become active contributors. Currently, the Tizen Association board has 12 members from different industry sectors, including many mobile operators.
Part I: Introducing Tizen
8
Tizen has solid open source foundations, and it makes use of established open source components, such as WebKit, GStreamer, Xorg, and Connman. If you want to know how Tizen compares to other open source mobile platforms, see the section ‘Tizen’s place in the mobile world,’ later in this chapter.
You can find out more about Tizen and the Tizen Association at www.tizen.org and www.tizenassociation.org.
Focusing on HTML5
Tizen’s primary focus for application development is HTML5, which is rapidly emerging as the preferred development envi-ronment for mobile applications. Tizen support for HTML5 is extensive and powerful. It includes support for most of the major W3C APIs included under the banner of HTML5, as well as many supplementary web APIs.
The first prerelease version of Tizen emerged blinking into the spotlight of the developer community in January 2012. The final 1.0 version, code named Larkspur and including Linux and Windows versions of the SDK and the Tizen Web UI framework, was released in May, just before the first Tizen Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. At this event, the attendees were given a reference device, known as the soft-ware development platform (SDP), or lunchbox, as it is nick-named due to its less than svelte appearance.
The version of Tizen we used to create this book is 2.1, which was released in May 2013, and introduced many new web APIs. The Tizen 2.0 SDK was the first to include C++ APIs which you can use to create native apps. However, web apps are still the main way of developing for Tizen and that’s the focus of this book.
Tizen’s place in the mobile world
Our years of mobile development has taught us one simple fact – creating a mobile platform is hard. The average smart device includes a dazzling range of technologies that put desktop computers to shame. We expect our smart devices to entertain us, help us find our way home, run our schedules and just occasionally make phone calls. No one person can be
Chapter 1: Getting an Inside Look at Tizen
9
expected to be an expert in everything from application devel-opment to the low-level technologies that enable your phone to talk to the cellphone towers. Figure 1-1 shows the different perspective that users, application developers and platform developers have on the way a typical open source platform is organised. Put yourself in the shoes of each of these people as we show you how Tizen fits in to the mobile open source landscape.
Figure 1-1: Different perspectives on the layers of a mobile open source
platform
The way platforms are organized is often described in terms of an onion. You gradually peel away the layers until you reach the core.
At the top layer, we have applications and services. It’s what’s contained here that helps end users make their decision about which device to buy. They choose their devices accord-ing to what apps and services are available for them to use. Next we come to the platform level. This layer is where you’ll find the APIs and SDKs that allow developers to create appli-cations. It’s where you’ll find Tizen and the APIs discussed in this book. Tizen has many similarities to other platforms, but you discover the differences too.
Part I: Introducing Tizen
10
Delving deeper we come to the middleware. Many middle-ware components will come from conventional desktop open source projects. Different platforms will pick and choose which open source components to include. The great thing about open source software is the range of components available.
The lowest layer is the kernel. For open source mobile plat-forms, this layer will generally be a Linux kernel. The kernel interacts with middleware components to talk to the hard-ware. It’s the middleware layer that the platform developers, who contribute to the components of the platform, will be most interested in.
Figuring Out What Makes
Tizen Different
When Tizen was announced, some of the most common questions asked by developers, analysts and users included whether a new platform was needed at all and what makes Tizen stand out from the crowd.
In this book, we attempt to answer some of these questions, but for now, here are four ways in which Tizen is different from the rest.
Tizen is based on standards
HTML5 is a set of standards that enjoys support from across the industry, and it’s a standard that Tizen supports very well. HTML5 supports multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices. In its latest incarnation, HTML5 provides greater access to device hardware, advanced audio and video capabil-ities, and more flexibility for design and layout. Using HTML5, developers can create cross-platform applications, writing the code once and running it on multiple platforms. The extent to which a platform supports the HTML5 specification is vital for developers who want to make the most of the latest features.
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Tizen supports most of the official HTML5 standards, along with some supplementary and legacy standards. Designed to get the most out of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, Tizen’s web engine is tuned to within an inch of its life to squeeze best performance out of these technologies.
Not only does the Tizen web engine (based on WekKit2 since Tizen 2.0) perform well, its web browser also scores highly in web standards compliance tests, finishing first according to the scores from http://html5test.com, which test how well a browser supports HTML5 specifications.
