A device application includes both business logic (the data itself and associated metadata that defines data flow and availability), and device-resident presentation and logic.
Within Sybase Unwired Platform, development tools enable both aspects of mobile application development:
- The data aspects of the mobile application are called mobile business objects (MBO), and “MBO development” refers to defining object data models with back-end enterprise information system (EIS) connections, attributes, operations, and relationships that allow segmented data sets to be synchronized to the device. Applications can reference one or more MBOs and can include synchronization keys, load parameters, personalization, and error handling.
- Once you have developed MBOs and deployed them to Unwired Server, develop device-resident presentation and logic for your device application by using either:
- The Device Application Designer – an Unwired Platform graphical design and development tool.
- A native IDE – an API approach that uses your native IDE's Client Object API and Device Framework API. Unwired WorkSpace provides MBO code generation options targeted for specific development environments, for example, BlackBerry JDE for BlackBerry device applications, or Visual Studio for Windows Mobile device applications.
- A combination of both development environments – begin device development with the Device Application Designer, and further customize with an IDE.
This guide provides reference material for the last two options.
The Client Object API uses the data persistence library to access and store object data in the database on the device. Code generation takes place in Unwired WorkSpace. You can generate code manually, or by using scripts. The code generation engine applies the correct templates based on options and the MBO model, and outputs client objects.
Note: See Sybase Unwired WorkSpace – Mobile Business Object Development for procedures and information about creating and deploying MBOs. See Sybase Unwired WorkSpace - Device Application Development for information about device application features and appearance.