[News.eclipse.dsdp.mtj] Re: Preprocess BlackBerry Code

[wawa321@xxxxxxx (wandi)]

Hello David,

thank you for your answer. My previous post was not meant to sound like a 
complaint. I do not say that the preprocessor does not work in the way it 
should. I simply suggest this as a feature for compatibility and 
flexibility.

Your example is quite extreme but I think I understand the point: using 
different tools together that were not built to be used together should be 
avoided where possible.

I would like to give you a short explanation of why the challenges of 
developing BlackBerry software represent a special case: the source code 
is written in Java, but the file that is installed on the device is not a 
JAD/JAR pair but a so called COD file. This file can only be built with 
the original compiler. The bb-ant-tools work perfectly within the Eclipse 
environment to connect with the BlackBerry tools.

If I were to follow the rule to not use tools together that are not meant 
be used together I would have to stop using Eclipse and switch to the 
BlackBerry JDE. This piece of legacy software is on the level of IDEs of 
the early 90s, which makes writing code a terrible experience. Research in 
Motion (RIM) has released an Eclipse plug-in by the end of last year, 
which does not work properly. This tool produces some random 
preverification errors when the application is started on the device, if 
the COD file exceeds a certain size.

So for a developer who wishes to create complex (large COD) software for 
BlackBerry there is no real choice to use other tools. Of course I hope 
that RIM will soon provide their long promised tools for Pulsar/MTJ. 
Unfortunately, when I look at how thing went in the past I am not very 
confident.

I think the point is, whether the MTJ team decides to support this special 
case of BlackBerry development or to leave this problem to RIM. Of course, 
this probably cannot be the decision of a single developer but is a 
strategic decision.  I just point out that the solution might be a snip of 
a finger away. 

If you think this post does not fit into the MTJ newsgroup, could you 
please tell me a newsgroup or forum, which is more adequat? I have posted 
this here because my suggestion concerns the MTJ preprocessor.

With my best greetings, Wandi