1. Getting Started with Developing for
BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps
Kamel Lajili– RIM, Senior Application Development Consultant
DroidCon Berlin
March 14th 2012

2. Overview
What we will cover in this session
 Why repackage for BlackBerry
 BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps - what it is and
what it is not
 PlayBook development basics
 Converting existing applications
 Q&A
2

3. Repackage Your Android Apps

4. Why repackage?
BlackBerry App World
 Available in 164 markets and growing
 Averaging 174 Million downloads per month and
growing fast, more than 6 Millions per day!
 BlackBerry App World vendor base grows by an average
of 190% per year
 In EMEA there are Over 3K vendors from 59 countries
4

5. Why repackage?
BlackBerry App World
“BlackBerry Apps generate 40% more revenue as
Android apps“ (Vision Mobile)
Source: Application Distribution Survey, Evans Data, Sept 2011, Vision Mobile 5

6. Why repackage?
BlackBerry App World
“BlackBerry App World delivered the most
revenues over the past year, and the most monthly
traffic”
 “13% of BlackBerry developers make over $100,000
from the App World apps, which is considerably more
than Android or Apple developers…”
 “19% of BlackBerry App World participants say they
had 1,000 or more downloads over the 30 days”
6

7. Why repackage?
 Opportunity to increase revenue with minimum (couple of
days) effort
 in 65% of the cases just repackage the existing APK – no source
code or recompilation required
 familiar development environment is provided for the cases when
modifications to the applications are required – Eclipse plugin on
top of Google's ADT plugin
 Opportunity for experimenting with different business
model and a new customer base
7

8. Need a PlayBook to port your
Android Apps?

9. What it is?
App1 App2 App3 App4 App5 App6 App7 App8
• It’s an application running on Playbook
Application Framework
Activity Mgr Window Mgr View System Notification
• Enables Android applications to be
Mgr installed and run on the BlackBerry
Package Mgr Resource Mgr Location Mgr
PlayBook Tablet
Libraries Java Runtime
• Android API level 10 – Android v2.3.3
WebKit OpenGL ES
Core Libraries
aka “Gingerbread” Application Framework
SSL SQLite running on top of the PlayBook OS and
Surface Mgr SGL Libraries.
Dalvik Virtual Machine
FreeType Media Fwk
libbionic
QNX Kernel @twitterhandle – 9

10. What it is …
Under the hood
 A number of cooperating user mode processes that run
inside a sandbox
 User mode ensures isolation from the OS kernel
 Nothing runs as root
 Applications requiring special access must have appropriate OS
capabilities
 Sandbox ensures isolation from other native applications
 Data sharing with other native applications is possible in restricted
fashion, e.g. photo, music, video, etc.
 More secure and robust than other Android devices
10

11. What it is …
PlayBook integration
 Blends in with the rest of the PlayBook applications
 Application Launching/Minimizing/Thumbnail
 Installation
 Android applications are packaged as a BlackBerry Archive (BAR)
 Deploy through BlackBerry® App World™ like other BlackBerry PlayBook tablet
apps
 Android Media Framework
 Graphics
 Hardware accelerated OpenGL ES and screen composition.
 Notifications
 Sensors
 Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, etc.
@twitterhandle – 11

12. What it is …
PlayBook integration
 Networking
 Virtual keyboard
 Multi-touch – 4-finger multi-touch
 Standard public intents for launching native applications
 Email, Camera, Photo Gallery, Video Recorder, Browser, Settings, etc.
 Standard public intents for launching native file viewers
 .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .png, .jpg, .gif, audio, video, etc.
 Shared storage for public data
 /sdcard/ -> /accounts/1000/shared/misc/android/
 Accessible by other native applications and through USB
@twitterhandle – 12

13. What it is …
PlayBook integration
 Security
 BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps runs in a secure PlayBook
OS sandbox that keeps android insulated from the rest of the
system. It’s treated as a secure PlayBook application and is
subject to the restrictions other native apps are subject to.
 Existing Android permission system is retained by BlackBerry
Runtime.
 Access to system resources are further protected by PlayBook OS
via Capabilities that need to be specified in BAR manifest.
@twitterhandle – 13

14. What it is not …
Things to be aware of
 Review your UI
 1024x600 screen resolution
 32 bit color depth
 xDPI, yDPI: 169.99, 169.33
 Landscape orientation is the default
 86x86 application icon
 Notifications look different
 No add-on Google libraries – Maps, C2DM, In-app billing
 No Android Market
 Limited Bluetooth support
14

15. What it is not …
Things to be aware of
 Limited Camera integration – invoke but don’t embed
 SIP/VOIP
 Process sharing
 Multiple entry points
 Android Home screen/Widgets
 Android NDK
 Search key
 HTTP progressive streaming
15

16. Online resources
 Android
 http://developer.blackberry.com/android
 Documentation:
 http://developer.blackberry.com/android/documentation
 Where to get signing keys:
 https://www.blackberry.com/SignedKeys/
@twitterhandle – 16

