Revision as of 12:51, 1 November 2010

MeeGo application development overview

The MeeGo 1.1 release provides a new toolset for application developers, supporting cross-platform development. These tools make it easy to enter the MeeGo application ecosystem, and are built, like MeeGo, on proven open-source technologies.

The big news for application developers is that Qt Quick is now part of the MeeGo release. This new technology allows rapid application UI development based on QML and JavaScript. It is also easily extendable with C++ objects, allowing a clear separation between UI logic (QML/JavaScript), and backend logic (Qt/C++). Qt Quick is ideal for MeeGo application development because it is highly flexible, allowing a developer to modify a UI easily so that it delivers an optimal user experience on all MeeGo devices. There are many Qt Quick examples and tutorials available already. For example, see the official Qt Quick tutorial.

MeeGo SDK, based on Qt Creator, allows developers to create native applications for a range of devices (N900, Aava, and Netbook), using both the Qt/C++ and Qt Quick frameworks. The SDK supports using Qt 4.7 and MeeGo Touch Framework and is packaged with Qt Quick development libraries. It also supports multiple toolchains, allowing compilation for both the x86 and ARM processor architectures. This means the same code base can be used for N900, Aava, and Netbook devices.

MeeGo 1.1 also supports the Web Runtime (WRT) environment, which means developers can use web-based technologies (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) to create applications for MeeGo. It is also possible to embed WRT UIs into C++ applications using Qt wrapper objects such as QWebView from the QtWebKit module.

With a new set of tools, the availability of technologies such as WRT and Qt Quick, and accompanying developer documentation, MeeGo application development has become easier and more accessible.

The following sections outline the software development kits available for this MeeGo release.

SDK alternatives

The following sections present options for starting application development. Note that it is also possible to combine the technologies presented in this section in hybrid applications, with parts implemented in C++ and others in JavaScript.

The key choice is between MeeGo SDK and Web SDK. Both provide an integrated development environment (IDE) that can be used to contribute to MeeGo. MeeGo SDK supports Qt Quick development, making it the tool of choice for most application development.

MeeGo SDK overview

MeeGo SDK is used to develop native applications with cross-platform compatibility.

The following table describes MeeGo SDK:

MeeGo SDK includes the following tools and components:

• Qt Creator, the integrated development environment
  • MADDE for easy cross-platform development
• simulator for quickly running and testing user interaction and functionality of applications that use Qt Mobility 1.0 and Qt 4.7 APIs
• emulators for handset and netbook running MeeGo applications on an environment practically identical to the device. Emulator not only provides the platform system but also emulates device hardware.

Web SDK overview

Web SDK is used to develop web-based applications. Windows developers of web-based content can use Web SDK. Later, the same will become possible for Linux developers.

The following table describes Web SDK:

MeeGo 1.1 SDK web sites for application developers

• MeeGo 1.1 developer documentation
• API references //replace with direct links to MeeGo API and Platform API//
• MeeGo development page at meego.com
• MeeGo git repository contains the MeeGo platform source code.
• Central location for bug reporting which is also used as a simple task reporting tool.
• MeeGo Forum enables users, developers and anybody interested in MeeGo to discuss about the MeeGo project and related issues.