Tizen is open
As an open source software platform, Tizen provides many opportunities for both individuals and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) – the people that make the phones. Anyone can grab the source code and customize it to meet their own needs. Any OEM can ship Tizen devices with a cus-tomized user interface, app store, or set of services.
Open source projects also encourage collaboration. Software engineering is changing, and it’s a challenge for an individual or even an organization to build something without using open source code. Collaborating with the open source com-munity is a more efficient and cost-effective way of develop-ment, and it generally avoids re-inventing the wheel.
Defining open
At any gathering of open source developers, the one subject guaranteed to cause an argument – aside from which pizza restaurant to order from – is ‘What is the definition of open source?’
In this book, we describe Tizen as open source because the source
code to the platform is freely available, anyone can download it, and you can use it for any purpose in any project. We accept that this may not meet everyone’s definition of open source software, but this is our definition, and we’re sticking to it.
Part I: Introducing Tizen
12
Tizen is innovative
Innovation can come from many sources. It may be an idea from an individual or an organisation’s R&D projects, but most innovation comes from collaboration.
The Tizen Project brings these different resources and knowl-edge together. Everyone can contribute ideas and innovations to the platform, and everyone can benefit.
Innovation doesn’t stop at collaboration; it also brings differ-entiation to a product and leads to more choice for end users.
Tizen has industry support
One lesson learned from previous open source platforms is that being open source doesn’t necessarily guarantee success or innovation. A project must have strong industry support. The Tizen Association board includes many operators and device manufacturers, and a strong ecosystem built around Tizen offers opportunities far beyond smartphones. You can look forward to your applications running not only on mobile phones, but also on in-vehicle infotainment systems, note-books, tablets, and Smart TVs.
At the time of writing, the board members of the Tizen Association are Intel, Samsung, Fujitsu, Huawei, KT, NEC Casio Mobile Communications, NTT docomo, Orange, Panasonic Mobile Communications, SK Telecom, Sprint and Vodafone.
Comparing Tizen to
Other Platforms
Tizen’s openness contrasts with closed, proprietary plat-forms, such as iOS, Blackberry 10 and Windows Phone, for which the source code is not available. The choice for users of these platforms is also limited, with only Windows Phone licensed to other manufacturers and the rest available only on the vendor’s devices.
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Of the open source alternatives, WebOS and Firefox OS are both platforms with potential, but they don’t have the same level of industry support as Tizen.
Android is the best known open source platform, but the gov-ernance of the platform is arguably not as open, and its stan-dards support isn’t as comprehensive as Tizen.
Getting Familiar with
the Tizen Association
The Tizen Association and the Tizen Project, under the Linux Foundation, are complementary to each other. The industry and market-facing aspects of Tizen are driven by the Tizen Association, while the engineering of the Tizen software plat-form takes place within the Tizen open source project hosted by the Linux Foundation. The Linux Foundation runs the Tizen Project, with a focus on platform development and delivery. You can find out more at www.tizenassociation.org. The board of directors decides the commercial direction of the Tizen Association. The board decides on the platform requirements, business strategy, application store require-ments, and industry partnerships. It aims to evolve the eco-system of the Tizen platform.
Several technical steering groups (TSGs) govern the Tizen Project. Intel and Samsung, as the two primary platform con-tributors, chair the TSGs, and other interested parties can participate.
Getting Involved
You can participate and contribute to the Tizen Project at dif-ferent levels. As described on the Tizen website (www.tizen. org), you can be a platform contributor, an application devel-oper, a user, or a Tizen product vendor.
At the platform level, the membership for the TSG (for exam-ple, groups responsible for areas such as Release Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Program Management) is invitation
Part I: Introducing Tizen
14
only and will mainly be open to the Tizen vendors. However, the Community Office, Localization, and some Middleware groups will be open to participation on a merit basis.
Submitting patches
If you think you can improve the existing code of the Tizen platform, you can submit your changes to the Gerrit system for code review. The maintainer, release engineers, and the QA team will review your patches and decide whether they will be accepted based on the quality of your code. Once the changes are approved, you can submit them to the Gerrit system and Gerrit will merge the changes into the Tizen code base. You can find a guide to submitting changes at:
https://source.tizen.org/documentation/ developer-guide/submitting-patches
The Tizen wiki is available for collaborating on documentation related to the Tizen project:
https://wiki.tizen.org/wiki/Main_Page
If you have any information or tutorials you want to share with the community, you’re free to add them to the wiki. However, before contributing, you should check the User Guide and style guides.
