This article, with an ALLCAPS title, answers Frequently Asked Questions about the the Contactless Communication API (Java Specification Request no. 257) Reference Implementation Software Development Kit.
Learn about what it is, what you can and can't do with it, and how to work with it.What is the JSR 257 RI SDK?
A software development kit released by Nokia, only eight days after the Final Release of the Contactless Communication API, that enables software developers to write their own NFC applications in Java, without the need for an extra, proprietary SDK from Nokia.
When more NFC phones, built according to these specifications, will be produced, your NFC MIDlets will also run on these phones.
The SDK comes with a big bunch of documentation. Some very intriguing features such as Bluetooth configuration and NFC Peer communication are listed in the docs, but appear to be missing from the implementation.
I figure that Nokia already has the actual implementation for these things, but that they are still in beta testing phase, or awaiting the NFC Forum's official release.
What can I do with it?
You can write NFC MIDlets that will run on both the physical 6131 NFC phone (as soon as you get your hands on that) and on the emulator supplied with the SDK.
You can do everything that's written in the NFC Forum specs about NFC tags. You can write Plain text records, URI records, and Smart Poster records to them in order to make your environment fully touchable.
What can I not do with it?
You can't, yet, develop applications for communication between two NFC peers.
Which makes sense, since the specs haven't yet been released by the NFC Forum.
How do I work with it?
If you have developed applications with a Nokia SDK before, you'll probably have all the required software installed. If you're new to development on Nokia platforms, please take a look at the Installation Instructions document that comes with the package.
The SDK comes with precompiled sample applications that can be run in an emulator. If you want to run them on your 6131 NFC, you'll have to recompile them for physical use.
You can ofcourse edit the sample applications' text files manually and then invoke ant at build time, but I'd suggest you first import the projects into NetBeans before you start developing, which will save you a lot of time.
7 comments:
Hi Danny,
Do you know how to establish a NFC peer to peer communication with this JSR 257 ?
Do you know what are the readers compliant with the new 6131 ?
And thanks for this interesting Weblog!
It needs now some screencasts and example projects to run on the new 6131 as soon as we have it :)
Bye
Tdelazzari
University of Nice, France)
See our demos at http://mbds-dev9.unice.fr
My MSN is tdelazzari@gmail.com
Danny,
Wow Great info... May I ask your whereabouts. Are you in the states?
Thomas,
I don't know how to establish a peer to peer connection, yet. The NFC Forum hasn't provided any specs for it.
When I was going through the documentation, there were certain text parts that did not correspond to the actual specs.
For instance, the docs stated that there would be Bluetooth support, and as you so rightly asked, NFC_PEER mode support.
Since the documentation has already been written, this tells me Nokia already has a beta version undergoing testing right now, and is waiting for the NFC Forum to release the final specs before they release their SDK.
Brandon, (anonymous)
I can't disclose too much of my whereabouts on this blog, but you might be interested in contacting me by mail:
Email link
Hello Sir,
Very much enjoyed the Blog.
When will the JSR 257 been finalized by Sun and agreed upon by NFC Forum? Your blog implies that the other handset makers will incorporate NFC into their phones using this generic software? Have any other handset makers been successful in this regard to date, or does Nokia hold a monopoly on NFC phones?
Sir,
First, the NFC Forum will have to bring out their final specs.
Then, the JSR 257 implementation can be made complete.
Nokia does not hold a monopoly on NFC phones, since the Samsung SGH-X700 is also an NFC-enabled handset. However, Nokia seems to be the most active member of the NFC forum, and has even created its own Peer-to-Peer standard (called NTIP) when the official NFC Forum specs weren't released yet.
And Jaana Majakangas, the author of JSR 257, appears courtesy of Nokia Corporation.
But as of yet, the 6131 NFC is the only mobile phone that has implemented JSR 257. Indeed, I expect other phone manufacturers (that are also part of the NFC Forum) to start creating different NFC phones that can all run the same Java software without it having need to be recompiled.
I believe that last aspect is vital for worldwide NFC development to finally become a reality.
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