Alessandro did it again and created a great article together with sample code and application FliKun. With FliKun, you can upload any picture from your Nokia S60 phone to Flickr with GeoTagging, with Flash Lite and KuneriLite!
Today, we’ll see how it’s possible to build a Flickr uploader in FlashLite using KuneriLite, geotagging them with the current GPS location.
Alessandro has a great step-by-step tutorial about creating an application displaying current GPS position with Flash Lite and KuneriLite.
Today’s tutorial is about using Google Maps static images, and GPS data, to display maps in a FlashLite application using KuneriLite.
There are also source codes and installation package available. Check it out!
All thanks go to Alessandro!
UPDATE: Article is available at Forum Nokia Wiki as well.
Alessandro had been working on a commercial Flash Lite 3.0 and KuneriLite project for last 2 months, and wrote his experience on his blog. We are pleased to hear :) Read the whole story here.
When you must merge 2 technologies to overcome their own limitations, it’s already a pain. So, when you do it, you want simple, immediate tools, that would make your work easier, not harder. With KuneriLite you have exacly this: an easy-to-use, understand and test tool. You have an intuitive Wizard that will allow you to create, setup and SIS package all your apps, and an emulator for easy testing and debugging. This IS what we want!
Briefly said: KuneriLite team is fantastic! Having worked with their product for more than 2 months, I can say to be more than happy for their help and support. You can find all the infos you want on their forums an Wiki pages.
Felipe is one of the most diligent and active guys in Flash Lite community with great open source projects; such as Flyer Framework and Jarpa. Check out his post telling how he created a simple application where he extended Flash Lite with J2ME.
I’m proud to share a short application snippet of the next Jarpa Framework. Jarpa Framework wants to provide developers with the combined power of Adobe’s Flash Lite and Java’s programming capabilities.
Although I am sure he is making wonders in order to overcome OEM limitations; but apparently there are some ways. We are excitingly following these projects; and as soon as have some J2ME competency, will definitely contribute.
Great work!
Pasi has another post testing KuneriLite Accelerometer plugin. Although it doesn’t work on Flash Lite 3.0 phones (see my post), it should work very well on Flash Lite 2.x and accelerometer enabled devices (i.e N91, N82 etc..).
Usually, when new version of a software is released, we cheer, considering things will get better and easier. As we were expecting things would be easier for developers, we cheered up for Flash Lite 3.0’s features, however that couldn’t be more than wrong and it turned out to be a big pain for us. Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be any short term solution, and no one guarantees there will be one in mid or long term. I would like to write my reasons why I think so, and warn Adobe, Nokia and developers for a potential threat, which will not be long to come.
Flash Lite 3.0 came with Flash 8 engine, and together with Security Sandbox ‘feature’. This might make sense for browser plugin, but doesn’t make any sense for standalone player. Nick has a really nice post about this issue, which is almost 1 year old, can give an idea about the past and future of the problem.
Ok, what’s wrong with ‘Security Sandbox’? Isn’t security something good? Well, security is good when it’s used in convenience. If you use security for a case where doesn’t make any sense or bring an added value, you end up making life difficult for developers and users. Problem about this new Security Sandbox is; you either can have a local connection (i.e loading local files), or can a network connection (i.e connect to internet). This ‘feature’ not only brought an unnecessary pain to us (developers), but also broke backwards compatibility. How? Simple: If you have a Flash Lite 1.x or 2.x movie using local and network connections at the same time, it simply won’t work on Flash Lite 3.0 (which means new phones like N95). Wasn’t the biggest problem on mobile world fragmentation?
Problems not only end with those on ‘Security Sandbox’ feature. It’s not possible to do localhost calls, which disables any connection from Flash Lite to outer world. Why is this something bad? Well, there are many 3rd party projects extending Flash Lite via localhost (the only way left to us, because 3rd party application launch is limited by Nokia), such as KuneriLite, Flyer and Janus. These projects help Flash Lite to expand beyond its capabilities and enable people to create richer applications, which can compete with native S60 applications in look and performance.