Mailing list and IRC
Several mailing lists and an IRC channel enable community members to share information and ask questions about the Tizen platform.
Details of these mailing lists and how to join them are pro-vided on the Tizen community website:
www.tizen.org/community/mailing-lists
The IRC channel is #tizen at: irc.freenode.net, and the channel’s logs are available to view:
Chapter 1: Getting an Inside Look at Tizen
15
Forums
Another source of help and information are the forums avail-able on the Tizen developer site:
https://developer.tizen.org/forums
The forums are available to any developer with an account to ask questions, contribute to discussions, and share information.
Bug tracker
Tizen uses JIRA to track bugs and gather requests for new features:
https://bugs.tizen.org/jira
Anyone with a tizen.org account can add a new bug, comment on an existing bug, or even submit a patch to fix a bug.
Part I: Introducing Tizen
Chapter 2
Exploring the Tizen
Architecture
In This Chapter
▶ Looking at Tizen’s organisation ▶ Exploring the role of the web runtime ▶ Getting an inside look at the web APIs ▶ Listing the Tizen device APIs
T
izen isn’t just for smartphones and tablets; it’s designed to drive a wide range of device categories from smart TVs to netbooks and beyond. For example, the IVI project is set-ting standards to allow Tizen to be used as part of in-vehicle infotainment systems in cars, planes, and buses. In the future, you may find Tizen on Blu-ray players and digital TVs or pow-ering a new generation of netbooks.Because Tizen is open source and standards based, develop-ers in the open source community can find uses for Tizen in devices far beyond what’s available today. Maybe you’ll find Tizen in your fridge or alarm clock or in a home automation system. The possibilities are endless.
It’s the incarnation of Tizen defined for smartphones and tablets that we concentrate on in this book. Web developers don’t have to know the inner workings of Tizen in order to create apps, but the more you know about the platform, the more informed your development choices can be.
Part I: Introducing Tizen
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Introducing Web Apps
The term web app is actually quite broad. Our definition is apps based on web technologies that can access system resources and that you can install on a device – although they don’t have to be.
Is a website a web app? Yes, it is. Websites are built with standard web technologies and can use W3C APIs to access some device features. They don’t have to be installed because everything happens in the browser.
Tizen web apps are created using a combination of W3C/ HTML5 specifications, supplementary web specifications, and Tizen web app device APIs. The important thing to know for this section is that Tizen web apps are just like traditional apps: ✓ They can access system resources.
✓ They can launch other apps. ✓ They provide services.
✓ They generally behave like traditional native apps do.
Going native
The 2.1 release of the Tizen SDK includes a set of C++ APIs which you can use to create native apps. Depending on your requirements, you can choose whether to create a web app or take the native approach. Developing a native app is a good choice if your app is performance intensive or you need access to
device functionality not supported by the web APIs. However, web apps are more portable, support all the HTML5 standards and still have most of the features of native apps. This book concentrates on web apps, but you can find full details of the C++ APIs, as well as examples and tutorials, in the SDK help.
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The web runtime
Each web app runs in its own process. In the task manager of a Tizen device, you can see a Tizen web app just like a native app. You can utilise process scheduling and management, and platform security features also apply.
The web runtime provides a framework for installable web applications. The role of the web runtime is to install and launch apps and provide integration with the native platform, exposing Tizen APIs so that web apps can access device fea-tures. The web application can be integrated with the task manager and package manager, and it can also receive some of the system events, such as out of memory, screen orienta-tion, and system locale change.
The web runtime is also responsible for access control check-ing. Whenever a web app calls a JavaScript API, the web run-time checks that the app is allowed to access that particular feature, returning an error if access is denied. This process provides a high level of runtime security.
Figure 2-1 shows the components of the web runtime. As you can see from Figure 2-1, the web application talks to the web runtime, which then communicates with the layer below to access the features of the device. The web runtime consists of an installer, runtime core, plugin core, and security compo-nents. The following sections look at these areas in more detail.
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Installer
When an application is installed, the Tizen package manager is called to install the web application. The package man-ager invokes the web runtime’s app installer program, which checks that the app is properly signed and then starts the installation. Once installed, the app is registered with the web runtime database using the information supplied in the app’s configuration file, including the app ID, name of the app, and icon. The app’s icon then appears in the menu screen.
