The Palm OS Programmer's Companion is part of the Palm OS® Software Development Kit. This introduction provides an overview of SDK documentation, discusses what materials are included in this document and what conventions are used.
Palm OS SDK Documentation
The following documents are part of the SDK:
What This Volume Contains
This volume is designed for random access. That is, you can read any chapter in any order.
Note that each chapter ends with a list of hypertext links into the relevant function descriptions in the Reference book.
Here is an overview of this volume:
- Chapter 1, "Object Exchange." Describes how applications use the Exchange Manager to send and receive typed data objects.
- Chapter 2, "Exchange Libraries." Describes how to implement an exchange library.
- Chapter 3, "Personal Data Interchange." Describes the PDI library, which you use to exchange Personal Data Interchange (PDI) information with other devices and media
- Chapter 4, "Beaming (Infrared Communication)." Describes the two facilities for beaming, or IR communication: the exchange manager and the IR library.
- Chapter 5, "Serial Communication." Describes the serial port hardware, the serial communications architecture, the serial link protocol, and the various serial communication managers.
- Chapter 6, "Bluetooth."Describes how to use the Bluetooth APIs to access the Palm OS Bluetooth system and write Bluetooth-enabled applications.
- Chapter 7, "Network Communication." Describes the net library and Internet library and how to perform communications with networking protocols such as TCP/IP and UDP. The net library API maps very closely to the Berkeley UNIX sockets API.
- Chapter 8, "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)." Describes the Secure Sockets Layer library. This library lets you apply SSL security to your network sockets.
- Chapter 9, "Internet and Messaging Applications." Describes the Palm.Net system and how to use the Web Clipping Application Viewer and iMessenger applications to access and send information using the wireless capabilities of the Palm VII™ device.
- Chapter 10, "Telephony Manager." Describes the component parts of the telephony API and shows how to use the telephony API in your applications.
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
Conventions Used in This Guide
This guide uses the following typographical conventions: