HP webOS Developer Blog

We recently introduced in-app purchases for webOS 3.0, giving developers an easy way to provide premium content to customers and new ways to monetize their apps.  In the first phase of our rollout, developers have been able to start creating and managing in-app purchase items, including item types, language settings and pricing.

For developers that have been busily creating in-app items – and adding a whole new dimension to their apps in the process – we’ve got great news. Now, developers can start submitting their in-app items for review, just in time for TouchPad’s big launch. For more information on in-app purchases, check out our help article.

So if you haven’t yet, get started on the webOS 3.0 SDK. It’s going to be fun to see what developers can do with webOS 3.0, the TouchPad and providing a new set of experiences for customers in their apps. Get to it!

With the upcoming release of the Pre 3 and TouchPad, we will have two new webOS devices that offer different screen sizes and resolutions than we’ve had before. While these devices will be able to scale & display current apps correctly, developers who want to take advantage of the additional screen real estate will still need to update their apps accordingly. For orientation-independent devices like the TouchPad, it’s becoming especially important to ensure applications also scale & display correctly based on device orientation. One way to obtain this result is by using the CSS3 flexible box layout model.
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It hasn’t been that long since we made the webOS 3.0 SDK available in Early Access, but webOS developers everywhere are already hard at work creating apps for the HP TouchPad.

We want to give developers all the support they need to get great apps ready in time for TouchPad’s big summer launch. So, as we speak, we’re kicking off the first in a series of developer sessions that provide in-depth, hands-on experience developing for webOS 3.0 and TouchPad hardware.

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Occasionally while developing, you get the urge to add a little personal flavor in your application. Let’s spice up one of the more under-appreciated widgets on the platform: the spinner.

Since we should be providing the user some visual feedback while waiting on a response from a service/device, many apps make use of the spinner widget. While most developers will choose to leave the spinner as-is, you may want to customize it a bit. Before making the mistake of Googling for animated gif spinners, let’s learn how we can modify the spinner widget to get unique results. Mojo’s built-in spinner widget contains properties that allows us to modify the look and behavior of the spinner. Utilizing this gives us the following benefits:

- Control over when the animation starts/stops
- Frames per second
- Lead-in/lead-out animations
- Any image format can be used
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The webOS 2.1 SDK has officially exited the Early Access program and is now available for download from the HP webOS Developer Center. Using the 2.1 SDK, you can now:

• Take advantage of unique webOS features like Just Type, Exhibition and Synergy.
• Build and distribute hybrid apps, combining HTML, JavaScript and CSS with C/C++.
• Develop webOS services in JavaScript with node.js.

Got apps for Pixi? They’ll work on the all-new HP Veer.

More good news! If you’ve created apps for the Palm Pixi, they’ll just work on the HP Veer, the next all-new webOS smartphone that’s coming just around the corner. We’re going to do a big push around this tiny marvel of a phone, so if your app isn’t already optimized for Pixi’s 320×400 display, it’s definitely worth considering. Get on the Veer wave!

The transition to webOS 3.0: Things to keep in mind

As we all make this transition to 3.0, one of the biggest questions from developers is, what should I do now?

If you’re a developer with existing webOS apps…
You can extend your reach by optimizing your app for the HP Veer and Pre³, using new and updated features in webOS 2.0 like Just Type, Exhibition and Synergy.

If you’re a developer who’s new to webOS…
Now’s the time to start planning around developing with webOS 3.0, which will power the game-changing HP TouchPad and future webOS devices. To prepare yourself:

• Join our developer program
• Once you’ve registered, get into our Early Access program by emailing pdc@palm.com.
• Get the preview of Enyo, our new development framework, to prep for the full webOS 3.0 SDK.

Once you’re part of the Early Access program, you’ll be notified as soon as the full webOS 3.0 SDK is available – which is coming very soon.

As always, stay tuned!

Greetings! A few weeks ago we announced our first non-phone product: the HP TouchPad. It’s a tablet with a stunning 1024×768 touch screen. It’s really a beauty to behold. It ships this summer, and while we don’t have a public SDK for you *just* yet, here are a few simple, but essential things to keep in mind as you design apps for a tablet-sized screen.

When you make an app for a tablet it’s similar but distinct from both a phone and a desktop computer. It really is a new kind of screen, and it requires a new user experience. You can’t just blow up a phone app to the larger screen and expect it to work well. This applies to shrinking desktop apps as well. That said, there’s a lot of simple things you can do to make your existing applications work well on multiple screen sizes.

The rest of this article will talk about the tablet form factor in general without getting into specific devices or toolkits. You can apply these principles to any tablet device.