When the user uninstalls an app, the app is unregistered from the web runtime database, and all app resources are removed from the client.
Runtime core
The runtime core is responsible for managing the lifecycle of an application, including startup, suspend and resume, and terminate.
When an app launches, the Tizen launchpad executes the web app process. This creates a new process for the web app and initialises some of the callbacks that will be invoked for certain system events. When an app is initially launched, the runtime will retrieve the web app’s start file, usually called index.html, initialise the web view and load this .html file. If the app provides a service – for example, getting an image from a web service – then this feature will be registered as a service, using the Image MIME type. When another app requests the image service, the app will receive the request and handle it.
The Tizen web runtime rendering engine is based on WebKit2. This is the same WebKit used in the Tizen browser. As a result, web apps can take advantage of the same HTML5 APIs and the same 2D and 3D optimisations and CSS3 optimisations that the built-in browser uses.
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Plugin core
The plugin core is what enables the web app to talk to the device/platform via JavaScript APIs. It communicates with the JSCore module in the platform layer (refer to Figure 2-1) and implements on-demand loading of plugins at runtime. The advantage of on-demand loading of plugins is that the web app starts faster because plugins are loaded only when the JavaScript needs them.
Using Tizen Web APIs
You create Tizen web apps using a combination of W3C/ HTML5 specifications, supplementary web specifications, and Tizen-specific device APIs. Tizen provides support for many HTML5 features, such as audio and video, offline web storage, web workers, and 3D transform and transition effects. You can use these standard technologies in a web application. Tizen also includes support for some APIs not specified in W3C but that are part of supplementary common web standards. Included in this list are typed arrays and the viewport metatag definition.
Figure 2-2 shows the relationship between W3C APIs, supple-mentary APIs, and Tizen-specific device APIs. Of course, when you build web apps, you’re also likely to use various JavaScript utility libraries, such as jQuery and jQueryMobile. With so many libraries available for you to use, you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.
Checking the specs
You can find the current status of Tizen’s support for particular W3C APIs in the online help in the Tizen W3C API Specifications section. HTML5 is a moving target, and Tizen’s API support is evolving. By the time you read this book, the HTML5 support will be even better.
In fact, because Tizen provides such good HTML5 support, you can create many web apps without using any Tizen-specific APIs at all. You can still access some device features, such as geolocation, and some sensor features all from within a portable completely standard web app.
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Figure 2-2: The APIs available to a Tizen web application.
Exploring the Tizen Device APIs
So why does Tizen need its own JavaScript device APIs? Well, it turns out that while the W3C specifications do provide a lot of features, some gaps exist. Tizen device APIs were created to fill these gaps. For example, you can find Tizen APIs for manipulating contacts and calendars in Chapters 12 and 13. These Tizen APIs are all contained within the Tizen namespace. You also discover how to give your apps a con-sistent look and feel in Chapter 7, which introduces the Tizen Web UI Framework.
The idea behind these APIs isn’t to compete with the W3C APIs. In fact, Samsung and Intel participate on various stan-dards committees that define W3C APIs. The aim is that the Tizen device APIs will one day be absorbed into W3C so that they’ll become standards.
Tizen is still an evolving platform and Tizen device APIs are designed to supplement, not replace, the functionality of the W3C APIs. However, the device features provided by the W3C APIs are also becoming more comprehensive. You might find
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that new W3C standards are introduced that provide the same functionality as some of the Tizen device APIs discussed in this book. In this case, you should update your application to use these APIs and help to make your apps more portable and future proof.
You can find a complete specification of the device APIs in the SDK help, but the following sections provide a quick over-view and point you to the more detailed information and code samples in later chapters.
The SDK also includes code samples covering most of the device APIs; see Chapter 3 for more information on using the samples included with the SDK.
Tizen
The Tizen JavaScript object is used to access device APIs such as Contact, Calendar and NFC.
For example, to access the default address book, you use the following code:
var addressBook = tizen.contact. getDefaultAddressBook();
The contact object is a property of the tizen object and con-tains a ContactManager object, which provides access to the Contacts API, including the getDefaultAddressBook() function. The same pattern is used with the other device APIs. Throughout this book and in the Tizen SDK, the web Interface Definition Language (IDL) is used to describe APIs in a lan-guage independent way. This allows the APIs to be described using terms familiar to those of you with a background in strongly typed object oriented languages, such as C++, even though the APIs are accessed through JavaScript.
