Archives
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Using SharePoint web services from Flash: put a cross-domain policy file on your SharePoint server
I a weblog posting on calling SharePoint web services from Flash I forgot to mention that you need to put a special file on the root of your SharePoint server to allow the Flash client to access the web services on the server. This file is called the cross-domain policy file.
Russ asked a question on this in a comment on this posting. I forget to answer this question, sorry Russ.
For more information on the cross-domain policy file see for example this documentation page at Macromedia.
I used FrontPage to drop the file crossdomain.xml in the root of the SharePoint site. The contents of the crossdomain.xml file are in my case:
<cross-domain-policy>
<allow-access-from domain="*" secure="false" />
</cross-domain-policy> -
Nokia 770 development options... Flash?
For some time now I’m looking into building rich internet applications using Flash. I’m very impressed by Flex 2 and did some adventures in developing with it. Flex 2 is still alpha and targets the new Flash version 8.5. Now I have a Nokia 770 device, and the Flash version on it is 6.0.82.0.
I’m also looking into how applications can be developed for the Nokia 770 (yes, I’m a busy man without much focus;-) ). I installed the C/C++ development environment, but I actually don’t want to go back to C/C++ development with all its difficulties. Other options are Mono and Python which I’m also currently invesigating.
Today I was at the first day of first European Flash conference http://www.sparkeurope.com/. There was a very interesting session on the open source community for Flash.One of the sessions was by Edwin van Rijkom on Screenweaver, an open source project for building Rich Desktop Applications. He is wrapping Flash in a host application and provides access to the host OS and native code on the host OS through the Screenweaver host application. Because the Nokia 770 also has Flash installed I was dreaming about the possibility to create such a host application for Flash that provides access to all Nokia 770 features and the possibility to hook it into the Nokia 770 menu structure. I discussed this idea with Edwin and he thought that it would be a great idea.
I searched for people who tried such an approach on linux. I ended up on a blog post by Darron Shall who created a C# host for Flash, wasn’t happy with it and searched for a more cross platform approach. He looked into XulRunner to host the Flash application. I just looked into this approach, but I’m afraid that running XulRunner on the Nokia 770 would be to havy. The runtime is big, and on top of that you get the additional Flash runtime which is something like 1.5 Mb as well. Way to much for creating small apps for the 770.
It would be great if a really small Flash hoster could be created for the Nokia 770. I think Flash is a great platform for creating applications. Maybe someone did already something in this direction? If this is the case, please let us know!
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Setting up the development environment for the Nokia 770
The development environment for the Nokia 770 linux-based device has to run on.. you guessed: Linux.
As a developer the best place to go to is http://maemo.org. From here you can get all the information to get you started.
Even if you don't have the device yet you can start developing for it. Setting up the development environment is NOT easy, it's not like on Windows for developing for Windows CE: starting an msi and done, you really need to dive into Linux, and I must say it became a lot better but also complexer since the last time I used it (quite some years ago!).
As stated in this tutorial, the Pre-requisites for developing applications for the Nokia 770 are:
- Intel compatible x86 processor at 500 MHz or faster
- 256 MB RAM or more
- 2 GB free hard disk space
- Linux OS (Debian or Ubuntu are recommended, but others fairly recent distributions should also work)
Because I don't have a space computer to get this started I decided to set up my Debian linux in a Virtual Server 2005 virtual machine.
I downloaded a net-install version of the 3.1 stable release at http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/. This is a 180mb ISO image that you can bind to your CD-Rom in Virtual Server 2005 virtual machine. After installing the core functionality, you can install the other needed parts from the internet.
Installation using Virtual Server 2005 ok, but I kept getting a kind of timer value exceeded error reported through all my screens. This was really irritating! The only solution I find to getting rid of this error was recompiling the kernel, not something I was really waiting for. Another problem is the video card emulated by Virtual Server 2005: an Ati Trio64, This card is not supported in the X-Windows installed with Debian. The card is too old. I configured X-Windows with vesa as a graphics board (a standard implementation), but I didn't get to a higher resolution than 800x600 and it was really slow.
I decided to move over to VmWare.. installation was completely painless, except that I couldn't create a harddisk with size larger than 8Gb. No problems with timer value exceeded errors, and VmWare has a graphics card vmware that installed without problems in X-Windows. I now have X-Windows running at 1600x1200x16 bits (16 bits is needed for correct emulation of the Nokia 770 I read somewhere).
I tried to follow this tutorial for installation, this costed me a lot of time, and is NOT the best way to go. There is an Eclipse plugin available for 770 development called Laika, and the description for this pluginand the tools to install works better. Go to the tools page, and read about the tools that you need and how to install them.
First thing I did was install the java sdk. The laika page mentions Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition 1.4.2_08 to be used, I decided to download the JDK 5.0 at page http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.jsp, I downloaded the linux self-extracting file jdk-1_5_0_05-linux-i586.bin
I couldn't install this file directly on Debian, so I converted it to a Debian package using the information at http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/142. Now you can install the package using dpkg.
