Extending OPL with OPL - OPMs

An OPM, or OPL Module, is a pre-written set of OPL procedures. OPMs are written to save the developer time developing and testing commonly used routines, to save memory by providing shared code for OPL Developers, and to aid rapid development of applications.

The advantage of OPMs is that they can be used to replace procedures which the OPL developer would have otherwise had to develop themselves. This saves development and testing time. They can be used by more than one application, so saving memory on the Symbian OS device.

OPMs must be loaded in using the LOADM command.  Symbian written OPMs are supplied in '.sis' installation files, which install the OPM to the \System\OPM\ directory on either the C:, D: or E: drive.

To make life easier three routines have been written which should be copied to your own applications. These will load and unload the required OPMs. Copy the .oph file to your development folder.

Download: Common OPM Loader Revision 3.0, 10 October 2000 (1kB)

OPMs suitable for devices based on Symbian OS v3 and v5

Percentage Bars (v1.05 updated 8 October 2000)
A collection of routines to help in the creation and management of percent/progress bars. Three styles are currently supported:

• gIBAR - similar to gIPRINT, appearing in any of the four corners of the screen.
• AlertBar - progress bars appearing in an alert type dialog box.
• FreeBar - a freeform percentage bar managed by the OPM.

Download Percentage Bars OPM (8Kb)

ini (v1.03 updated 30 November 1999)
Creation and manipulation of initialization files, used by applications to save information which is to be used every time it is run.
Download ini OPM (7Kb)

Icons (v1.02 updated 30 November 1999)
Easy access to the images built into the ROM of a Symbian platform device. All you need to do is call one procedure with the value of one of the predefined constants and the desired bitmap is loaded into a new drawable.
Download Icons OPM for ER1-ER3 (8Kb)

Buttons Server (v1.071 updated 10 March 2000)
A collection of routines to draw, manage and detect the pressing of buttons, pen events and dragging of windows.
Download Buttons Server OPM (15Kb)

This area lists third party OPMs (OPL Extensions written in OPL), with links to the sites where they can be downloaded from.

The following are available from Mark O'Neil (External Link):

PopUp - A scrollable pop-up menu for use in OPL applications. Similar to the built-in mPOPUP command, but offers a scrollable list with unlimited items.

Clipboard - Copies text from and to the clipboard.

The following are available from PocketIQ (External Link):

IQGrid - An module for any OPL developer who needs a multi-column listbox which they can use as part of their user interface.

IQDrawPad - A scribble pad plugin module.

IQCalendar - A pop-up calendar module, which will return the date selected by the user.

IQText - An OPM for buffer, cliptext or plain text manipulation.

IQCalculator - Provides a simple pop-up calculator which returns the final answer of the calculations performed by the user.

The following is available from Richard Panton (External Link):

VWin - A collection of routines that implement scrollbars, scrolling windows, draggable windows, and buttons.

The following are available from Thomas Tensi (External Link):

Scrollbar - A flexible way to implement scrollbars in your own applications which mimic the standard Symbian OS v5 look and feel.

Listviewer - Provides a new listbox control, allowing you to use scrolling vertical listboxes.

Do you want to know more?
To find out how to write your own OPMs read the paper 'Writing your own OPMs'.