Python Framework for Symbian Series 60 phones

Today has been quite productive. I've searched in the poor documentation of the XML module we are using on the phone the methods we need for parsing a complete file. The result is quite satisfying. The XML module takes a little while to be loaded but after result is very fast.

So, we have a new method MParser inheriting from ElementTree added to MobiliiPuntariAPI.xml package able to:

• parse from url (fromurl())
• parse from file (fromfile())
• parse from string (fromstring())
• convert a tree object to a string (tostring())

Maybe an error handler could be added later if new issues are found. Tomorrow, I'll add the possibility to pass a callback method to extract and return only the information needed to a dictionary format.

Dear journal :)

After fighting 3 days with the XML libraries I found a solution. It uses cElementtree like previously mentioned. SIS package is available for versions up to S60 2nd edition. Read this thread for more info http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90292.
Download SIS package is here. Or what I advice is to download the project package because it includes sources and different libraries used on the emulator.

To install cElementTree on the emulator (S60 2nd edition):

• unzip cElementTree-pys60-v1.0.5.zip
• copy binaries\wins\udeb\CELEMENTTREE.PYD to C:\Symbian\8.0a\S60_2nd_FP2\epoc32\release\wins\udeb\z\system\Libs
• copy "elementtree" folder to to C:\Symbian\8.0a\S60_2nd_FP2\epoc32\release\wins\udeb\z\system\Libs
• then test the installation with a little script like:

import cElementTree as et
e=et.fromstring("<hello>world</hello>")
print e.tag, e.text

• you should get:

...
Version 1.3.1 final
hello world

There is an *untested* alpha release for S60 3rd edition:

• Installation for 3rd ed: http://ssalmine.googlepages.com/pys6....20060925.sisx
• Source for 3rd ed: https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/...enttree/trunk/

I'm having a really bad suprise: NOKIA team kind of forgot to include XML utilities in PyS60 :'( So I've been through painfull researches and I found the following solutions:

• it is possible to install xmlproc. Advantage: pure python integration so 100% protable. Problem: because it is a pure python integration it will requires a lot of memory and will be very slow. I'm even scared to exceed the memory and freeze the phone. Second problem: I have difficulties to install it on the interpreter, there is no installtion package for the phone. So it makes difficult to port on the phone until I don't find a way to make it work if no other appropriate solution is found.

• second solution is to install pyexat that use a well known Expat C library (home page). Advantages: works like a dream until S60 2nd edition. Problem: no distribution for emulator which means debuggin everything on the phone and not compatible S60 3rd edition.

• one track: one guy from NOKIA Forum has ported http://effbot.org/zone/celementtree.htm to 3rd edition and try to release it soon. Questions: is there any built version for phone and emulator up to S60 2nd edition? I'm waiting for an answer but it seams that it would be the best solution to my eyes...

So i'm searching for a solution which could be portable to S60 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition but is it even possible???

I've been through difficulties to configure the sdk in order to have one compatible for Carbide and VS at the same time.
To list the divices and show the default one, in a command prompt type:

C:\>devices

To change the default device, in a command prompt type:

C:\>devices -setdefault @S60_2nd_FP2:com.nokia.Series60

Today we almost finished porting the SHA256 module for the phone. It consists in creating a polymorphic dll which as a .pyd extention. I'll put the source available as soon as it's finished.

Following the last meeting, I did some modifications to the documentation. It has now a tree view to make the navigation and a search engine. A compiled HTML version of the doc is also available now.

Last Friday I started with Jouni to look at the SHA-256 C source to port it to the phone. I had the wrong SDK installed on the desktop machine and Visual Studio was missing. So I installed the proper SDK, Visual Studio, Carbide .vs. I will be now able to compile a project.

I need now to finish declaring the Symbian project properly and try to compile it for the phone.

This meeting as highlighted the current state of the thesis work. According to the advices given, the following modifications were made:

• The HTML documentation uses now frames and tree navigation. Documentation has been updated and shared. A complied HTML doc is also available for download
• The project schedule is updated with the current state

Nothing else for now.

MobiiliPuntariAPI:

• version 0.2 - 10 January 2007 (compiled help)
• version 0.1 - 14 September 2006 (compiled help)

lfdm:

• version 0.2 - 05 January 2007 (Open source: ONLY UI shared to the public - compiled help in the download section)

Several question and unclear point were left at the end of our last meeting.

