Picasa Viewer example application demonstrates the use of the cross-platform development library, Tantalum 5. The application features images from the Picasa web gallery and allows the user to search for specific images from the service. Furthermore, the example application demonstrates adaptive design, performance, JSON parsing, advanced caching and cross-platform techniques in Java applications.

The version 1.0 was implemented so that both Nokia Asha and Android versions used the same common engine code. The user interface (UI) layer was implemented separately: Nokia Asha used LCDUI and Android used the Android UI library.

This example application is hosted in GitHub: https://github.com/nokia-developer/picasa-viewer

For more information on the implementation, visit Java Developer's Library: http://developer.nokia.com/Resources/Library/Java/#!code-examples/web-services-picasaviewer.html

• First port of the application to Nokia Asha software platform 1.0
• Used Tantalum version updated to Tantalum5

1. Usage

The application displays a grid of images downloaded from Picasa. The user can tap an image to display it in full screen. The full screen view also shows the image title and the author of the image. The full screen view can be dismissed by tapping the screen or by selecting back.

By default the application displays Picasa featured images. In Category Bar (Nokia Asha software platfomr and Series 40) or Menu (Android) there's an option to search images. When user types the search terms the displayed images are refreshed on fly. An efficient cache is utilised to restore the previously downloaded images.

2. Prerequisites

• Java ME basics
• Android basics (version 1.0 only)

3. Important files and classes

• PicasaViewer.java: The MIDlet main class

• PicasaImageObject.java: Class for storing information about a Picasa image
• PicasaStorage.java: Class for accessing cached data like thumbnails, images and feeds

• DetailCanvas.java : Class for displaying full screen image with details
• FeaturedCanvas.java: Class for displaying a grid of Picasa featured images
• SearchCanvas.java : Class for displaying Picasa search dialog and search results

• ViewManager.java: Manages the view stack and navigation

4. Compatibility

• Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 and later
• Tested to work on Nokia Asha 501
• Developed with Nokia Asha SDK 1.1

• Tantalum5 does not seem to handle numerous concurrent web requests well
• The behavior of the spinner is sometimes erratic
• The text in the custom search bar is not visible on Series 40
• The navigation model brakes sometimes; exits the application with back key when in the details view

• Series 40 touch platforms with CLDC 1.1 and MIDP 2.0
• Android API level 14 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Tested to work on the Nokia Asha 311, Nokia Asha 303, and Nokia X3-02
• Developed with NetBeans 7.0.1 and Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java

• The Tantalum4 Series 40 image scaling has some minor glitches seen in bottom of the scaled images

5. Building, installing, and running the application

Check that you have Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 or later installed. Import the project to your IDE and make sure you have either TantalumJME.jar or TantalumJME-debug.jar added to Java Build Path and exported. The libraries can be found from lib folder.

You cannot install the application on the device with the IDE, but you can package the application: After you have imported the project, locate the Application Descriptor in the Package Explorer window and open it. Open the Overview tab (by default it is the first tab on the left) and click Create package. Select the destination directory and click Finish.

Connect the phone to the computer with USB cable or Bluetooth. Locate the application binary (.jar file). Copy the file to your phone, locate it and tap to install. With Series 40 phone you can install the file using Nokia Suite: Drag the file from the file explorer on top of the connected phone image in the Nokia Suite window.

After the application is installed, locate the application icon from the application menu and launch the application by selecting the icon.

6. Licence

See the licence text file delivered with this project. The licence file is also available online at https://github.com/nokia-developer/picasa-viewer/blob/master/Licence.txt

8. Related documentation

• Nokia Asha SDK: http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Java/Tools/
• The Tantalum API is open source and freely available in https://github.com/TantalumMobile/Tantalum

9. Version history

• 1.1 Ported to Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 and Tantlum5 taken in use
• 1.0 Initial release