This tool is part of the Streamezzo software suite together with Streamezzo Rich Media Client and Streamezzo Rich Media Server.

Workbench Developer is a fully equipped Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to develop Rich Media Applications. It comes with

• A set of tools that handles and abstracts the differences between devices (e.g., form factors, screen sizes, capabilities),
• Components which are reusable and configurable pieces of Rich Media content that can be used to include features (User Interface elements, animations...) in the Application with little or few coding,
• Emulation features to check the Application execution prior to any installation on devices,
• And deployment wizards to make the Application available for others.

Thanks to Rich Media Server, the management of the Application deployments and its updates has never been easier. The Application can be connected to any data Back-End or third party servers. Updating the Application only requires publishing another Rich Media content on the corresponding Rich Media Server.
In this article, we will go through all key aspects of Workbench Developer:

• Discover Workbench Developer
  • Code edition: what are the main coding concepts and related edition facilities
  • Adaptation: how to develop a single code for addressing any device
  • Components: how to reuse predefined and customizable pieces of code
  • Emulation: how to check the Applications prior to testing them on devices
  • Deployment: how to make the Application available for others
• Start with Workbench Developer
  • Prerequisites: what are the tool requirements
  • Installation: how to install the tool

Discover Workbench Developer

Code editing

Workbench Developer relies on a Rich Media language named as RSP, standing for Rich Media Streamezzo Pages. A Rich Media Streamezzo Page can be compared in some extent to Java Server Pages (JSP). It contains the following elements:

• XML syntax to define the Rich Media content. It can be compared to the HTML part of a JSP;
• InstantScript statements - executed at runtime on the device - are Java-based code that can be compared to the JavaScript part of a JSP.
• Java statements - executed at runtime - can be compared to Java statements in a JSP.

 

Workbench Developer comes with a full RSP Code Editor. It includes code highlighting, formatting and coloring features. It provides assistance in coding with contextual completion and validation, inspectors to ensure efficient and reliable designs, and context help for providing a complete knowledge database to the developers whilst coding. It is also possible to extend the editor's possibilities by creating custom RSP templates.

 

Adaptation

Workbench Developer comes with a dedicated Adaptation Framework that makes mobile application adaptation to devices as easy as possible. The Adaptation Framework will deal with various screen sizes, different input modes (keypad / touchscreen, joysticks, ...), and specific capabilities or resources limitations.

The Adaptation Framework is based on a set of XML files describing the Application layouts and appearances, and defined the adaptation rules that needs to be executed on each device. Visual tools help the developer to design such adaptation rules:

• Layout preview: It is a specific View that renders in real time the arrangement of graphical elements.
• Layouts sheet: It displays the whole Application layout with different screen size ratios.
• Skins sheet: it displays all Application graphical assets sorted by themes.

Components

The Components provided by Streamezzo are reusable, customizable and robust pieces of code that make the Rich Media Applications development easier.
Dozens of components are already embedded within Workbench Developer:

• Lists and scrolls
• Grids
• Carousels
• Inputs and forms
• Audio and video
• Buttons and dialogs
• Progress bars and loaders
• Animations
• ...

These Components have been designed in order to fully benefit from the Adaptation Framework. As consequence when including a Component, the developer is certified that the Component will handle the main form factor and capabilities of each mobile device. Each Component is coming with a description sheet that provides specifications, documentation, best practices and previews.

 

Emulation

One of the key features provided by Workbench Developer is the capability to run and check a Rich Media Application prior to any installation on a mobile device. The embedded emulator reproduces as close-to-real as possible the behavior of the Rich Media Application whenever it is deployed and executed on a real mobile device.
In order to simulate some specific scenarios the following emulation parameters are available:

• Device characteristics (screen size...) that will be used to profile the emulation
• Network bandwidth to simulate different data transfer rates of the mobile network
• Adjustable framerate to simulate device limitations in terms of performance
• Screen orientation management to check how the Application adapts in portrait or landscape displays.

In addition, Workbench Developer provides a complete debugging system that helps the developer solving execution issues and optimizing the Application.
The debugging system comes with the following features:

• Logs of what happens on the device and on the server while processing Rich Media content.
• Snapshots of the Rich Media Application state (also called Scene Graph) can be dumped and compared at any time during emulation
• Application Cache management can be shown in real time with statistics
• Interactions of the Application with the Device Capabilities (such as contact book data...) can be emulated as well

 

Deployment

Deploying one Rich Media Application on mobile devices is done using a set of dedicated wizards.
A Rich Media Application designed with Workbench Developer is composed of 2 packages: an installer that needs to be executed on the device to install the Application and a server package that enables the Application to get connected to third party servers or data back-ends.
To deploy a Rich Media Application on mobile devices the following steps have to be followed:

1. Upload the server package of the Rich Media Application on the Rich Media Server (the archive to upload on the Rich Media Server is referred as Server Package).
2. Creation of the mobile device installers (hereafter referred as Client Package).

A Device Package defines a device runtime, specific characteristics and supported features. A Device Package enables the Rich Media Application to be executed with the right adaptation rules on a corresponding device.
Workbench Developer comes with a predefined set of Device Packages. This set can be updated and enriched by downloading new ones from the Streamezzo Device Packages Repository.

The Server Package, published on a Rich Media Server instance, allows the developer designing a dynamic, scalable and upgradable Application.
Adding extra features to next versions of the Application and/or supporting additional devices can be performed smoothly by modifying the Server Package and by using the Rich Media Server features. These can be performed without altering the end-user experience, especially because no new installation is required on the mobile device. As a result, by deploying Rich Media Applications with Workbench Developer mobile developers can fulfill the following objectives:

• Target a lightweight footprint on mobile devices
• Reduce to the minimum the computation and memory application requirements since part of the computation is done on the server side
• Create updatable or upgradable mobile applications with no need for the end-users to re-install it on the device
• Leverage on the Rich Media Server capabilities to obtain highly adaptable Application that can run on a large range of devices without

Workbench Developer enables creating application installers (Client Packages) for a wide range of devices: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry^TM, Windows® Mobile, Symbian®, Java/J2ME and BREW.

Start with Workbench Developer

To install Streamezzo Workbench Developer, you must have administrative privileges. You must also have administrative privileges to remove or uninstall any edition of Streamezzo Workbench Developer.

Installing Streamezzo Workbench Developer is an automated process.

Streamezzo Workbench Developer must be activated prior to use and you need your serial number to activate either edition.

System Requirements

The following are the system requirements for running Workbench Developer

• Intel® Pentium® 4 processor
• 1GB of RAM recommended
• 600MB of available hard-disk space to install
• Java™ Development Kit: Sun™ JDK 1.5 / 1.6

Streamezzo Workbench Developer has been tested on:

• Windows® XP with Service Pack 2.

The following Microsoft Windows versions can be used, but Streamezzo does not guarantee correct behavior of the application:

• Windows Seven
• Windows Vista
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Professional
• Windows Server® 2003

To install Streamezzo Workbench Developer

1. Before installing, close any other Workbench Developer running applications.
2. Double-click the setup file and follow the instructions on the screen.
3. When the installation is complete, follow the instructions to enter your serial number and activate Streamezzo Workbench Developer.

Legal

Please refer to the following site http://www.streamezzo.com/products-legal.htm for any information about licensing and copyrights. You shall read this information before using the Streamezzo Software.