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As we make the transition to Enyo, developers can still take advantage of Mojo, especially with the upcoming releases of the HP Veer and Pre 3. And while you’re probably very familiar with Mojo, perhaps you aren’t aware of how you can take advantage of the many existing JavaScript libraries that work seamlessly with Mojo.

The Mojo application framework includes Prototype as part of its interface and implementation. Prototype is a stand-alone JavaScript framework, similar to jQuery, YUI, MooTools, and many others. Since Prototype is baked into Mojo, this means that you can use any Prototype-based extension library, with minimal effort and minimal risk of conflicts, in your webOS apps. Let’s walk through a few examples to see how to take advantage of the vast pool of Prototype resources the web has to offer.
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This has been quite a week, with the announcement of an incredible lineup of devices in the Veer, Pre 3 and the TouchPad and a closer look at the next generation of webOS development with our new Enyo framework.

Now, I’m sure many of you are wondering where that leaves apps you’ve developed or want to develop with Mojo. In other words, what should I do now? It’s a choice only you can make, but we believe there are two great opportunities for all webOS developers.

Creating Mojo apps for exciting, all-new HP smartphones

Press and users alike are excited about the all-new Veer and Pre 3. The great news is that these new smartphones come with webOS 2.x, which support apps created in Mojo. These phones provide a huge opportunity for you to update and deliver apps for all-new webOS devices people will want and love for a long time.

To help out, we are extending our free Pre 2 program to all qualified developers. Contact us at devmarketing@palm.com to see how you can receive the latest device to test your apps.

Looking ahead, if you choose to develop new apps in Mojo, you should factor in the effort that will be required to rebuild these apps in Enyo. Rest assured, we’re going to give you the tools and resources to make this transition as smooth as possible.

HP is ready to provide the strongest marketing and distribution ever for webOS devices. We want to work with our development community to provide your apps to more customers worldwide.

Creating Enyo apps for the next generation of webOS devices

While Mojo has been the foundation for apps on current webOS devices and the upcoming Veer and Pre 3, Enyo is the future. We’re working hard to get these tools into your hands quickly, so you can start dreaming about the amazing capabilities that will power webOS 3.0 devices, starting with the HP TouchPad. You’ll be able to leverage this work for Enyo-based smartphone updates as well.

Moving forward, working with Enyo represents an enormous opportunity. HP intends to expand webOS to printers, PCs and beyond – tens of millions of devices every year, beyond smartphones and tablets.

Two great opportunities for all webOS developers

Enyo is the future of webOS development. But Mojo still provides a great opportunity for you to develop and build great apps for the Veer and Pre 3, which we’re putting huge resources behind to get them to as many users as possible.

We hope you see great opportunities developing for the webOS of today and the webOS of tomorrow. Every transition has its challenges but we intend to work hard to give you everything you need throughout this transition.

We appreciate your work, patience and support as we all move forward towards this huge opportunity!

Even with all the exciting news from this week, a lot of questions have been floating around about our plans and how they affect you and our customers. As such, we recognize that we need to do a better job communicating developments in a more timely, detailed and thoughtful way.

For now, we want to address the webOS 2.0 update in particular and what resources we’ll provide to make this transition easier for everyone.

webOS 2.0 Availability

First off, the decision not to release webOS 2.0 for the Pre and Pixi was incredibly tough, knowing that we couldn’t deliver the latest and greatest to people that supported webOS from the very beginning. But, it was a decision that had to be made and we hope our plans for the next generation of webOS will provide the best platform for everyone moving forward. Here are some additional thoughts for your reference.

Supporting the transition to webOS 2.0 and beyond

With the exciting announcement of HP’s all-new Veer, Pre 3 and game-changing TouchPad, we want to give you the resources you need to develop apps for webOS 2.0 and beyond:

• Extending our free Pre 2 program for qualified developers: Contact us at devmarketing@palm.com – we want to help you test your app on the latest devices.
• Redoubling our resources to support developers: We are actively expanding resources to help you develop for webOS, from how we handle email support via pdc@palm.com to a dedicated team that’s better equipped to help you every step of the way.
• New incentives and promotions: We’ll share more details about how we intend to reward your efforts and support of webOS.

It’s a start. We want to provide the resources you need and deserve every step of the way, whatever it takes. There’s a lot of buzz around the new webOS devices and the future of the platform, which offer a great opportunity for your apps now and in the future. HP is going to provide the strongest support and promotion webOS has ever had – and it all starts with you. Stay tuned!

When developing and pushing the limits of webOS applications, it can be helpful to know some of the boundaries you might run into. Here are a few that have come up in the past for other developers:

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