Getting started with Symbian development
Getting started with Symbian development
18 juill. 2003 - 01:30

That's it. You have decided to start developping on the Symbian OS. But now you feel a little bit confused. Where to start from ? Symbian ? Nokia ? What is UIQ ? Nokia Series 60 ? This tutorial will try to answer questions on how to get started with Symbian C++ programming.

 

1.1 Identify your target

First you have to decide your target. Shall your application run on the SonyEricsson P800, on the Nokia 3650/7650 or the N-Gage and/or on the Siemens SX1,...? As a matter of fact, all of these phones, even if all based on Symbian OS [1], are not completely compatible : Symbian OS is just the name of the low-level operating system and the middleware stuff. In top of it comes the GUI system. This system is not licensed directly by Symbian with its OS. It's up to each phone manufacturer to develop its own GUI or to license a GUI platform that can runs on top of the OS.

There are currently three main GUI systems:
-  Nokia Series 60
-  Nokia Series 80
-  UIQ

Here is a short table summarizing this:

GUISpecificitiesPhones
Series 60 v1.x
+ Symbian OS 6.1		Resolution=176x208
Phone Keyboard
No touch screen		Nokia 3650, Nokia 7650, Nokia N-Gage, Siemens SX1, Samsung SGH-D700, Sendo XXX
Series 60 v2.0
+ Symbian OS 7.0s		Resolution=176x208
Phone Keyboard
No touch screen		Nokia 6600
Series 80
+ Symbian OS 6.0		Resolution=640x200
Full Keyboard
No touch screen		Nokia 9210
UIQ v2.0
+ Symbian OS 7.0		Resolution=208x320
Optionnal Keyboard
Touch screen		SonyEricsson P800, BenQ P30

Each target has its pros and cons. Series 60 platforms are probably the most commons and -IMHO- the easiest to start with.

 

1.2. Choose your development environment

Once you select your platform, there will be a second decision to make: which SDK / IDE shall I use. There is currently three main options:
-  Visual C++ 6.0 (or Visual Studio .NET 2003)
-  Metrowerks CodeWarrior for Symbian OS
-  Borland C++ Builder, Mobile Edition (totally outdated now)
-  Carbide.c++

The best environment will be the one you will be the more familiar with. And most of the work can be done with Visual Studio, CodeWarrior or Carbide.c++.

Carbide.c++ is probably the best choice: this is the only option to get a completely free environment with a debugger today and since release 1.2, it is pretty stable.

 

1.3. Which kind of PC do you need

Most today PC are suitable for Symbian development. You just need enough memory and Windows NT, 2000 or XP.

I am currently using the Core2Duo E6600 with 2GB RAM workstation (perfect) and an old Centrino 1.4Ghz with 1.5GB RAM systems (a bit slow but still ok).

 

1.4. Download and Install your SDK

Here are a few links that would allow you to download or buy the appropriate IDE and SDK:
-  Nokia SDK for Visual Studio
-  Nokia SDK and Borland C++ Builder
-  Metrowerks Codewarrior
-  Nokia SDK for Metrowerks Codewarrior
-  SonyEricsson SDK for Metrowerks Codewarrior
 

Part II :>:

[1] Note that you may find the name EPOC here and there. EPOC was the name of Symbian OS before release 6
Tutorial posted juillet 18th, 2003 by eric

Soumis par swiftguy (non vérifié) le sam, 2005-02-19 07:00.

This HOWTO is a real treat for mobile development wannabes like me ... in a nutshell all the required concepts have been explained in detail ...

now Im enlightened !!

Soumis par kulkaamo le mer, 2008-06-18 16:27.

Hi Eric,
can you please updates this getting started document with eference to latest symbian sdk's for newbies. Smiling

Br,
Ak

Soumis par gian marco (non vérifié) le jeu, 2005-06-16 17:08.

Hi friends!

In these days I'm trying to learn symbian c++ programming, and unfortunately I don't have a background in ansi c++ programming :-(

I've found a great tutorial that I think is helpful for newer developers like me at this address:

http://www.symbian.com/developer/techlib/papers/cpp_gettingstarted.asp

the first: "Symbian OS workshop" teach the basis of this language with a tutorial for create a simple arkanoid clone game.

happy programming!

Soumis par Naveen (non vérifié) le jeu, 2005-07-21 14:24.

hey , I tried to run hello world program from command prompt. when i did bldmake bldmakefiles i got this error. 'perl' is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file

how to remove this error.

Regards

Naveen

Soumis par eric le jeu, 2005-07-21 16:32.

Install Perl !

Soumis par Anonymous le sam, 2005-11-26 13:07.

install perl or some other Symbian SDK Most of them include perl. But beware of the size of SDK download which is genrally in access of 200MB

Soumis par Anonymous le ven, 2006-12-29 09:51.

hey... try re-installing microsoft visual studio again nd while installation, der is an option of choosing environment variables... select dat option nd go ahead.. it shud work

Soumis par Anonymous le dim, 2006-12-31 13:37.

hey did u get d symbian working.. i had d same error.. probably ... u try to re install visual studio nd while installation ,u get an option of registering variable checkbox.. select dat nd continue .coz dats reqd for symbian to run.. all d best

Soumis par dunlao le ven, 2007-11-16 10:02.

hi, i am also a newer Smiling

as i know, before run command line, we first need install perl
( ver 5.6.1 is better, you could download it from www.perl.org, it is free)

and we also need install jdk, i install jdk 1.5.0

you could install them to c driver, and then symbian SDK also should install to same driver
(better is c driver)

then, in command line , you could try again.

if still in problem, please check your setting of EPOCROOT, it should looks like:
EPOCROOT= \Symbian\8.0a\S60_2nd_FP2\,

be carefule, here NO driver "C: " in start of path string.

good luck Smiling

Soumis par kantharaju le ven, 2008-04-18 12:38.

Hi Dunlao,

This is kantharaju, i am also a beginner to symbian C++.
Could you please let me know the beginner books for symbian study?

You can mail me to also.

With Thanks
Kantharaju


Soumis par PeriasamyK le mer, 2007-08-29 15:53.

Could anyone can tell me from where I can get Symbian SDK. I am having the mobile SE P910i.


Soumis par pudila le jeu, 2007-08-30 11:20.

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/symbian/p_symbian.jsp

find: Symbian OS v7.0 UIQ 2.1 SDK in the middle of the page..


Soumis par guich le mer, 2007-09-12 22:24.

And what about the Nokia N series? Seems that it is UIQ 2.0....? Please update the table to include it.

Soumis par prathyusha le ven, 2007-09-21 03:56.

no nokia is not UIQ but Series 60

Soumis par m8a le jeu, 2008-10-02 22:49.

Hi!

Does anybody try to install the SDK with visual studio .net 2003 (EXPRESS EDITION) ? Can it possible to do this ?



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