This book documents those aspects of Palm OS programming that are shared by all Palm OS applications: the basic application structure, the means by which Palm OS keeps your application apprised of user actions, and the mechanism by which applications communicate with one another and with the operating system.
The Exploring Palm OS Series
This book is a part of the Exploring Palm OS series. Together, the books in this series document and explain how to use the APIs exposed to third-party developers by the fully ARM-native versions of Palm OS, beginning with Palm OS Cobalt. Each of the books in the Exploring Palm OS series explains one aspect of the Palm operating system, and contains both conceptual and reference documentation for the pertinent technology.
IMPORTANT: The Exploring Palm OS series is intended for developers creating native applications for Palm OS Cobalt. If you are interested in developing applications that work through PACE and that also run on earlier Palm OS releases, read the latest versions of the Palm OS Programmer's API Reference and Palm OS Programmer's Companion instead.
As of this writing, the complete Exploring Palm OS series consists of the following titles:
- Exploring Palm OS: Programming Basics
- Exploring Palm OS: Memory, Databases, and Files
- Exploring Palm OS: User Interface
- Exploring Palm OS: User Interface Guidelines (coming soon)
- Exploring Palm OS: System Management
- Exploring Palm OS: Text and Localization
- Exploring Palm OS: Input Services
- Exploring Palm OS: High-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Low-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Telephony and SMS
- Exploring Palm OS: Multimedia
- Exploring Palm OS: Security and Cryptography
- Exploring Palm OS: Creating a FEP (coming soon)
- Exploring Palm OS: Porting Applications to Palm OS Cobalt
- Exploring Palm OS: Palm OS File Formats (coming soon)
Additional Resources
- Documentation
PalmSource publishes its latest versions of this and other documents for Palm OS developers at
- Training
PalmSource and its partners host training classes for Palm OS developers. For topics and schedules, check
- Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a fast, web-based database of technical information. Search for frequently asked questions (FAQs), sample code, white papers, and the development documentation at
Changes to This Document
This section describes the changes made in each version of this document.
3107-002
3107-001
The first release of this document for Palm OS Cobalt, version 6.0.