Apart from being the base object used to access the other device APIs, the tizen object also provides access to a set of generic functions, including error handling and filters. Chapter 9 demonstrates how to use filters.
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Alarm
The Alarm API allows you to set an alarm to run an application at a specified time and launch it if it’s not already running.
Application
The Application API allows you to retrieve a list of running applications and launch other apps by using an application control. So, you might launch the camera app to take a picture or record video or use the media player to play music files. You can also provide services to other apps. Chapter 9 covers launching an application using an application control.
Bookmark
The Bookmark API provides access to the device’s book-marks. You can use it to retrieve bookmarks, as well as add and remove both bookmarks and bookmark folders.
Bluetooth
The Bluetooth API provides access to the Bluetooth protocol, which can be used for transmitting files over short distances between devices.
Calendar
The Calendar API allows you to manage events and tasks so that it can handle your schedule or to-do list. Chapter 13 explains the Calendar API in detail.
CallHistory
The CallHistory API provides access to the call history func-tionality, such as finding and removing call history entries.
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Contacts
You use the Contacts API to manage contacts and handle mul-tiple address books. Chapter 12 explains the Contacts API in detail.
Content
The Content API lets you search for content on the device, either stored locally or on a memory card. Chapter 9 shows you how to use these features.
DataControl
The DataControl API, introduced in Tizen 2.1, is used to access data exported by other applications, for example native applications. You can use the functionality provided by the DataControl API to operate on both SQL and key-value databases.
DataSynchronization
The DataSynchronization API, supported from Tizen 2.1, allows you to synchronize device data with a server using the OMA Data Synchronization 1.2 protocol.
Download
The Download API, introduced in Tizen 2.0, is used to down-load files from the Internet and monitor the downdown-load status.
Filesystem
The Filesystem API provides access to the device’s file system. The SDK includes more information, including tutorials.
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MessagePort
The MessagePort API allows you to exchange data with another web application, or with a native application. Data is sent using the RemoteMessagePort, and data is received from the LocalMessagePort.
Messaging
The Messaging service allows you to send SMS, MMS, and Email messages and search messages on the device. Chapter 11 explains this API in more detail and provides source code for searching SMS messages on your device.
NetworkBearerSelection
The NetworkBearerSelection API, new to Tizen 2.1, allows you to specify a particular network connection to be used from your web applications to connect a given domain or host.
NFC
Near Field Communication (NFC) is used for short range wire-less communication. NFC enabled devices can be used for mobile payments and in a range of other applications. We explain Near Field Communication (NFC) in detail in Chapter 10. You discover the different applications of NFC technology and how to use NFC in your Tizen web apps.
Notification
The Notification API, introduced in Tizen 2.0, provides a way of alerting the user to events happening in your app. You can find details of how to create and manage notifications in the SDK help.
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Package
The Package API, new to Tizen 2.1, allows you to install and uninstall packages, retrieve information about the packages installed on the device, and monitor any changes to installed packages.
Power
Another new API introduced in Tizen 2.0, this provides access to a device’s power state and allows you to control display dimming and brightness, for example. More information, including a tutorial are included in the SDK.
Push
The Push API, new in Tizen 2.1, allows web applications to receive push notifications from the push server.
SecureElement
The SecureElement API, introduced in Tizen 2.1, provides access to secured elements on the device, such as a UICC/SIM, embedded security element or secure SD card.
SystemInfo
Provides access to device specific information, such as local storage, battery levels, cellular network, and so on. More information and a tutorial are included in the SDK.
SystemSetting
The SystemSetting API, introduced in Tizen 2.0, lets you get and set various device properties. At the time of writing you can get and set the following device properties: the device and lock screen wallpaper, the ringtone for incoming calls and the email message notification sound.
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Time
Provides date and time functions, including working with the current date and time and locale specific date and time han-dling. Chapter 13 uses the Time APIs to set the date and time of calendar tasks.
Part II
In this part . . .
I
n this part we start to get practical. You download and install the Tizen SDK, start to find your way round the tools, and build your first Tizen app. In Chapter 3 you learn enough to get up and running, while Chapter 4 takes you through each component of a Tizen app in detail. You’ll explore some of the sample apps and discover how there’s a world of third-party JavaScript libraries ready for you to use in your apps. Chapter 5 tidies up the messy business of testing and debugging.You might have an existing web app that you want to port to Tizen, in which case you will find some useful tips in Chapter 6. We also explain how you can design your Tizen web app to make it more portable.
