Tutorials: Basics of Symbian OS

The tutorials on this page cover the basic aspects you need to know about development for Symbian OS. C++ knowledge is required.

Complete Download: Download the complete section (10 MB)

Types and Declarations

Symbian OS has its own set of fundamental data types and naming conventions. These are not only important to maintain the readability of the source code, but are also cruical for correct memory management.

Contents:

• Fundamental types
• Variable naming conventions
• Class naming conventions (T, C, R, M, static)

Level: Basic
Version: v2.0, October 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9

Download:
Materials: Types and Declarations
Challenge: Non-public

Memory Management

This tutorial is a thorough introduction to the important concepts related to memory management in Symbian OS. Detailed examples explain the reasons behind the concepts and give advice on what you have to do to develop a safe application for Symbian OS.

Contents:

• Leaves, Panics and TRAPD
• Cleanup Stack
• Object construction using ELeave
• Two-phase construction
• Debugging tools

Level: Basic
Version: v2.0, October 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9

Download:
Materials: Memory Management
Challenge: Non-public

Descriptors

Everything you need to know about Descriptors, the Symbian OS-way of dealing with text. Includes several examples. The challenges lets you try out many of the concepts behind descriptors by programming most parts of an application according to exact instructions.

Contents

• Literals
• Descriptors
• TDes / TDesC
• TBuf / TBufC
• TPtr / TPtrC
• HBufC
• RBuf
• Descriptors and function parameters / return values
• Converting to/from Unicode
• String  Number conversion

Level: Basic
Version: v2.0, November 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9

Download:
Materials: Descriptors
Challenge: Non-public (new version)
Challenge: Working with Descriptors - Instructions
Challenge 1 - Start
Challenge 1 - Solution
Challenge 2 - Start
Challenge 2 - Solution

(Dynamic) Arrays

How to deal with arrays in Symbian OS - no matter if they should be fixed or dynamic. The first challenge allows to experiment with RArrays, following instructions directly in the code (for information on how to start with the challenge, see the document in the Descriptors-chapter). To complete the second challenge, you have to rewrite the solution of the first one, so that it uses heap-based objects, descriptors and arrays. This requires knowledge about the other topics presented in the basics-section.

Contents

• Fixed Arrays
• Dynamic Arrays:
• RArray, RPointerArray
• CArrayX
• When to use R(Pointer)Array or CArrayX

Level: Basic
Version: January 2008
Based on: v2.0a, Symbian OS 9

Download:
Materials: (Dynamic) Arrays
Challenge 1 - Start
Challenge 1 - Solution
Challenge 2 - Strategy
Challenge 2 - Solution

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