NetBeans 6.0 CLDC/MIDP Development Quick Start Guide

Creating a MIDP/CLDC Application

1. Choose File > New Project (Ctrl+Shift+N). Under Categories, select Mobility. Under Projects, select MIDP Application and click Next.
2. Enter MyHello in the Project Name field. Change the Project Location to any directory on your system. In this tutorial we refer to this directory as $PROJECTHOME.
3. Check the Set as Main Project and Create Hello MIDlet check boxes (both are checked by default). Click Next.
4. Leave the J2ME Wireless Toolkit as the selected Target Platform. Click Next.
5. Expand "Configuration templates provided by installed CLDC platforms" and "J2ME Wireless Toolkit 2.2" folders. Check the boxes next to each of the configurations.
   The IDE automatically creates a new project configuration for each template listed.
   
   
6. Click Finish. The IDE creates the $PROJECTHOME/MyHello project folder. The project folder contains all of your sources and project metadata, such as the project Ant script. The application itself is displayed in the Flow Design window of the Visual Mobile Designer.

 

Editing the Java Source Code

Now let's edit the text displayed by the MIDlet.

1. Click on Screen. This opens the Screen Designer window, and displays the Device screen, which is the only screen available in the application.
2. In the Properties window, click in the Text field and type in some new text.

Compiling and Running the Project

1. Choose Run > Run Main Project (F6) from the Run menu. Follow the progress of the project compilation in the Output window. Note that the HelloMIDlet.java file is built before it is executed. A device emulator opens to display the results of the executed MIDlet. The default device emulator is DefaultColorPhone.
2. In the device emulator window, click on the button below the Launch command. The device emulator launches the MIDlet and displays the text you entered in the source code.
   
   
3. Click on the button below Exit to close the MIDlet. Then click on the button in the upper right corner of the device to close the emulator window.

Creating a New Java ME MIDP project

1. Choose File > New Project (Ctrl-Shift-N). Under Categories, select Mobility. Under Projects, select MIDP Application and click Next.
2. Enter MyHelloMIDlet in the Project Name field (note that "MID" is in upper case letters). Change the Project Location to any directory on your system. We refer to this directory as $PROJECTHOME in this tutorial.
3. Check the Set as Main Project checkbox and remove the check from the Create Hello MIDlet checkbox. Click Next.
4. Leave the J2ME Wireless Toolkit as the selected Target Platform.
5. Expand "Configuration templates provided by installed CLDC platforms" and "J2ME Wireless Toolkit 2.2" folders. Check the boxes next to each of the configurations.
   The IDE automatically creates a new project configuration for each template listed.
6. Click Finish. The IDE creates the $PROJECTHOME/MyHelloMIDlet project folder. The project folder contains all of your sources and project metadata, such as the project Ant script.
7. Right-click the MyHelloMIDlet node in the Explorer window and choose New > MIDlet
8. Enter HelloMIDlet as the MIDlet name (note that "MID" is in upper case letters). Click Finish. The HelloMIDlet.java file is created.
9. Double click the HelloMIDlet.java file to display the source code in the Editor.
10. Click in the Source Editor and change

    public class HelloMIDlet extends MIDlet

    to

    public class HelloMIDlet
                  extends MIDlet implements javax.microedition.lcdui.CommandListener
                  {

11. Add the following text before the startApp() method:

    public HelloMIDlet() {
    }private void initialize() {  javax.microedition.lcdui.Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(get_helloTextBox());}
    public void commandAction(javax.microedition.lcdui.Command command, javax.microedition.lcdui.Displayable
      displayable) {   if (displayable == helloTextBox) {      if (command == exitCommand) {         javax.microedition.lcdui.Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(null);         destroyApp(true);         notifyDestroyed();      }   }
    }
    private javax.microedition.lcdui.TextBox get_helloTextBox() {   if (helloTextBox == null) {       helloTextBox = new javax.microedition.lcdui.TextBox(null, "Test String",120, 0x0);       helloTextBox.addCommand(get_exitCommand());       helloTextBox.setCommandListener(this);   }   return helloTextBox;}
    private javax.microedition.lcdui.Command get_exitCommand() {   if (exitCommand == null) {       exitCommand = new javax.microedition.lcdui.Command("Exit", javax.microedition.lcdui.Command.EXIT,
      1);   }   return exitCommand;}
    javax.microedition.lcdui.TextBox helloTextBox;javax.microedition.lcdui.Command exitCommand;

12. Add a line initialize(); to the startApp() method, so it looks like the following:

      public void startApp() {
       initialize();
        }

Editing the Java Source Code

Now let's add some text for our MIDlet to display.

1. In the get_helloTextBox() method, replace the "test string" code with the text of your choice. For example, "Hello World."

Compiling and Running the Project

1. Choose Run > Run Main Project (F6) from the Run menu. Follow the progress of the project compilation in the Output window. Note that the HelloMIDlet.java file is built before it is executed. A device emulator opens to display the results of the executed MIDlet. The default device emulator is DefaultColorPhone.
2. In the device emulator window, click on the button below the Launch command. The device emulator launches the MIDlet and displays the text you entered in the source code.
3. Click on the button below Exit to close the MIDlet. Then click on the button in the upper right corner of the device to close the emulator window.

Changing the Default Emulator Device

1. Right-click the MyHello Project node and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog, choose the Platform node. Here, you can change the device for the default configuration.
2. Click the Device drop-down list and choose QwertyDevice. Click OK.
3. Run the application again, and the application runs in the QwertyDevice emulator.

