Development

This page provides a very shallow scratch on the surface of the development infrastructure. Readers interested in the subject are suggested to browse the initial few chapters in the developer library to further familiarise themselves.

The recommended software development kit is the Qt SDK. It includes support for targeting MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan devices. The Qt SDK also enables targeting desktop environments as well as other mobile platforms. The SDK is available for popular operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), and available for download.

Developing with Qt

The application programming interfaces of the platform are available within the SDK. Some of the interfaces are platform-specific, whereas others are cross-platform. Most of the Qt interfaces fall into the latter category. The API is described in the developer library - available both within the Harmattan target in the SDK, as well as online.

Most of the application design elements detailed in this documentation are available as Qt Quick components. Thus, the recommended implementation of the user interface of an application is done with the QML language. Application logic is usually implemented with C++, but some applications can be implemented entirely with QML.

The developer library provides a short introduction to application development. It starts by describing steps needed to connect the device and the development tools, and concludes with the installation of a small application on the device.