Tutorials: General Symbian OS Topics

This page contains various tutorials regarding general Symbian OS topics. This includes an overview what Symbian OS is all about, quickstart tutorials to refresh your knowledge and get into the latest tools, as well as the latest information about Platform Security.

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Symbian (OS) Overview

This short part will introduce you to the world of Symbian OS mobile phones. It contains some high level information about Symbian as well as Symbian OS, what you'll need to start developing and gives you some tips for literature.

Contents:

• Introduction to Symbian Ltd. and Symbian OS
• History of Symbian (OS)
• Platform Overview
• User Interfaces
• IDEs and Development
• Recommended Literature

Level: Basic
Version: v2.2, November 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9, S60 3.x, UIQ 3.x

Download:
Materials: Symbian (OS) Overview

Introduction to Smartphones

This course is intended as a short introduction to Smartphones - for a more general audience than just developers. After a short overview of what a smartphone is and how they have developed over the years, it gives an overview of their possibilities and some of the most interesting applications and games. The intention is to show the audience that phones can do a lot more than just voice calls and SMS.

Contents:

• What are smartphones?
• Interesting applications and games (Business and entertainment)

Level: Basic
Version: January 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 8/9, S60 2.x, 3.x

Download:
Materials: Introduction to Smartphones

Quickstart

The quickstart slides contain a quick walkthrough for creating your first project using Carbide.c++ 1.2 Developer Edition and its new UI-designer (available as a free trial version). The final project will display an image, offer the possibility to enter text and display this text on the screen. A very short overview of relevant Symbian OS topics is given at the appropriate locations. To train your Symbian OS skills, you have to option to complete the challenge, which is a "Guess-a-number"-game. Basic knowledge about Symbian OS is recommended to complete this challenge.

Contents

• Symbian OS naming conventions
• Working with Carbide.c++ Developer Edition
• Creating an S60 project
• Application structure
• Topics: Image control, menu definition, text query dialog, label control
• Short overview about descriptors and leaves

Level: Basic
Version: v2.0, November 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9, S60 3.x

Download:
Materials: Quickstart
Project: "Hello World" - Solution
Challenge: "Guess-a-number game" - Instructions
Challenge: "Guess-a-number game" - Solution

Console Applications

A short introduction to development using the Console of the S60 emulator. The challenge is quite simple and requires to extend the wizard-generated "Hello World"-application to a "Random Number Generator".

Contents

• Creating console applications
• Configuring the S60 3rd Edition emulator to run console apps.

Level: Basic
Version: v2.0, January 2008
Based on: Symbian OS 8/9, S60 2.x, 3.x

Download:
Materials: Console Applications
Materials: Executing Console Applications on Devices
Challenge: "Random Number Generator" - Instructions
Challenge: "Random Number Generator" - Solution

Working with Symbian OS 9

Some tips and tricks for working with Symbian OS 9.

Contents

• Optimize the menu order
• Don't wait for emulator startup anymore
• Correct libraries for the GCCE-Compiler of Carbide.c++
• Certificate Errors
• On Device Debugging
• Screenshots
• Viewing .sis-file contents
• Displaying extended error information
• Debug Output
• Changing the App.-Icon

Level: Basic
Version: v1.5, September 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9, S60 3.x (some parts also apply to UIQ)

Download:
Materials: Working with Symbian OS 9
ErrRd Installation Utility (v1.0.1)

Platform Security

A short introduction to Symbian OS 9, followed by a more detailed description of the new Platform Security concept. Explains the relevant topics like capabilities, data caging or Symbian Signed. The slides are based on the new Symbian Signed scheme which launched in Q4 2007. Knowledge of the basic concepts of Symbian OS is recommended.

Contents

• Symbian OS 9
• Trust Model
• Capabilities
• Data Caging
• Identifiers (UID, SID, VID)
• Symbian Signed (Open Signed, Express Signed, Certified Signed)

Level: Intermediate
Version: v2.0, December 2007
Based on: Symbian OS 9

Download:
Materials: Platform Security

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