Chapter 3
Getting Started
In This Chapter
▶ Installing the Tizen SDK ▶ Building your first web app ▶ Getting Help
G
etting to grips with a new platform can feel like trav-elling to a country for the first time. You may be the kind of traveller who likes to turn up at the airport hours in advance, with a well-planned itinerary, phrase book, and a list of the local hotspots. Or, like some authors we could mention, you may prefer to run to catch your flight, carrying only a pair of sunglasses and a smile. Both travellers will get to their destination, both will probably have a good time, but for all their spontaneity, the less prepared traveller may be left with a nagging feeling that he may have missed out on something. In this chapter, you find everything you need to build your first Tizen app. If you’re feeling adventurous or just can’t wait to get coding, this chapter will be all you need to get started. But if you’re new to web development or the Eclipse IDE or you just want to make sure that you get the most out of the development environment before diving in head first, then think of this chapter as the first part of a trilogy.Chapter 4 looks at each component of a Tizen app in detail, while Chapter 5 uncovers the secrets of testing and debug-ging. Tizen development may not be everyone’s idea of an adventure, but you’ll be well prepared for the trip.
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Installing the IDE
The Tizen SDK provides a set of tools for developing Tizen web applications. The IDE is based on Eclipse, which will be familiar to you if you’ve done any Symbian, Android, or bada development. The SDK also includes a tool chain to build apps for your chosen hardware platform and lots of sample code, tutorials, and documentation to help you get started.
This chapter refers to the 2.1 Magnolia version of the Tizen SDK. To begin your journey into Tizen development, you first need to download the SDK from the Tizen website at https:// developer.tizen.org/downloads/sdk.
The currently supported platforms are: ✓ Ubuntu (11.10/12.04) 32-bit & 64-bit ✓ Windows XP 32-bit
✓ Windows 7 32-bit & 64-bit ✓ Mac OS X (Intel) 64-bit
You can download two files for Windows, Ubuntu or Mac OS X: the installation manager and the SDK Image. The installation manager is responsible for installing the SDK, and you can use it in one of two ways. You can download the SDK from the server during the installation process, or you can download
Getting perspective
A perspective describes the layout of views to help you achieve a particular task. In the case of the default Tizen Web Perspective, that task is web development, so you’ll see views including the Connection Explorer, and HTML Web Page Editor. Chapter 5 introduces the Connection Explorer, while the HTML Web Page
Editor is covered in its own section later in this chapter.
You can also open up other useful views not shown in the current perspective by choosing Window➪ Show View. There’s much more detail about perspectives, views, and the workbench in the Tizen SDK help.
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a separate SDK image file and choose to install the SDK from this package.
This latter approach allows you to complete the SDK installa-tion when you’re not connected to the Internet.
After you install the SDK, the first time you launch the IDE you’re asked to select a workspace. On the Welcome screen that appears, choose the Workbench option. The Tizen Web Perspective appears, as shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1: The Tizen Web Perspective
Now you’re ready to start developing apps.
If you install the SDK on Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later and an error dialog appears when you launch the Install Manager, then you may need to change your security settings temporarily to prevent the OS X Gatekeeper feature from blocking the installation.
Choose Apple Menu➪System Preferences, open the Security preference pane and click on the General tab. Under the heading ‘Allow applications downloaded from’, choose the ‘Anywhere’ radio button. You should now be able to launch the Install Manager.
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Once you’ve finished installing the Tizen SDK, restore your settings to the previous state.
Creating Your First
Tizen Web App
The easiest way to create a new Tizen project is by using the New Project wizard. The wizard allows you to create your application using some predefined templates or create a proj-ect from one of the built-in sample apps. You can also use user-defined templates, which we explain in more detail in the ‘User-defined templates’ section.
It’s well worth taking a look at all the templates and sample code provided in the IDE, to give you a head start creating your app.
To launch the New Project wizard and choose a template, follow these steps:
1. In the IDE, choose File➪New➪Tizen Web Project.
The New Project wizard appears. You see a selection of templates and sample applications to choose from (see Figure 3-2).
2. Choose the template or sample you want to use.
Tizen offers several predefined template types: • Basic: A blank application template.