Luckily, there is a ‘best of worst’ trick that solves those problems. There is a magic folder in ‘C:\data\others\trusted’ (that’s another pain, I will come to that shortly), which disables ‘Security Sandbox’ and enables applications to communicate both with local and network, as well as localhost. Why is this a ‘best of worst’? Simply because whatever you put into this directory is visible under ‘Gallery’ which brings a very bad user experience and many security concenrs within.
This issue will be even more cronic, if Adobe or Nokia doesn’t make any move; because ‘trusted’ folder will not be available anymore for S60 3.2 devices. Which will kill all developer efforts and backwards compatibility forever. We are not sure if Adobe or Nokia will solve this problem, but crossing our fingers hoping someone sees our S.O.S fire.
I mentioned Security Sandbox problem and a ‘best of worst’ solution to that above. Now see another pain closely related to this subject.
S60 devices have ‘Phone Memory’ (PM) and ‘Memory Card’ (MC). Users are given the option to install their applications to PM or MC. As you know, to solve Securiy Sandbox problem, we need to install Flash Lite applications to those ‘Trusted’ folders that exist both on PM and MC. So what is the problem? With a clever(!) move, ‘Trusted’ folder is located at different paths on PM and MC. It’s at C:\Data\Others\Trusted\ on PM and E:\Others\Trusted\ on MC. Yeah, but what is the problem? Well simply, it’s not possible to install applications (SIS packages) to different folders on PM and MC, and this breaks Symbian Signed criterias. So, Flash Lite 3.0 applications either will work on PM, or MC. And in that way, you can not get your appliction Symbian Signed.
There is no solution we could find for that yet. If we can not; it will not be possible for anyone to Symbian Sign their Flash Lite applications on Flash Lite 3.0 phones (from my current understanding).
Well, Security Sandbox is not the only problem. There is a serious bug on Flash Lite 3.0 with XML sockets. Simply put, it’s not possible to receive data via XML socket shorter than 1+ seconds, which kills if you need to stream data.
Most clear example for that is using KuneriLite Accelerometer plugin with Flash Lite. Naturally, to use axis values, you need to get those values at least 4-5 times per second; so that you can reflect it to your application. But because of this bug, you can get data only 1 time or less per second, which makes it impossible to use.
See the this Forum Nokia thread for more information on that subject. And as far as we see, there is no solution offered yet.
I tried to state my reasons, why Flash Lite 3.0 is a potential show-stopper for developers, users, enablers and many more on S60 devices. Nokia keeps on spreading this problem via Firmware updates and pushing Flash Lite 3.0 player to earlier phones (i.e Nokia N95 Classic), supporting and triggering fragmentation. With the introduction of S60 3rd edition Feature Pack 2 devices, these problems will be impossible to solve and Flash Lite player will get fragmented at least for couple of years, which will delay market entrance that is already delayed for long time and still immature. What I would like to see is some action from Adobe and Nokia, leaning on this subject and listening to us to avoid a big potential problem awaiting all Flash Lite users and developers in short term.
Please leave me your comments if you have any.
cheers,
Ugur.-
I just found a simple diagram I prepared for a common question: Can I develop my own plugins for KuneriLite?
Answer is “No” at the moment, but there is a simple way to use KuneriLite System plugin and communicate your application with your Flash Lite movie using KuneriLite. Check the diagram below.
Pasi created this wonderful article, showing how to use device camera to take pictures, resize them and upload to a remote web server with Flash Lite using KuneriLite.
You can download and use the application on your Flash Lite 2.x or Flash Lite 3.0 enabled device. Pasi also published source codes, which can provide a great resource for all.
“My first test is to do Flash Lite application which takes pictures and sends those to server side. This testing application sends pictures to my server http://ptm.fi/temp folder, so check you uploaded photos from there.”
Nokia published some tips and tricks for Flash Lite content and Actionscript optimizations.
This article gives some recommendations regarding performance improvements when using Flash Lite. Optimization efforts are needed in order to create a high-quality movie or application. The article covers both content optimization and ActionScript optimization.
Flash Lite Developer’s Library a really cool resource for developers from Forum Nokia. It’s available for online and offline use.
The Flash Lite Developer’s Library is an information package for desktop Flash developers and mobile software developers looking to branch out to Flash Lite development. The library offers introductory and getting started information as well as several use cases describing Flash Lite features in more detail. This library is available in HTML format online and as a stand-alone version.
