Publishing apps in BlackBerry World

Publishing Applications in the BlackBerry world

This pages provides a quick run through the key topics which an application developer should pay attention to when switching from development mode into the released mode and preparing the application for publishing in BlackBerry World.

This article is a supplementary summary provided in addition to the following articles:

• "Getting Started":https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/blackberryworld/getting_started_preparing_your_app_for_blackberry_world.html
• "FAQ for developers about BlackBerry World":https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/blackberryworld/faq.html
• "UI guidelines for BlackBerry 10":https://developer.blackberry.com/design/bb10/

Key meta information entries in the BAR application descriptor file

The template of the

bar-descriptor.xml<code> file has dummy entries for many fields not relevant on the first steps in application development. You have to provide correct information before distributing the app for testing and submitting it for selling.

A good overview of the of all important fields is available in "this article":https://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/core/com.qnx.doc.ide.userguide/topic/capabilities_editor_options_base.html. The below sections cover essentials only

=== Author name ===

Make sure that these fields match the ones you set in the Developer Certificate and in the debug token :
<code>
<author>Name Surname</author>
<authorId>Your ID from debug token</authorId>

You can use either Qt Creator or the Momentics IDE to read this data from a debug token. You can also look it up in the MANIFEST.MF in debug token BAR file. If those fields do not match you will not be able to deploy a signed application to a device.

Versions

• Make sure the "version number":https://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/core/com.qnx.doc.native_sdk.devguide/topic/r_barfile_dtd_ref_versionnumber.html of your application is correct. Be aware that this number should match the information you supply to BlackBerry World

• Supported platforms, see "this":https://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/core/com.qnx.doc.native_sdk.devguide/topic/r_barfile_dtd_ref_platformversion.html article.

Application icon

The "application icon for BlackBerry 10":https://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/core/com.qnx.doc.native_sdk.devguide/topic/r_barfile_dtd_ref_icon.html should be 114x114 pixels in PNG format.

Splash screens

A splash screen is shown just after the user taps on the application icon and kept on the screen all time before the application starts rendering on the screen. It is a good idea to define an image which should be shown as splash screen to improve the user experience. See "this article":https://developer.blackberry.com/native/documentation/core/com.qnx.doc.native_sdk.devguide/topic/r_barfile_dtd_ref_splashscreens.html for more details.

Signing the application package

You can use the blackberry-signer tool from the command line:

blackberry-signer -storepass <certificate_password> -cskpass <BB_ID_token_password> <output_bar_file.bar>

where <certificate_password> is the password you set while creating your developer certificate (stored in the author.p12 file in the keys folder), and <BB_ID_token_password> is the password you set when you generated the BlackBerry ID token (stored in the bbidtoken.csk file in the keys folder)

Publishing to BlackBerry World

This process is not different for Qt applications than for any other applications. See the following articles:

• "Setting up your app in BlackBerry World ":https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/blackberryworld/preparing_your_app_for_blackberry_world.html and all articles in this section
• "Uploading your release and adding digital goods":https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/blackberryworld/preparing_an_app_release.html and all articles in this section