Now you can download Eclipse. I installed it in the /usr directory. Unpackage the downloaded file using tar xvfz filename while you are in the directory /usr. run /usr/eclipse/eclipse to run Eclipse.
If you want to see what you get for development tools have a look at these screenshots!
I didn't get the Xvnc working (In Eclipse see Windows -> Preferences -> Scratchbox Preferences X-Environment), so I'm using the Xephyr as described in this tutorial. Make sure that you use equal X-Windows screen numbers.
In Eclipse I configures the Xephyr tool as follows:
Syntax for starting X-server: /home/serge/start-xephyr.sh
The ".. IP and number" field in my configuration is set to: DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:2
The viewer is in my configuration not used I think.
I now have everything up and running I can run and debug my applications in the Scratchbox emulation environment!
Good luck with your installation, you will need it ;-)
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The Nokia 770: an amazing device!
Lets have this said first: I really don't want to advertize for Nokia, and I'm in no way affiliated to Nokia, I'm just a happy user!
In a previous post I already described the Nokia 770 device. Within 24 hours of ordering UPS came at my door to deliver my "present".
I'm not really a gadger guy, I just wanted a device to read books and browse the internet while moving around the house and lying in my bed. And I must say: it absolutely goes far beyond my expectations! Browsing is flawless, you can read PDF files perfectly, and the RSS news reader works good enough to follow the blogs I read. What more do you need? No: it's not a phone! Who cares? I have a nokia phone to make my phone calls!
The good thing is that you boot up the device in the morning and can keep it in "standby" all day. Within seconds you have access to your documents and the internet wherever you are (as long as you have Wifi access). And with a 800x480 resolution with 225 dpi the display is as sharp as paper!! What a difference with those lousy 320x200 resolution devices!
I did not try the email functionality of the device yet, I just use outlook web access, works great!!
Being a developer I wanted to know how I could develop for the Nokia 770 device. It is running a modified version of Debian linux, and all development is also done on linux. In comming post on the Nokia 770 I will explain how I did set up the development environment.
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Nokia 770, linux-based tablet, 800x480, bluetooth, Wifi, USB, and.... .Net development using Mono!
Nokia just came out with a great new device: the Nokia 770. It is a Linux based device running Internet Tablet 2005 software edition. It has a small form factor and 800x480 resolution, with 225-pixel-per-inch in 65536 colors. It is a computer, not a swiss army knive. So no phone, no camera. I think this is a pré… you don’t want such a larger device against you ear… use the tool where it is made for, use your telephone!. Make sure you phone has Bluetooth, so you can communicate with the 770 through your phone. Use Wifi when you are at home, that’s what this thing is made for: Bluetooth and Wifi.
Price in Europe is Euro: 359 euro. Available NOW! (And I order it, two days they say!!;-) )Have a look at the specifications!!!!
It uses a Texas Instruments OMAP1710 processor, which seems to be an ARM based processor.
I’m looking for a device that can solve one of my biggest problems: getting to bed early and be able to browse the web and read a book without keeping my girlfriend out of here sleep, because she can’t sleep when the lights are on. I read the Da Vinci Code on my Cassipeia, at 320x200 resolution. It did the job, but the text quality wasn’t good enough. Since then I’m thinking about what to do… buy a full blown tablet PC of Toshiba, or go for a phone/pda thingy with 640x480 VGA resolution like the MDA Pro (or one of it’s other named incarnations). I think I found my solution!!!
I’m a Microsoft development guy, so a Pocket PC based thing seems to be the best idea. But if you look at applications comming out for PPC I’m not really impressed. Maybe it’s the 320x200 screen that is used everywhere that turns me off… I worked on Linux for years, and I know that getting your system up and running the way you want it takes a while, but as a technical guy I should manage. Maybe the 770 isn’t that bad for me...
Have a look at this article to see what people think about it.
Nokia created a site http://www.maemo.org/ for developers who want to target the new 770. Already quite some info on there. Especially the RSS aggregator page is interesting: have a look at http://planet.maemo.org/.
The 770 runs on X-Windows, and there is a special widget set available for all the UI. It is called the Hildon widget set. See https://stage.maemo.org/svn/maemo/projects/tools/trunk/osso-ui-performances/ (login, password: guest, guest) to see some test code using these widgets.
There is already a huge set of applications made available to the 770. Have a look at the ApplicationCatalog at the Maemo Wiki.
Currently most development for the 770 is done in C/C++. But he, as a C# guy I don’t want to go back there, I’m getting to old for that. Enter Mono for Maemo and the Nokia 770!!
There is one thing I’m missing however: a microphone in line! How to do skype? Maybe an USB microphone can be solution?
Another thing I’m wondering: can the device run applications from RS-MMC? If this is the case it would be great to throw in a 1 GB RS-MMC card!