what are the steps required to run a blackberry application created for the blackberry device?

Question

I created a BlackBerry application using java-me and the BlackBerry specific API. It works fine on the BlackBerry simulator.

I want to know how I can deploy this application to a BlackBerry device. From the documentation I found that some code signing is required to run a BlackBerry application on a device. What is this meant for? Do all applications required this code signing? and what are the steps to build my application to run on a BlackBerry device?

Answer 1

There are basically two ways to install a Blackberry app on a device:

• Over The Air (OTA)
• using Desktop Manager

There are numerous articles explaining how to do either of the above. Go through few links:

• BlackBerry Guide: How to Install 3rd Party Applications on Your BlackBerry
• Guide to installing applications on the blackberry

You also need some signing keys to run the app on a device. These keys are required in order to use special permissions like Internet or Maps. For more details see the BlackBerry developer article: Code Signing Keys

Answer 2

Yes to deploy your code in device you need a signing key. That will enable your code to run on device. This signing key is almost free. You have to install it in your machine and than sign your .cod file with that signing key. As you have told you have your app ready and working in simulator, here are the steps to sign and deploy this app in device.

1. Buy a signing key for Blackberry java development from here

2. Install this in your machine, you will find some help from here

3. Now you have your code ready to sign, just clean and build from your IDE (eclipse or JDE)

4. Run the signature tool, you can see which cod files need to be signed and which are optional, sign all cod files. You are prompted to insert a password.

5. Now you have the application ready to install in device, either by cable or by OTA

6. For cable install, get the .cod and .alx file in same folder and point your javaloader or your BB Desktop manager to this folder.

7. For OTA follow these steps

a. Get a .cod file and open it with any archive manager. You can see multiple cod siblings in it.

b. Extract the siblings in some folder.

c. Copy jad file of your project in same folder where your cod files are there.

d. Point your browser to that jad file and app will be installed.