Symbian OS system libraries

Start-on-Boot Registration API

A common task Symbian OS developers face is to set up daemon services that run in the background waiting for or initiating events. For example you might wish to have some code execute or an application be launched at a scheduled time, or in response to receiving an inbound connection. In practice the combination of CActive and CServer classes provides the framework to create the service itself. What can be tricky, though, is ensuring that the service is running at all times, especially after the phone is rebooted. We provide here for the first time a very simple solution to this problem.

The Start-on-Boot API allows you to specify that an executable of your choice be launched and kept running indefinitely by registering it for re-launch as part of the phone's boot sequence. The implementation of the API includes checks which ensure that any malfunctioning executable introduced into the boot sequence which prevents successful reboot subsequently is automatically de-registered.

Download Start-on-boot registration API (55 Kb) updated: 16/06/2006

Support for streaming audio input

Symbian OS v7.0s provides for the first time plugin support for handling streaming audio input. This complements the media server support provided in previous OS versions for streaming audio output. The plugin allows you to write code to handle audio input through the microphone. This works under v7.0s in the context of a new multimedia framework. We provide here a plugin which extends this capability to Series 60 (v6.1) and UIQ (v7.0). The API has been written to be forward compatible with the multimedia framework in v7.0s, so code written against the APIs published below and compiled against a suitable Series 60 or UIQ SDK should in principle work even on phones based on Symbian OS v7.0s.

The files below provide the documentation, binaries and headers you need to compile against Series 60 or UIQ emulators or phones. They further provide sis files you can embed within the sis files for your Series 60 or UIQ apps, to install the plugin seamlessly onto phones as needed. This can be done by including the following line in the pkg file controlling the creation of your sis file: @"mdaaudioinputstreamplugin.sis",(0x1000562F)

Download Series 60 package (44 Kb)
Download UIQ package (305 Kb)

Support for TrueType fonts

In order for TrueType fonts to be used on a Symbian OS phone the Freetype component library (or another library providing this functionality) has first to be installed on the phone. This is part of Font/bitmap server, a common replaceable component of Symbian OS (see Symbian OS System Definition) so would normally be expected to be present on all Symbian OS phones. However, it has not been included with the Series 60 SDK (or consequently on any Series 60-based phones). Nor has it been included on the Sony Ericsson P800, although it is part of the SDK for UIQ v2.0 on which the P800 is based. To allow developers to make use of TrueType fonts on the P800, or indeed any UIQ phones based on Symbian OS v7.0, we provide here the Freetype component library in a form which can be embedded into the sis file for a 3rd party application. This can be done by including the following line in the pkg file controlling the creation of your sis file: @"FreeType.sis",(0x100012A7)

Information about how to install the ttf files is provided by Sony Ericsson. Be careful to install the ttf files in the first instance to D: rather than C: to avoid the risk of the device locking up should the fonts not be recognised successfully.

Download the Series 60/80/90 package (64Kb)
Download the UIQ 2.0/2.1 package (104Kb)

Mobinfo 3rd Party Telephony Library

There have been a number of telephony-related properties and services that many application developers have wanted to access on Symbian OS but have only been able to access with difficulty, if at all, because there was no supported public API. Mobinfo is a redistributable library which addresses this problem by providing access to the most important telephony properties and services on Symbian OS phones based on Symbian OS v7.0 onwards, through a convenient public API, offering easy access to:

IMEI, IMSI and own phone numbers
Network availability and change notification
Network and location identification
Battery and signal strength notification

This updated version 1.01 supports Symbian OS v7.0, v7.0s, 8.0a and v8.1a devices running any of the Series 60, Series 80 or UIQ user interface platforms. Note that for Symbian OS v9 onwards, the more extensive standard ETel3rdParty (CTelephony) API should be used instead.

Download the updated package (108kb)
View the updated documentation (211kb)