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About This Book

Introduction to Palm OS® Developer Suite

Palm OS® Developer Suite

Introduction to Palm OS Developer Suite is a conceptual introduction to the Palm OS® application developer tools.

This book describes the general process for developing a Palm OS application, and provides an overview of the Palm OS developer tools.

This book covers all of the tools delivered with Palm OS Developer Suite. Palm OS Developer Suite is an integrated development environment that enables you to create the following types of Palm OS applications:

  • 68K applications, for all Palm OS releases
  • 68K applications with PACE Native Objects (PNO), for Palm OS Garnet and later releases
  • Palm OS Protein applications, for Palm OS Cobalt and later releases

What This Book Contains ^TOP^

This book has the following organization:

Additional Resources ^TOP^

  • Integrated Documentation

    Most of the documentation described in this introduction is integrated into the Eclipse help system. To view titles from within Eclipse, select Help > Help Topics to open the Eclipse help browser.

  • Documentation Web Site

    PalmSource publishes its latest versions of documents for Palm OS developers at

    http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/docs/

  • Training

    PalmSource and its partners host training classes for Palm OS developers. For topics and schedules, check

    http://www.palmos.com/dev/training

  • 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

    http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/kb/

Eclipse Workbench Documentation ^TOP^

A general understanding of the Eclipse Workbench will make it easier for you to use the Palm OS tools that are integrated with Eclipse. The Eclipse Workbench User Guide can give you more information about Eclipse:

  • Getting Started

    Includes step-by-step tutorials on how to use the Eclipse Workbench.

  • Concepts

    Describes the concepts behind most of the components in the Workbench, with cross references to related tasks and reference information.

  • Tasks

    Provides step-by-step detailed information on how to perform specific tasks in the Workbench.

  • Reference

    Documents reference information for the components of the Eclipse Workbench.

C/C++ Development Toolkit (CDT) Documentation ^TOP^

C/C++ Development Toolkit (CDT) provides a C/C++ editor, outlining and indexing functions, a search facility, integration hooks for a 68K compiler (gcc), a 68K debugger (gdb), and build support for standard make and managed make. C/C++ Development User Guide provides the following information:

  • Tutorial

    Includes step-by-step descriptions of how to create projects, source files, and makefiles, plus information on building and debugging with the CDT.

  • Concepts

    Provides background information that may help you to complete specific tasks.

  • Tasks

    Documents the procedural instructions for completing CDT-specific tasks.

  • Reference

    Provides reference information for elements of the C/C++ perspective.

PRC-Tools Documentation ^TOP^

PRC-Tools is a collection of tools supporting C and C++ programming. Palm OS Developer Suite uses components of PRC-Tools to compile 68K applications.

For more information about PRC-Tools, see the documentation at PRC-Tools web site (prc-tools.sourceforge.net/doc/).

Cygwin Documentation ^TOP^

Palm OS Developer Suite uses Cygwin components to compile and debug Palm OS Protein applications targeted for Palm OS Simulator:

  • gcc, the C compiler
  • gdb, the GNU Debugger

For more information about Cygwin packages, see the documentation at the Cygwin web site (www.cygwin.com).

Palm OS 68K API Documentation ^TOP^

If you are interested in developing 68K applications that work through PACE and that also run on earlier Palm OS releases, you can read the Palm OS 68K API documentation:

  • Palm OS Programmer's API Reference

    An API reference document that contains descriptions of all of the Palm OS 68K function calls and important data structures.

  • Palm OS Programmer's Companion

    A multi-volume guide to application programming for Palm OS 68K applications. This guide contains conceptual and "how to" information that complements Palm OS Programmer's API Reference.

  • Palm OS User Interface Guidelines

    A guide describing how to design applications for Palm Powered handhelds so that they conform to PalmSource's user interface guidelines for 68K applications.

  • Testing with Palm OS Garnet Simulator

    A guide describing how to use Palm OS Garnet Simulator to test your applications.

  • Virtual Phone User's Guide

    A guide describing how to use Virtual Phone to test telephony applications.

Palm OS Protein API Documentation ^TOP^

The Palm OS Protein API documentation is called 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 each contains both conceptual and reference documentation for the pertinent technology.

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: 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: Porting Applications to Palm OS Cobalt
  • Exploring Palm OS: Palm OS File Formats

Palm OS Developer Suite Documentation ^TOP^

The following tools books are part of the Palm OS Developer Suite package:

Document

Description

Introduction to Palm OS Developer Suite

Provides an overview of all of the Palm OS development tools:

  • Compiler Tools
  • Resource Tools
  • Testing and Debugging Tools

Palm OS Protein C/C++ Compiler Tools Guide

Describes the tools associated with the Palm OS Protein C/C++ Compiler.

Palm OS Protein C/C++ Compiler Language and Library Reference

Provides reference information about the C language and runtime libraries used with the Palm OS Protein C/C++ Compiler.

Palm OS Debugger Guide

Describes how to use Palm OS Debugger.

Palm OS Resource Editor Guide

Describes how to use Palm OS Resource Editor to create XRD files.

Palm OS Resource Tools Guide

Describes how to use the Palm OS resource tools:

  • GenerateXRD - migration tool
  • Palm OS Resource Editor - XRD editor
  • PalmRC - building tool
  • PRCMerge - building tool
  • PRCCompare - comparison tool
  • hoverlay - localization tool
  • PRCSign and PRCCert - code-signing tools

Palm OS Resource File Formats

Describes the XML formats used for XML resource definition (XRD) files. XRD files are used to define Palm OS resources, and are the input files for the Palm OS resource tools.

Palm OS Cobalt Simulator Guide

Describes how to use Palm OS Cobalt Simulator.

Palm OS Virtual Phone Guide

Describes how to use Virtual Phone.