Mailing List All Set
I just got finished setting up a mailing list for our group. To subscribe head over to the mailing list page. This list should be used for asking questions related to Palm WebOS Development only.
I want to note that you can join this mailing list even if you are not local to the Boston area. This list was setup to help the community. If you have a question feel free to subscribe to the list and ask all of the other members.
Directions to the BPL for… Sept. 28th Meeting
Wheelchair accessible - yes.
Take the 'T' to your choice of:
- Back Bay Station on Orange Line - is usually a nicer ride and reliable, but two blocks away (very short distance.)
- Copley Station on Green Line - is across the street but the green line is older, can run slow at times.
Mark Your Calendars… Sept. 28th Meeting
When we first started the WebOS Boston user group we did not know that Michael Prenez-Isbell had also started to organize a group. We are going to be holding a combined user group meeting on September 28th at the Boston Public Library. The meeting will be held from 7pm - 9pm and will be held in the Mezzanine Conference Room. You can find out more about Michael's meeting by visiting the MeetUp page.
Tim has kindly posted the directions to the Boston Public Library and explains how to find the room.
The speaker at the meeting will be...
ERIC MARTHINSEN of Agile Commerce who happens to be local to the Boston area! Eric and his team created FLIGHTVIEW, an airplane flight status tracker downloadable from the App Catalog! Eric will be giving us an overview of his experience creating the App and getting it into the App Catalog; a demo of FlightView; and a discussion of the challenges facing a JavaScript webpage developer transitioning to webOS and Mojo.
Here is a Mojo Discussion featuring Eric.
WebOS Boston on IRC
If you would like to talk with us you will be able to find us on the FreeNode IRC Network. Drop by to say hello or to discuss the projects that you have in the works. Need help come see if we can provide an answer to your questions.
First Meeting Scheduled for Sept. 8th
Our FIRST MEETING has been scheduled for Sept. 8th from 4:30PM - 7PM at Kendall/ MIT on the Red Line - there is parking too. You are not going to want to miss this meeting, Eric Marthinsen will be speaking! If you plan to attend we ask that you RSVP for the evet so that we may gauge whether or not we will need a larger room.
Eric Marthinsen lead the project team that developed the FlightView application which launched as one of the inaugural applications in the Palm App Catalog. Since its launch, the FlightView application has gone on to become one of the most downloaded and best-rated applications for the Pre.
Eric's company, Agile Commerce, is one of the first firms to specialize in webOS app development. We're excited to have him come!
Eric is a software architect with over 12 years of experience developing scalable infrastructures for start-ups. He participates in all aspects of the project, including setting the vision and technical strategy, implementation, and operational integration. He has worked for companies like SmartPak Equine (online retail), Daily Grommet (community commerce), EthoSafe (content collection and analysis), and ElderCareLink (metadata and search). Prior to Agile Commerce, Eric was the Director of IT for Pile and Company (consulting), Agency Compile (online directory), and 4CDs (online retail). Eric holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Bucknell University.
Here is a Mojo Discussion featuring Eric.
WHAT TOPIC? Vote BELOW!.
Tutorial Suggestions…
What would you guys like to see in the next tutorial? I am open to ideas. I want to be able to teach people the correct methods for WebOS Development and do not want to start writing stuff if people are not going to find it beneficial.
A Basic WebOS Application and the Depot
A lot of people are trying to understand how to write applications for WebOS so I figured the very first tutorial I would create for this site would be a simple walk-through of creating a very basic application. I am going to go a bit deeper than just a basic application like they cover in the Hello World example. The application created in this walk-through will explain the concepts behind creating a basic application, explaining what each part is and why you have to do it that way. I will also introduce the Depot in this walk-through. Are you ready?
The Tools I Use
Everyone will have their own set of tools that they use and they do not have to be the same as mine, however please note that I am not going to give the terminal commands for pushing the app to the emulator etc. My tools do that all for me and allow me to focus on developing my application.
The very first thing you should install is the Palm Developer SDK which you can get from the Palm Developer Website. For my Editor I use Komodo IDE with the very nice add-on that Templarian has created. If you do not have a license for Komodo IDE you can use the free version of Komodo Edit. You can download the add-on on Templarian's website and installing is as easy as dragging and dropping on your editor window. The last thing I use is a file that you import into your editor that provides code completion for your editor. You can download this file here. Please note that you want to click the Download link and download the rawmojo.zip file. Installation instructions can be found on the same page. You can ignore the tool-kit as the tool-kit is the ancestor of the add-on.
Once you have these things installed you are all ready to start developing your first WebOS application.
Tutorials
I will be writing tutorials on creating applications for WebOS and posting them on this site. If you would be interested in helping to write tutorials for the user group. Please contact us to let us know by using the contact page.
First Meeting Coming Soon
We have been collaborating with each other trying to set the first date for a meeting. We have already secured a speaker for the meeting and are working on securing a conference room. More information will be posted soon so keep your eyes on the blog. We have also setup a new twitter account so make sure you start following us.