Mobile Information Device Profile: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 03:34, 17 January 2006

Mobile Information Device Profile, MIDP, is a specification put out by Sun Microsystems for the use of Java on embedded devices such as cell phones and PDAs.

MIDP is part of the J2ME framework. MIDP sits on top of a "configuration", such as the Connected Limited Device Configuration or Connected Device Configuration.

Noteworthy Limitations

MIDP 1.0 could not query key status.
MIDP 1.0 has no active rendering APIs
MIDP 1.0 has no support for audio.
MIDP 1.0 only requires HTTP support.
The specifications are not always clear, leading to differences in implementations.

General APIs

The core APIs are defined by the underlining Configuration Connected Limited Device Configuration.

javax.microedition.io

Contains the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition specific classes used for I/O operations.

javax.microedition.lcdui

Contains the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition specific classes used for the GUI. To clarify, it is called an "LCD UI" due to the fact that mobile phones normally use LCD displays; the API is not specifically tailored to this particular display technology.

javax.microedition.rms

Provides a form of persistent storage for Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition.

javax.microedition.midlet

Contains the base classes for Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition applications.

Specialized APIs added in MIDP 2.0

MIDP 2.0 saw the introduction of gaming and multimedia APIs and some optional packages.

javax.microedition.media

Contains the base classes of the multi media playback.

javax.microedition.lcdui.game

A gaming API aimed at simple 2D sprite based games.

javax.microedition.pki

Authenticate APIs for secure connections.

javax.microedition.messaging

Wireless messaging API (optional), sending SMS and MMS messages.

javax.microedition.pim

Personal information management API (optional), access the devices address book.

javax.microedition.io.file

File connection API (optional), access the devices file system.

Development Tools

There are several different ways to create MIDP applications: Code can be written in an plain text editor such as Notepad, or you can use a more advanced IDE such as NetBeans or Eclipse (with the appropriate plugins) which has a user interface for graphically laying out any forms you create, as well as providing many other advanced features not available in a simple text editor.

External links

The MIDP Specification
A worldwide list of MIDP enabled phones
J2MEDeveloper.com
An Example Midlet (MIDP1.0+). MIDP applications can be downloaded directly to a MIDP enabled phone. This is an example of an established free one.
What's New in MIDP 2.0

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 === javax.microedition.lcdui ===
-Contains the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition specific classes used for the [[Graphical user interface|GUI]]. To clarify, it is called an "[[Liquid crystal display|LCD]] [[User Interface|UI]]" due to the fact that mobile phones normally use LCD displays; the [[Application Programming Interface|API]] is not specifically tailored to this particular display technology.xczxc
+Contains the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition specific classes used for the [[Graphical user interface|GUI]]. To clarify, it is called an "[[Liquid crystal display|LCD]] [[User Interface|UI]]" due to the fact that mobile phones normally use LCD displays; the [[Application Programming Interface|API]] is not specifically tailored to this particular display technology.
 === javax.microedition.rms ===