Installing BlackBerry Desktop Manager
if you followed the other blogs, you have installed BlackBerry Eclipse PlugIn and verified that the Simulator and Debugger are working.
The Simulator works great, but never deploy software to your customers you not verified on a real device 😉 per ex. in one case I tested an app from Simulator using the left-right arrows from Keyboard and all looks well. But on a real 9700 device I couldn’t work same using the TrackPad.
How can you install your apps on a real device ? There are some different ways: Desktop Manager, using websites, BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) or BlackBerry AppWorld – I’ll blog about this later.
The easiest way to install apps – even while developing – is through the DesktopManager and your BlackBerry connected to the PC (in my case connected to the virtual USB inside my Parallels VM).
using this constellation its also possible to debug on the device itself.
Install Desktop Manager
Please go to http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/desktop
Download the desktop Manager you need. For me the PC version installed inside my Windows VM worked more stable then the Mac OSX version, so I would recommand to use the PC version even on Mac.
Install the Desktop Manager and start the Application:
because there’s no BlackBerry Device connected you have to connect your Blackberry using an USB cable. Parallels VM will ask you if the connection should be used from Windows or Mac OS:
…select Windows and the Desktop Manager should display your connected Device:
Import Applications into Desktop Manager
Now the next step should be to hit “Applications (Anwendungen)” and import the Apps from your workspace.
I’ll blog later in detail about the deploy process – at the moment the only thing you have to know is “How can I import an application ?” – you have to find and select the
<ProjectName>.alx
file. Take a look at the project structure of our Hello World project:
If you’re using defaults then there’s a “deliverables” folder and inside this a “Standard” folder. “Standard” means files you need to deploy using Desktop Manager or BES. Inside this folder we find a 5.0.0 folder because we’re working with 5.0 SDK. Besides this folder you’ll find the “HelloWorldDemo.alx” please select this one to be imported into DesktopManager:
Because its the first time we want to install “Hello World” the application was listed to be installed in the TaskList at the bottom of Desktop Manager:
Hit the Button to Apply this application:
wait until the Task is finished:
…then go to Download folder on your device – the Hello World Application should be there – same as before from Simulator.
Congratulations: you successfully installed your first Application on a BlackBerry device.
Secure Applications
As you already know – BlackBerry is a secure platform and many APIs can only be used from signed Applications – this means most of your real-world Applications need to be signed.
How to sign an application you can read here.
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