If you’re working with Flash Lite BREW, you are probably already aware of the “AppLoader” (BREW Application Loader) that is provided for authorized BREW developers.

What is the BREW AppLoader? As you might imagine by the name … this piece of software allows you to connect to your BREW devices and load your Flash Lite for BREW content onto it (think of it like PCSuite, only just for file transfer).

Thus, with this tool, you can load your MOD, MIF and SIG (which make up your Flash Lite application for the BREW platform) for further on-device testing once tested in the BREW Simulator (part of the BREW SDK) and Device Central.

On my desktop PC, under Windows XP, the AppLoader has typically worked fine … but on my MacBook, the AppLoader has always been a bit “flakey” (meaning it is not as stable or robust a piece of software as one would like) … even when running under my Windows XP partition from BootCamp.

This brings me to the tip of the day!

Using BitPim to transfer files:
For those of you who either having trouble with AppLoader, there is a freeware alternative you should be aware of called: BitPim, that allows you to transfer your files from desktop to device.

Here is what it does in a nutshell:

BitPim is a program that allows you to view and manipulate data on many CDMA phones from LG, Samsung, Sanyo, and other manufacturers. This includes the PhoneBook, Calendar, WallPapers, RingTones (functionality varies by phone), and the Filesystem for most Qualcomm CDMA chipset based phones. To see when phones will be supported, which ones are already supported and which features are supported, see online help.

BitPim is open source, and runs on many different platforms, including both Windows and Mac (and there is even a Linux port).

I’ve been using this tool to much success, and although not perfect, it is quite good for transferring content files between your desktop and your handset. It also allows you to hack many other aspects of your CDMA enabled device (careful there, though!).

If you find the AppLoader less the satisfactory for your needs on the BREW platform, you should add this piece of software to your Flash Lite mobile workflow.

You can download BitPim directly from SourceForge.

On a related note, Keith Peters was asking on how to get content down and run on an LG Chocloate. There is a pretty handy doc that lays all this out (see below in order to know how to access the PDF).

All in all, with the BREW platform there is quite a bit to know in terms of deploy and testing … here is more info:

Developing Flash Lite Applications for BREW PDF:
Many people are not aware of the PDF documentation that gets installed when you download the BREW Publisher for Flash Lite (which adds the post processor into the publish settings of Flash CS3).

The document is called: “Developing Flash Lite Applications for BREW”, and it has a lot of info to bring you to speed on the BREW platform. Here are some of the contents of it:

Chapter 1: Overview: Creating Applications for BREW
Chapter 2: Setting Up your System for BREW
Chapter 3: Authoring Flash Lite for BREW
Chapter 4: Publishing Flash Lite Files for BREW
Chapter 5: Upload Files to BREW devices

It is a required read, if you are working with Flash Lite on the BREW platform!

To get it, simply click on the “Help” button in the BREW Publisher Wizard.

Alternatively, you can also locate (after installing the BREW post processor) under:

\Documents and Settings\username\

and then:

Local Settings\Application Data\

and then:

\Adobe\Flash CS3\en\Configuration\Post Processor

and finally open:

FlashLite_2_1_for_brew.pdf (seen below)

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Flash Lite, Flash Lite 2.1, Flash Lite Friday, Flash Lite Tip of the Week, Flash Lite for BREW, Flash Mobile, Flash Mobile Developer, Mobile, OSX, Qualcomm, Tip of the Day, Verizon, flashlite. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.