Hello,
Basically I would like to develop a software that is independent of the Symbian device. So I understood that th UI is the major difference between the various Symbian devices.
Here is my requirement. Is it possible to get the sources of UI controls, Cone etc.. so that I can have UI libraries of my own. I read in Symbian 7.0 SDK that there is a TechView UI for pre-platform developers. Is it possible to get the TechView alone sperately.
Also the UI sources seem to be open & it comes with the SDK. but i'm not able to compile those.
Please send reply if u know something related to this.
Thanks in advance.
Sources for controls... TechView???
It is not currently possible to obtain a TechView SDK, it's for internal use only.
Also, it's probably a very bad idea to develop your own UI libraries. Different Symbian devices have very different form factors, input methods, etc. and application design needs careful thought for each different device. A "cross-platform" UI library would almost certainly produce sub-optimal solutions for every device.
My two pence.
The best way to develop for multi platform is not Symbian C++ but MIDP java. The advantages are huge compared to developing on symbian C++ (if you want multiplatform)...
My other take is that EIKON (or UIKON) is still the base for UI on symbian (atleast I think so), hence if your application uses eikon and not avkon then it should be compatible across many versions of symbian, (maybe recompile will be necessary). I would love someone with access to various machines confirm this or someone from symbian to clarify. But then I wish Santa will get me a 7650i (😃)
talk2sk, you're completely right. All current and announced Symbian devices are based on EIKON. The best way to get some platform-independence is to use standard Symbian controls instead of platform-specific ones, wherever possible. The only problem with this is that your application tends not to fit into the style of the rest of the apps on the phone.
MIDP Java has a whole host of limitations, but is pretty much the only solution if you want a *real* cross-platform app.