• Tizen WebUI Framework: A set of templates with all the necessary files for creating a web application using the Tizen web UI framework. • jQuery Mobile: A set of templates containing all
the files to create a web application using the jQuery Mobile framework.
• Tizen Web UI Builder: A set of templates con-taining all the files to create a web application using the Tizen Builder.
3. Name your project. 4. Click Finish.
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Figure 3-2: The New Project Wizard.
These templates include the basic structure for an applica-tion and all the relevant JavaScript libraries required for the selected UI framework. All you need to do is add your applica-tion specific code.
Using a sample app
If you want to create a slightly more complicated application, you can use one of the sample applications provided in the SDK as a starting point. Walking through the sample code is also a great way to become familiar with particular features. The New Project wizard provides many sample applications to demonstrate the use of Web technologies and the Tizen APIs. The Tizen developer website also provides other samples that you can use to start developing an application. (See the ‘Importing an existing project’ section, later in this chapter, for more details on how you can use these samples.)
Using your own template
If you have an existing template from another web-based platform or you’re developing several applications based on
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a common structure, you may want to define your own tem-plate. The New Project wizard provides an option for creating an application based on your own user-defined templates. Before you can use this option, you need to create your own application project template. You can create a user template based on any project, using the Export wizard. To use the Export wizard, follow these steps:
1. Right-click the project in the Project Explorer view and choose Export.
The Export dialog box appears.
2. From the Select an Export Destination list, double-click the Tizen folder icon and then select the Tizen User Template, as shown in Figure 3-3.
Figure 3-3: The Tizen user template.
3. Click Next.
The User Template Export wizard appears.
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5. Select the Import a Template check box so that your template will appear in the New Project wizard. 6. Click Next.
The icon selection screen of the User Template Export wizard appears.
7. Add any icons that you want to be shown in the new wizard.
8. Click Next.
The images and descriptions screen appears.
9. Add any images or descriptions that you want displayed in the new wizard.
10. Click Finish to complete the export of your user template.
Importing an existing project
Using the New Project wizard isn’t the only way to create an application; you can also import existing applications into the IDE.
Tizen web application
To import an existing Tizen web app, follow these steps:
1. Choose File➪Import.
The Import dialog box, shown in Figure 3-4, appears.
2. From the Select an Import Source list, double-click Tizen and then select Web Projects and Widget file. 3. Click Next.
The Import Widget screen appears.
4. Enter the root directory or click the Browse button to select the projects you want to copy into the workspace.
5. Click Finish.
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Figure 3-4: The Import dialog box of the New Project Wizard.
Other web applications
If you have a web application developed for the desktop or another mobile platform, you can import it into the IDE by following these steps:
1. Choose File➪New➪Project.
2. In the wizard’s drop-down list, double-click the General folder and then click Project (see Figure 3-5). 3. Click Next.
4. Uncheck the use default location check box and enter the name and location of your project. 5. Click Finish.
Your project is now created and loaded into the workspace. After you create the project, you need to edit two files: .project and config.xml. You can find full instructions on how to edit these files on the Tizen developer website:
https://developer.tizen.org/downloads/sample-web-applications/load-web-app-tizen-sdk
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Figure 3-5: Import other web apps.
Writing the Code
The SDK provides many useful tools to help you write and edit your app’s code. These tools are designed to help you throughout your development process, helping you preview your HTML code as you create it, crafting the look of your pages with CSS Preview, and making the JavaScript coding process easier and more efficient.
HTML Web Page Editor
The IDE provides a WYSIWYG editor for editing HTML files. The Web Page Editor allows you to view both the source code and preview the HTML as you’re developing your application (see Figure 3-6).
The IDE offers several options, shown in Table 3-1, for viewing your HTML content.
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Table 3-1
Web Page Editor View Modes
HTML View Modes Description
Show Design Page & Source Page as Vertical panes
Show Design Page & Source Page as Horizontal panes
Show Design Page only Show Source Page only
You could choose to handcraft your HTML, but you can also use the palette feature provided in the IDE. HTML4 and HTML5 palettes are provided for you in all views except the Source Page Only mode. To use an object from the palette, just select a component and drag it to the required location on either the Design or Source page.
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HTML Preview
You can instantly preview a HTML file using the HTML Preview tool (see Figure 3-7). Google Chrome is used to dis-play the Preview, so the appearance will be more accurate than the preview in the Web Page Editor, which uses your sys-tem’s default browser.
