Inside BlackBerry » Javascript

Introducing the BlackBerry WebWorks 2.0 Development Platform

Jasen K. — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:39:32 +0000

The BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS and Smartphones is here! We are extremely excited to introduce our most significant release yet for the BlackBerry WebWorks platform.

What’s new in this release?

Our development teams have spent a great deal of time re-architecting the BlackBerry WebWorks framework to prepare for bringing the two platforms together. Some of these changes are as follows:

JavaScript APIs are now separated from the OS. This new architecture is designed to allow developers to easily modify and enhance the existing APIs and package them with their BlackBerry WebWorks application. This will also allow new APIs to be easily added to your application.
The BlackBerry WebWorks framework and all of the APIs are open sourced and available on GitHub! Developers can now contribute to and participate in the evolution of the BlackBerry WebWorks project.

This release is the first step towards convergence of the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK forTablet OS and the BlackBerry Webworks SDK for Smartphones. As we continue to improve and enhance the SDKs, we will better align the features and APIs so developers can easily develop and deploy applications onto both platforms.

Sencha Touch Web Framework with BlackBerry Support Launched

Mike Kirkup — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:39:01 +0000

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry Developer’s Blog)

At BlackBerry® DEVCON 2010, we were honored to have the CEO of Sencha, Abe Elias, join us on stage during the keynote to showcase their new CSS3 tool: Sencha Animator. As part of our work with the great folks at Sencha, they pledged to bring the Sencha Touch Mobile JavaScript Framework to the BlackBerry platform.

I am very pleased to announce today that Sencha has released an update to their Sencha Touch Mobile JavaScript Framework that brings support for the BlackBerry® 6 operating system. For those unfamiliar with Sencha Touch Mobile JavaScript Framework, it is an impressive web framework based entirely on HTML5, CSS and JavaScript® that is designed to bring an incredibly powerful set of components to help create web apps that look and feel like native applications. The Sencha Touch Mobile JavaScript Framework 1.1 release today not only brings support for BlackBerry 6-enabled touch devices such as the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone, but it also supports the upcoming BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.

To get started, developers should download the framework, and then check out the Sencha Touch Learning Center, where they will find code samples, videos and tutorials. To get an idea of what is possible using the framework, there are a variety of demo applications showcasing the breadth and power of the platform.

To help encourage our developer community to adopt the Sencha Touch web framework, I am pleased to offer a free BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone to the first ten developers that submit an application to BlackBerry App World™ storefront using the new framework for either the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone or the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Restrictions apply. See the Terms and Conditions for complete offer details.

Introducing the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK!

Adam A. — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:54:57 +0000

Here we go, folks – the second BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet development environment to be released: the BlackBerry® WebWorks platform. Today, we’re releasing an early access version of the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ SDK. The SDK provides web and mobile web developers with a framework, API’s and tooling to develop web applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

If your background and skills are in using web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript®, then this is the platform for you! The platform extends some of the native device capabilities like system utilities, dialogs, and invoking other apps on the device and makes them available for you to use in your applications – helping them to become Super Apps!