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Opl-dev project news
28 April 2004 is the first anniversary for opl-dev
Today's the first anniversary of the opl-dev project! It has been a very successful year,
which saw two new ports released. You can now run OPL on Symbian OS phones featuring
three user interface platforms, that's around 20 phone models. Over 20,000 downloads from
the project have enabled the release of 60 OPL applications, including some for
specialised vertical markets such as medical applications. Five C++ developers have
contributed to the source code. Together, this has brought opl-dev into the top 5% of
projects on SourceForge. Let's review what we've achieved in the past twelve months,
and look forward with plans for the future.
Progress over the past year
Alpha release of the Series 60 port
In April 2003, this release launched the opl-dev project. Since then, we've made further
alpha releases of this technically challenging port of the Series 80 OPL source to Series
60. Even though we're still unable to support development on the phone itself, this hasn't
prevented the release of OPL applications for Series 60.
Beta release of UIQ port
A very strong port of the Series 80 code to UIQ was released in February 04. This port
allows complete OPL app development on the phone itself. The biggest names in OPL
development are releasing their apps for UIQ. As with any beta, there are a few minor
issues to be cleared up; these include problems with menus, fonts and editor searching.
Updates to the Series 80 port
The Series 80 port has benefited from the work on the other ports as all ports share the
same C++ open source codeline. This has included changes to the translator; the first
changes from a non-Symbian developer.
Plan for the coming year
What do we have in store for the next 12 months? Starting with the most mature OPL
products, here's the current plan:
Further release of 9210/9500 port
Fix some long-standing problems with async handling. (These fixes will correct the same
problems in other ports, as all ports share the same C++ open source codeline.)
Release new OPXs for network interaction to enable OPL users to benefit from the
GPRS/Wi-Fi capabilities of the 9500.
UIQ port
Make a full-blown v1.00 release to fix the few remaining bugs.
Make new OPXs for Bluetooth features, etc.
Series 60 port
Having seen so much effort put into this, it will be great to get a beta release
complete, initially fixing the FEP string problem, and with a C++ wrapper auto-creation
tool. With the release of the editor, developers will also be able to program on their
Series 60 phones too.
Alpha release of port for Nokia Series 90
The Nokia 7700 media phone is a powerful platform, ideal for an OPL port. Initial
studies are looking good, and we hope to complete an alpha release of this port as soon
as the final SDK becomes available.
OPL test harness
Some good work is happening with the OPL test harness. This test suite, written in OPL,
uses the runtime to test itself. Originally developed for the Series 80 port, we're
bringing it up-to-date. In future we'll be using it for helping develop ports of OPL to
new phones, and to test bug fixes in existing ports.
Alpha release of the OPL debugger
The OPL runtime supports a plug-in OPL debugger library. We plan to develop the library
and a debugging app to control it. This will provide fantastic support for OPL coders,
who will be able to debug on phones more quickly than before.
Thanks to everyone for helping the opl-dev project grow!
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