Developing BlackBerry Tablet Applications with Flex 4.5 : Create a Flex Mobile Project (part 1)

9/13/2011 5:43:16 PM

Create a new Flex Mobile Project by choosing File→New→Flex Mobile Project as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Create a Flex Mobile Project

This will open the New Flex Mobile Project wizard, which will walk you through the rest of the project-creation process. The first screen you're presented allows you to set the project name, location, and Flex SDK. Enter the name HelloWorld as the Project name and leave the other settings to their defaults. Click Next, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Project Name and Location

The second screen in the new project wizard is where you can select settings specific to the target platform. Since you have installed the Blackberry Tablet OS plug-in, you will see the options for both Google Android and BlackBerry Tablet OS. Select BlackBerry Tablet OS. You also have the option of three different application types: Blank, View-Based Application, and Tabbed Application. For this first project, select View-Based Application as shown in Figure 3 and leave the other settings to their defaults.

Figure 3. Select Application Template

Next, click on the Permissions tab. Within this tab, you can select the permissions your application will need in order to interact with the BlackBerry Tablet OS–native APIs. For the purposes of this exercise, leave only the access_internet permission selected, as shown in Figure 4. Click next.

Figure 4. Set BlackBerry Tablet OS Permissions

The next screen allows for the configuration of an application server and output folder. For this project, we will not be using an application server, so leave it set to None/Other and click next, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Server Settings

The last screen that you will see is the Build Paths screen; this is where you set your Application ID. This setting is very important, as the Application ID will be used to identify your application in BlackBerry App World. To ensure that your application has a unique identifier, the reverse domain naming convention works best. Figure 6 shows the value of com.domain.mobile.HelloWorld as the application ID. By replacing the word domain with a domain that you own, you can ensure that your application ID is unique. Complete this step and click Finish.

Figure 6. Application ID

Flash Builder will now create your new project and, by default, the HelloWorldHomeView.mxml will be created and opened in the workspace, along with the HelloWorld.mxml main application file (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. New Project has been created

Let’s update the contents of the HelloWorldHomeView.mxml by adding a Label.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:View xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" title="HomeView">
    <fx:Declarations>
        <!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
    </fx:Declarations>

    <s:Label text="Hello World" fontSize="24"
             horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0"/>

</s:View>

Before running an application for the first time, you will need to set up either a simulator environment or a device for your testing.