J2ME is still alive, with no major feature changes and updates, it is still running strong as the defacto platform for mobile development (just consider the huge number of feature phones that are still launched) and imagine ushering in some functionality through your J2ME apps and making it a smartphone. So we are still strong with J2ME.
Every time I start a new project in J2ME, I always think of using Eclipse as the IDE,(I like the code formatting, plugins and the ability to run anything :). I use it for any other Java project(non-J2ME)) however it becomes too tough to handle and switch back to Netbeans (mainly because of the inbuilt pre-processor support). But this time, there was no looking back, It was Eclipse all the way.
So here are the tools which you need to get everything right.
1. Eclipse Pulsar
Pulsar is the version of eclipse which has all the MTJ(Mobile Tools for Java) pre installed. It also has direct downloads to all your favourite SDK's. So this is the variant of eclipse which you should start with.
2. KEMUlator
The J2ME SDK's emulator is boring and damn hard to use, with their crap skins. KEMUlator should be the J2ME emulator of your choice if you are into graphically intensive apps (low-level UI). The features in this emulator are awesome, Just have a look at the below images to see what I mean.
However, KEmulator is no longer available free on the web. I have some old version with me. Drop me a mail and I can pass you that.
3. Antenna
It is always better if we could build the project outside the IDE, Netbeans uses Ant and MTJ has an option to export the build properties directly to Antenna Properties and cook up the mtj-build.xml. Now all you have to do is create a batch script call this xml file, kickstart the emulator point to the path where the JAR is created.
URL: antenna.sourceforge.net
PS: Please look into a file called mtj-build.properties, and add this parameters, wtk.midp.version=xxx and wtk.cldc.version=xxx. Replace xxx with whatever you require. Otherwise, it will build with defaut CLDC 1.0 and MIDP 1.0
4. Convert Eclipse into Perl/Whatever script you like
One of the reasons why we moved the building project outside the IDE, is to add support for our scripts and tools, (to build resources etc.) So if you are like me and the little perl scripts which hold your project together. Turn your eclipse into a perl IDE using this plugin.
5. GrepConsole
This is another worthy plugin; It converts all your logs with colors using the patterns you provide. Grab it from this URL and turn your console into something like this
Isnt it beautiful?
6. Create an External Tool Configuration
Create a new External Tool configuration and assign a shortcut key to it. Make this configuration to run the script which runs the perlscripts, the antenna-build and then the Emulator. Now you can completely bypass the MTJ build.
Happy? Now we have converted Eclipse into a proper J2ME development environment. Wait for the next blog, where I will give you some neat little tricks to get further more.
However, KEmulator is no longer available free on the web. I have some old version with me. Drop me a mail and I can pass you that.3. Antenna
It is always better if we could build the project outside the IDE, Netbeans uses Ant and MTJ has an option to export the build properties directly to Antenna Properties and cook up the mtj-build.xml. Now all you have to do is create a batch script call this xml file, kickstart the emulator point to the path where the JAR is created.
URL: antenna.sourceforge.net
PS: Please look into a file called mtj-build.properties, and add this parameters, wtk.midp.version=xxx and wtk.cldc.version=xxx. Replace xxx with whatever you require. Otherwise, it will build with defaut CLDC 1.0 and MIDP 1.0
4. Convert Eclipse into Perl/Whatever script you like
One of the reasons why we moved the building project outside the IDE, is to add support for our scripts and tools, (to build resources etc.) So if you are like me and the little perl scripts which hold your project together. Turn your eclipse into a perl IDE using this plugin.
5. GrepConsole
This is another worthy plugin; It converts all your logs with colors using the patterns you provide. Grab it from this URL and turn your console into something like this
Isnt it beautiful?
6. Create an External Tool Configuration
Create a new External Tool configuration and assign a shortcut key to it. Make this configuration to run the script which runs the perlscripts, the antenna-build and then the Emulator. Now you can completely bypass the MTJ build.
Happy? Now we have converted Eclipse into a proper J2ME development environment. Wait for the next blog, where I will give you some neat little tricks to get further more.