Figure 3-7: The HTML Preview.
To view your HTML file in the HTML Preview tool, select the Preview button from the IDE’s toolbar.
CSS Preview
You can instantly preview the look and feel of any CSS file using the CSS Preview tool, shown in Figure 3-8. Google Chrome is used to display the content in the Preview, and any changes you make will be reflected immediately.
To view your CSS file in the CSS Preview tool, select the Preview button from the IDE’s toolbar.
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Figure 3-8: The CSS Preview.
Minifying CSS and JavaScript
The IDE provides tools to minify your CSS and JavaScript files if you need to reduce the size of your code.
CSS
The CSS tool removes comments, white space, extra semico-lons, empty declarations, zero values, and so on from your CSS code.
To minify your CSS file, right-click the file in the Project Explorer, and the options in Figure 3-9 appear at the bottom of the list. Choose the Minify CSS option, and the file is minified with a new version of the file (.min.css) created.
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JavaScript
The JavaScript tool removes comments and extra white space, replaces identifiers, and performs micro-optimisations in your JavaScript code.
To minify your JavaScript file, right-click the file in the Project Explorer, and the options in Figure 3-10 appear at the bottom of the list. Choose the Minify JS option, and the file is minified with a new version of the file (.min.js) created.
Figure 3-10: Minify JavaScript.
Building Your Project
A Tizen application is packaged in a .wgt file that can be downloaded and installed on a device or Emulator. You can find out more information about an application package and its content in Chapter 4.
When you’re developing your application, if the Build
Automatically option is enabled, then the application package will be rebuilt every time you save any changes. Any errors or warnings found in your JavaScript code will be shown in the Problems View at the bottom of the IDE.
Running Your Project
You can test whether your application works by running it in the Simulator or Emulator environment or on a Tizen device. For more information about how to test your project, see Chapter 5.
If you want to, you can select one of the sample applications introduced in the ‘Using a sample app’ section, earlier in this chapter, and try building and running the app for yourself.
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Help Is on the Way
The Tizen SDK provides a comprehensive set of Help docu-mentation, tutorials, and sample code to help you get started. You can find lots of other resources, too, including the devel-oper site, wiki, forums, mailing lists, and a bug tracker. Blogs and forums created by community members are also just a quick Internet search away, and these resources will only increase as the community grows.
You can access Help documentation and get information about any APIs by hovering over the function names. The IDE also provides an Auto completion feature to avoid making any typing errors when using the Tizen APIs.
Help documentation
You can find the most up-to-date information about Tizen in the SDK Help documentation. You can open the Help from within the IDE, by choosing Help➪Help Contents. You can also access Help on the Tizen website:
https://developer.tizen.org/documentation Here are some of the most useful Help sections to consult to find out more about the platform and creating apps:
✓ Getting Started with Tizen/Overview/Architecture
describes the platform architecture and introduces the components that make the platform.
✓ Getting Started with Tizen/Development Environment/
Tizen SDK describes the tools available in the SDK and
tips on how to use them.
✓ Tizen Web App Programming/API References/Device
API Reference provides detailed information about the
Tizen device APIs and how to use them within your web application. This specification uses Interface Definition Language (IDL), which is used to describe APIs in a lan-guage independent way.
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✓ Tizen Web App Programming/Programming Guide
includes the Device Guides, which explain the functional-ity of each device API and provides code examples for the main features.
✓ Tizen Web App Programming/Tutorials includes tutorials
that take you step by step through some more detailed examples for the main APIs.
✓ Tizen Web App Programming/API References/UI
Framework Reference is a guide to all the Tizen Web UI
Framework widgets and offers examples of how to use them in your web application.
Sample applications
In addition to the tutorials and the sample applications pro-vided in the SDK, several sample web applications are avail-able for download from the Tizen developer site:
https://developer.tizen.org/downloads/sample-web-applications
These applications use a variety of standard HTML5,
JavaScript, and CSS3 techniques and can be run either on the desktop or a mobile device. Each application has a tutorial describing the main features of the application and how they were implemented.
You can use the instructions described in the ‘Other web applications’ section, earlier in this chapter, to import these projects into the IDE.
See Chapter 1 for more details about the Tizen wiki, mailing list, IRC channel, and forums.