• We treated about differences and compatibility issues between Symbian version and API. You can find below a list of susceptible compatible NOKIA phones for our framework
  
  S60 2nd Ed phone supposed to be compatible with the python framework:
  
  

  Model	Feature Pack	O.S
  N70	fp3	8.1a
  N72	fp3	8.1a
  N90	fp3	8.1a
  6630	fp2	8.0a
  6680	fp2	8.0a
  6681	fp2	8.0a
  6682	fp2	8.0a
  3230	fp1	7.0s
  6260	fp1	7.0s
  6600	fp1	7.0s
  6620	fp1	7.0s
  6670	fp1	7.0s
  7610	fp1	7.0s

  
  Depending on the new API pdf, the new version of the Python interpreter (1.3.1) seems to have fixed Symbian 1st edition camera module compatibility, but it needs to be verified. If verified, the following phones would be added to the list of compatible NOKIA phone:
  
  S60 1st Ed phone supposed to be compatible with the python framework:
  
  

  Model	Feature Pack	O.S
  3600	nc	6.1
  3620	nc	6.1
  3650	nc	6.1
  3660	nc	6.1
  7650	nc	6.1

  
  3rd edition phones are excluded for now until we don’t get enough information about compatibility issues due to the new security level on the phone. Also the python interpreter for 3rd editions (1.3.8) is only a BETA releases. A stable release is expected for the autumn with updated documentation.

• UML for Python:
  
  After long research on the net, it comes to the conclusion that it is not yet possible to generate Python code skeleton from UML charts. The only interesting software found is Gaphor (http://gaphor.sourceforge.net) which has a code reverse engineer plug-in for Python code. This software has been developed for GNOME, at first, but is now ported to windows. I’m testing it now.

• UML for the thesis work:
  
  Since we don’t have any tools for generating skeleton, the UML in the analyze part will be only about drawing UML chart.

• Carbide & Python:
  
  So far, there is no way to create Symbian projects under Carbide for PyS60. Nether, there is no success for packaging PyS60 application. I keep those results under reserve. Carbide C++ being on top of Eclipse, any twisting with the SDK is possible and anybody could publish a plugin or extension on that way.

A software framework is a reusable design for a software system (or subsystem). This is expressed as a set of abstract classes and the way their instances collaborate for a specific type of software (Johnson and Foote 1988; Deutsch 1989). All software frameworks are object-oriented designs. Although designs don't have to be implemented in an object-oriented language, they usually are.

According to Pree (1994), software frameworks consist of frozen spots and hot spots. On the one hand, frozen spots define the overall architecture of a software system, that is to say its basic components and the relationships between them. These remain unchanged (frozen) in any instantiation of the application framework. On the other hand, hot spots represent those parts where the programmers using the framework add their own code to add the functionality specific to their own project.

Software frameworks define the places in the architecture where adaptations for specific functionality should be made - the hot spots. In an object-oriented environment, a framework consists of abstract and concrete classes. Instantiation of such a framework consists of composing and subclassing the existing classes (Buschmann 1996).

When developing a concrete software system with a software framework, the hot spots are specialized according to the specific needs and requirements of the system. Software frameworks rely on the Hollywood Principle: "Don’t call us, we’ll call you." (Larman 2002). This means that the user-defined classes (for example, new subclasses), receive messages from the predefined framework classes. These are usually handled by implementing superclass abstract methods.

The challenge for this final thesis is to implement those notions of software framework in an embedded system such as a phone running on Symbian OS series 60. The choice of Python scripting language is the main concern for this framework. In order to meet the final thesis attempt, the framework will be evaluated and compared to similar Java client implementation. This will define the operability and interest on commercial projects.

The work will be divided in five parts: learning part, system analyse, coding, testing and then documenting. The learning part will treat the phone architecture, the analysing tools and method, the testing tools and methods. The analysing part consists in drawing a UML2 representation of the framework and defining the structure, hot and cold spots, agents and relationships. Then, the coding part concentrate in coding the UML2 analyse in Python scripting language. The testing part will insure that the software meets the specifications. Finally, the documentation will be made since the beginning of the thesis period.

  Click to enlarge
 Project file

Current State (2006-09-16)

Project Start Date: Tue 13/06/06
Project Finish Date: Fri 08/12/06

Today I have installed and configured quickly a website to keep my engineering journal and the members of the team informed of the thesis work state. Also source code and documentation are available for members of the team.