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I have a Java application that runs on BlackBerry (JDE 4.5). I want to port this application to Android, and be able to maintain the 2 applications simultaneously. I may also want to port this application to other Java platforms (J2ME ?).

I understand that a good part of the code will have to be specific to each platform (UI and other stuff). But I also feel that a lot of the code could (should) be shared (domain related classes).

What is the best way to achieve this, and what are the pitfalls to avoid?

I have been able so far to create a JAR with all my shared classes, that I have been able to integrate into my BlackBerry application (using preverify and rapc). But:

bharath
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Mac
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  • I used LWUIT framework for developing j2me application. And i could easily use this application into Android and Blackberry with some changes. – bharath Mar 07 '11 at 09:59

5 Answers5

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This is likely to be difficult:

  • As you have already identified, the UI code will have to be different for each platform.
  • There are major differences between Java SE / Android and Java ME-based platforms. For example, ME doesn't have the Collections framework, or the java.io or java.nio stacks.

It is hard to predict from the information you've provided, but there's a fair chance that you'll spend more time fighting the platform dependencies than you are saving by sharing the code-base.

Stephen C
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Rather than prepackage your shared library, I would consider sharing the library project and having it as a dependency in your mobile applications' build process. That would allow you to share the code base, but have it built by the appropriate builders for your target devices. With a bit of IDE magic and some attention to detail, you should be able to pick up errors before anything is shipped out.

Alternatively, set up your library project to use two separate builders to pick up errors. That would allow cleaner distribution, but you may run into problems trying to convince your IDE to treat the project as being device specific in order to identify problem areas.

It would be likely that you would end up supporting the lowest common denominator device (cough Blackberry), and forgoing the additional facilities of the more extensive Java implementation on Android.

Unfortunately the answer will be one of experimentation. Try it and see what happens.

AndyT
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These days, the biggest stumbling block to sharing code this way is that the BlackBerry VM and Android VM both support different versions of the Java language. BlackBerry uses a subset of Java 1.3, Android uses a subset of Java 1.5. (As an aside, neither platform implements a Java VM, both use their own VMs. Java is used as the programming language. Java bytecodes must be transformed to the appropriate native VM format before they can run on the platform.)

The biggest difference you will find as a library implementor is that the BlackBerry lacks the things that were introduced in 1.5, very important things like generics and enums. Even worse, the Collections classes are missing from the BlackBerry. It is unfortunate, but that is the way it has been for a long time now.

This means that to be truly portable you have to write to the lowest-common denominator, which means using (very) old-style classes like Hashtable and Vector, not having generics, rolling your own enums (as in the 1st edition of Effective Java) and so on.

Or you build two libraries, a modern version for Android and a stripped-down version (with just the bare stuff you need) for the BlackBerry.

Hard to say what`s right for you.

Eric Giguere
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The article Porting Android code to BlackBerry has some good detail on how to work with code shared between the two platforms.

Scott W
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it will be very difficult to create shared library for blackberry and android. if you want simple method, create your application as web app. using

phonegap with jQtouch

Vivart
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