[brcewane]

I just signed up for it.. looks like it is going to happen today at 3PM.. It will be interesting to see what all they have to say.

Here is the link if anyone is interested BlackBerry - BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio

[AllYourBase]

How did this go? Have you had any luck with it at all?

[brcewane]

It was pretty good.. just went over the basics. Tools seems to do what it is supposed to. It isn't low level down and dirty development, but you can make applications pretty quick and easy with it.

[AllYourBase]

Question: is the compact .net framework available for the Blackberry, or does this tool simply allow you to use Visual Studio to program apps in the BB Mobile Data Stream language?

[brcewane]

No there is no .net compact framework for the Blackberry.. this tool simply allows you to use VS 2005 to build BlackBerry MDS applications..

It is kinda like an AJAX approach.. your screens are defined in XML and you use JavaScript for the logic in the applications.. The neat thing is that the applications look and run like a native BB application, not in the browser. Drag and Drop design your screens much like you would in a Windows application.

You can store things to Flash and access PIM information etc. You can also add web references to your project to call web services from the device... They also kinda have a "web reference like" feature where you can add a BlackBerry project from your existing .NET application and push data to the device... The sample that shows how to do this is kinda cool.. code attributes in JavaScript :D

[AllYourBase]

Thanks for the input!! I am hoping that someone out there is trying to develop a compact .net implementation for the bb in the same sense that mono is attempting to make a .net for linux. If this ever occurs, the Blackberry would benefit form a lot of cool apps done for the windows mobile platform.

[Mark Rejhon]

I have a question - does this environment require the BlackBerry device itself have access to a BES with MDS?

Or can applications built in VS 2005 be deployed to just about any BlackBerry? (i.e. what are the prerequisite for BlackBerry users before they can install applications built by VS 2005)?

[brcewane]

Yeah, they need a BES

[Mark Rejhon]

Gotcha.
Then not too terribly useful for rapid development of consumer BlackBerry apps, then....

[rfarrah]

Excuse my ignorance. Can the BB access a .net framework online application?

With modifications, maybe?

Again, sorry if this is a stupid question - I'm new to the BB world.

[brcewane]

You bet it can... it uses the BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) to act like a secure gateway from the device right onto your corporate LAN.

All you have to do is expose your .NET application as a .NET web service or simply an ASP.NET page and you can access it via the BlackBerry.

If you use the BB Plugin for Visual Studio you can actually put your blackberry project in the same solution as your .NET webservice and then simply add it to your blackberry project as a web reference.

[gkksarma]

1. can we develop blue-tooth applications using the MS-Visual Studio Plugin.
2. What about other Java API's that are available thru Blackberry's JVM.

[brcewane]

Can't get out to the JavaApi's in the tool right now... hopefully they add some more of that support in the future.

[b_d0za]

Originally Posted by brcewane

Yeah, they need a BES

So if I wanted to mess around with this I wouldn't be able to put an app I make on my phone unless I had a BES?

I just wanted to make absolutely sure because I have VS2005 installed on my home computer and would love to be able to mess around with this plugin. But I wouldn't want to mess with it if I couldn't use the app on my phone.

[brcewane]

All applications must be either pushed from or downloaded from the BES.

You can also get an Application only BES as well as a 5 free user BES license if you want to run the BES at home