Changing the Project Configuration

You created several project configurations using the templates in the New Project wizard. You can use the drop-down Configuration menu in the main toolbar to quickly change project configurations.

Adding a New Emulator Platform

1. Choose Tools > Java Platforms from the main toolbar.
2. In the Java Platform Manager dialog, click the Add Platform button.
3. In the Select Platform Type page, choose the Java ME MIDP Edition Platform Emulator. Click Next. In the Platforms page, the IDE searches for all available Java ME platforms and lists them in the window. Platforms that are compliant with the Unified Emulator Interface (UEI) standard are verified and appear with a check in the checkbox next to the platform name. Platforms that are not UEI-compliant, or that you might not be able to install for other reasons, are listed in red. The wizard also identifies which platforms have already been installed. NOTE: To install platforms that are not UEI-compliant, click the Back button and choose Custom Java Micro Edition Platform Emulator.
4. In the Platforms page, put a check next to any platform emulator you want to install. After the platforms are detected, they are installed. Click Finish. Then click Close.
5. Choose File > "MyHello" Properties.
6. Choose the Platform node, then choose the name of the new emulator (for example, J2ME Wireless Toolkit 2.2) from the Emulator Platform drop-down menu. Click OK.

Adding a Configuration

1. Right-click the MyHello Project node and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog, Choose Add Configuration from the Project Configuration drop-down list. This opens the Add Configuration dialog.
2. Enter a name for your configuration in the Configuration Name field. The name should identify the target platform you deploy the JAR/JAD created for this configuration. For this example, enter BlackWhiteDisplay and click OK. You have just created a new configuration.
3. Configurations can also be added by clicking the Manage Configurations button in the Properties dialog. This brings up the Project Configuration Manager dialog which contains options for adding, removing, or duplicating configurations.

Customizing a Configuration

You can add as many configurations as you would like to your project. You can then modify settings in the Project Properties dialog for each configuration that you've added.

1. Right-click the MyHello Project node and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog, choose the Platform node.
2. Choose the BlackWhiteDisplay configuration from the configuration combo box at the top of the Properties dialog.
3. The components in the Platform dialog are all disabled. This is because this configuration is currently taking the values used by the default configuration for this panel. Uncheck the Use Values from "DefaultConfiguration" option at the top of the panel. All components on this panel can now be edited.
4. Change the Device option to DefaultGrayPhone.
5. Toggle the Project Configuration dialog at the top of the Properties dialog and observe that the Device option changes based on which configuration is currently selected. This method of configuration customization works for each panel (other than the general panel) in the dialog. Click OK to save your configuration changes and exit the Properties dialog.

Creating an Ability

An Ability is a specific attribute of a project configuration. It can be a physical attribute such as screen size, or an API or JSR supported by the configuration. You can create a new ability and associate it with one or more project configurations. You can then use preprocessior code blocks to associate certain code with that ability. If you later need to add or remove configurations, you do not have to go through all your code and associate the configuration with each code block. Instead, you need only to add that ability to the configuration. The configuration is then automatically associated with any code block associated with that ability.

1. Right-click on the MyHello project node and choose Properties.
2. Choose the Abilities page from the Category menu tree.
3. Choose a configuration from the Project Configuration dropdown menu. This associates the ability with that configuration.
4. If necessary, uncheck the Use Values from "DefaultConfiguration" checkbox.
5. Click the Add button. This opens the Add Ability dialog.
6. In the New Ability dialog, enter a name for the ability, or choose an ability from the drop-down menu. Optionally, enter a value for the ability. Click Ok to close the New Ability dialog. The ability is now associated with the selected project configuration.

You can associate the ability with other configurations by choosing a different configuration from the Project Configuration menu and clicking the Add button.

Adding Configuration-Specific, Preprocessor code

Preprocessor blocks enable you to create, manage and track code that is specific to one or more project configurations or abilities. The code is enabled (or disabled) only for the configurations or abilities you identify.

1. In the HelloMIDlet.java Editor window, right-click on the source code line where TextBox is instantiated ( helloTextBox = new javax.microedition.lcdui.TextBox(null, "Hello, World",120, 0x0);).
2. Right-click on the line and choose Preprocessor Blocks > Create If/Else Block. In the first, pink section, append the word "Color" to the "Hello World" string. In the second, gray section, add "Gray" to the "Hello World" string.
3. The code marked by the //#if preprocessor directive is in effect whenever the active configuration matches the directive value (in this case, DefaultConfiguration.) The code encased by the //#else preprocessor directive is used whenever the active configuration does not match the value of the preprocessor. In other words, the emulator displays "Hello World Color" whenever the active platform is "DefaultConfiguration," and displays "Hello World Gray" if the active platform is any other emulator platform. The //#endif preprocessor directive completes the preprocessor block.

You can test the preprocessor code by running the MIDlet using different emulator devices, as described in Changing the Emulator Platform.

Running Configurations

Configurations can be built and run individually or simultaneously.

1. Right-click the MyHelloMIDlet Project node and choose Run.
2. Use the configuration combo box in the Toolbar to change the configuration to BlackWhiteDisplay. Choose Run again.
3. Two emulators appear, one color and one gray. The gray emulator displays "Hello World Gray" and the color emulator displays "Hello World Color."