17. PlayBook development basics
BAR files
 BAR files are the native PlayBook application packaging
 What APK files are for Andorid BAR files are for BlackBerry
 BAR files contain executables, images, media, etc.
 blackberry-deploy: put a packaged app onto the device
 The device has to be in development mode
17

18. PlayBook development basics
Development mode
@twitterhandle – 18

19. PlayBook development basics
Development mode
@twitterhandle – 19

20. PlayBook development basics
Signing
 BARs are either signed or unsigned
 Unsigned BAR requires Debug Token (except Simulator)
 You will need signing keys to develop on Device:
 http://developer.blackberry.com/native/signingkey
 ~1 hour turnaround
 You will get
 RDK key to sign for distribution
 PBDT key to create debug token
20

21. PlayBook development basics
Debug tokens
 Debug tokens allow you to load unsigned applications
from a specific author on a specific device
 To request a debug token from the command line:
blackberry-debugtokenrequest -cskpass **** -keystore sigtool.p12 -storepass @@@@ -deviceId 0x500C8F54 0x500C8F54
debug.bar
 To deploy a debug token on a device
blackberry-deploy -installDebugToken 0x500C8F54debug.bar -device 169.254.0.1 -password &&&&
 Can also be requested and deployed from within the
Eclipse
21

22. PlayBook development basics
Debug tokens
22

23. PlayBook development basics
Submitting to BlackBerry AppWorld
 Create an account for BlackBerry App World
 https://appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal/
 Application name, description and icon or logo
 Category in which your app should be placed
 License type (free, paid or try and buy)
 Wireless service providers your app will be available to
 Countries where your app should be distributed
 Releases and file bundles
 Screenshots
 Submit signed BAR file
23

24. Converting existing applications
Choosing your method
 Online tool
 Command line
 Eclipse plugin
24

25. Converting existing applications
Compatibility categories
 APK verifier for checking Android compatibility
 Five categories on how well an application may run on PlayBook
 Impact level 1 (minor non-compliance): Application will run just fine.
 Impact level 2: Application may run but some functionality will not work
 Unsupported features: Telephony, Camera, SIP, VOIP, etc.
 Impact level 3: Application may run but some functionality will not work
 Unsupported Google services: e.g. Google Maps.
 Impact level 4: Application will most likely not functional
 5-way navigation, h/w keyboard, C2DM
 Impact level 5 (most severe): Application will not run.
 Native libraries, dependency on 3rd party libraries
 Eclipse plugin reports compatibility levels as errors
and/or warnings 25

26. Converting existing applications
Using the online tool
 https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/bpaa/
26

27. Demo: Converting using the online tool

28. Converting existing applications
Using the command line tools
1. apk2barVerifier
2. apk2bar
3. blackberry-deploy
28

29. Demo: Converting using the command
line tools

30. Converting existing applications
Using the Eclipse plugin
 ADT Plug-in for Eclipse + BlackBerry Plug-in for ADT
 PlayBook is just another device target for your existing Android
project
 Debugging applications on PlayBook just like on other Android
devices
 adb, ddms, jdwp, logcat, etc.
30

31. Converting existing applications
Using the Eclipse plugin
1. Install “Eclipse IDE for Java Developers” 3.7 (Indigo)
 http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-classic-37/indigor
2. Install Android SDK
 http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
 Also use the Android SDK manager to download the Android 2.3.3
platform and related tool and create an Android Virtual Device (AVD)
3. Install ADT Plug-in for Eclipse
 http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html
4. Install BlackBerry Plug-in for ADT
 https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/downloads/eclipseplugin/
31

32. Demo: Converting using Eclipse plugin

33. Detecting a PlayBook
 java.lang.System.getProperty("os.name")
 Returns “qnx”
 android.telephony.TelephonyManager.getDeviceId()
 Returns unique device serial number – e.g. 0000000000429494272343
 Same number can be found under Options -> About screen
 Browser’s user agent
 “Mozilla/5.0 (PlayBook; U; Android 2.3.3; en-us; PlayBook
Build/<build_no>) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko)
Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1”
33

34. Recap
 BlackBerry Runtime for Android apps enables Android
applications to run on PlayBook in a secure and robust
environment with optimized performance
 BlackBerry Runtime for Android apps enables developers
to monetize Android applications on PlayBook
 Minimal cost in converting your Android applications
 Majority applications (~65%) convert without any source changes
34

35. Questions?
Q&A
35

36. Online resources
 Android
 http://developer.blackberry.com/android
 Documentation:
 http://developer.blackberry.com/android/documentation
 Where to get signing keys:
 https://www.blackberry.com/SignedKeys/
@twitterhandle – 36

37. THANK YOU
Kamel Lajili– RIM, Senior Application Development Consultant, @klajili
DroidCon Berlin
March 14th 2012