ICS 413 Application Development for Mobile Devices (3 Credits Elective) Course Duration: One hour for teaching and Six hours for practical within a week for a period of 15 weeks (i.e. 15h (T) and 90h (P)) As taught in 20011/2012 Session Courseware Developer: Surajudeen SANNI B.Sc. Computer Science (Unilorin) Department of Information and Communication Science, Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. Nigeria. Email: maddie4u2c@yahoo.com Sanni.sa@unilorin.edu.ng Office Location: 2 nd Floor Communication and Information Science Block, Unilorin permanent site. Consultation Hours: 12:00noon 2:00pm on Mondays and Tuesdays COURSE DETAILS Course Content: Information system applications on wireless infrastructure, multimedia messaging, mobile inventory control, location aware services including wireless technologies, mobile information systems and applications, wireless information system challenges and architectures, mobile application, thin and thick client mobile application development and business case studies. Course The course is designed to introduce students to basic information system applications in wireless technology; functionality of mobile applications and dynamics, develop mobile applications using.net/j2me. It also introduces students to practical skill in developing mobile applications, identifying the need for a particular application and knowing the required specifications. Course Justification The need for widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to the emergence of mobile technology. Mobile devices of different functionalities and platforms have been manufactured. These devices require various mobile applications to carry out the designed functions. With this course, students will learn how to develop mobile applications. Course Objectives After successful completion of this course, student should be able to: 1. Identify the need for mobile applications. 2. Describe common scenarios in a mobile enterprise solution. 1
3. Familiarize with a broad range of Execution environments. 4. Design mobile device applications that account for application architecture, client application requirements, and performance. 5. Identify the server and client tools that are required in a mobile application development environment. 6. Configure a Pocket PC emulator 7. Test and manage mobile applications. Course Requirements The students are required to have a minimum of 75% attendance, a computer system, flash drive, JDK, JCreator, NetBeans and Visual studio are required in order to have a good practical class. Methods of Grading Continuous assessment will carry 30 marks. This will include Practical sessions and assignments (25 marks) and Test (5 marks). Examination will carry 70 marks, making a total of 100. Course Delivery Strategies The method for delivering this course will be lectures while, a lot of emphasis will be placed on practical sessions where students will be presented with real world projects, and assignments to acquire knowledge and build necessary skills. LECTURES Week 1 & 2: Introduction to mobile device application development. Objectives: The objectives of the topic are to provide an overview of the course and explore the platforms and tools used in mobile application development. First Hour (week one) Platforms, tools, and technologies. Introducing Microsoft.net compact framework and J2ME to students and showing some of its components. First Hour (week two) Application Design consideration APIs for mobile devices e.g. J2ME, Android,.NET. Introduce students to IDEs like Visual studio and NetBeeans 2
Study Questions: 1. List some mobile application tools known to you 2. What development tool is best suited for a simple application that must target as many device types possible, must be connected most of the time, but has no need to download information to the device? 1. Murphy 4, Mark(2010). Beginning Android 2. APRESS. ISBN 978-1430226598 2. Rischpater 4, Ray (2008).Beginning Java ME Platform, APRESS. 3. MSDN 4 training (2010). Introduction to mobile device application development. Week 3: Information system applications on wireless infrastructure Objective: The students will have a fundamental insight into features of wireless and mobile applications First Hour Characteristics of wireless, mobile applications - - examples, service requirement, technical challenges. Students will learn how to use IDE to exhibit the Characteristics mentioned in the lectures Study Questions: 6. MSDN 4 training (2010). Introduction to mobile device application development. 3
Week 4: Networking. Objective: First Hour HTTP, Wireless Messaging, Bluetooth Students will be introduced to. Study Questions Reading List 6. MSDN 4 training (2010). Introduction to mobile device application development. Week 5, 6 and 7: Multimedia Messaging Objective: At the end of the lectures, students would have the knowledge of First Hour (week five) Multimedia on mobile devices (graphics, sound, music, video, games) First Hour (week six) Sending SMS Messages Programmatically Getting Feedback After Sending the Message Sending SMS Messages Using Intent Receiving SMS Messages Practical Hour 4
First Hour (week seven) Updating an Activity from a Broadcast Receiver Invoking an Activity from a Broadcast Receiver Caveats and Warnings Sending E Mail Practical Hour Study Questions: Week 8 and 9: Location awareness services Objective: The students would know the First Hour (week eight) Displaying Maps Creating the Project Obtaining the Maps API Key, Displaying the Map Displaying the Zoom Control, Changing Views Navigating to a Specific Location Adding Markers, Getting the Location That Was Touched Geocoding and Reverse Geocoding : First Hour (week nine) Getting Location Data Monitoring a Location 5
Study Questions Week 10 and 11: Wireless information system challenges and architecture Objective: At the end of the lecture, students should know First Hour (week ten) Architectures for mobile applications. First Hour (week eleven) Challenges of developing applications for mobile devices. HCI issues for software design on mobile devices and user interface development. Study Questions: 6
Week 12 and 13: Thin and Thick client mobile application development and business case study Objective: At the end of the lecture, students should know the purpose First Hour: :. Study Questions Week 14: Security and maintenance of mobile computing systems. Objective: : First Hour : Study Questions: 7
Week 15: Revision and Tutorials The last week will be devoted to revision of all the topics that have been treated during the semester. Students will also have the opportunity to ask questions on grey areas. Tutorial Questions 1. What development tool is best suited for a simple application that must target as many device types possible, must be connected most of the time, but has no need to download information to the device? 2. What type of connectivity does a thin client application require? 3. What type of client is best for local data storage? 4. What component must the computer running IIS have to use the developer edition of SQL Server CE that is included with Smart Device Extensions? 5. What two sets of classes are specific to the.net Compact Framework? 6. What target platforms does the current release of Smart Device Extensions support? Further Readings: 6. MSDN 4 training (2010). Introduction to mobile device application development. 8
LEGEND: 1 University Library 2 Bookshops 3 The Internet 4 Personal Collections 5 Departmental Libraries 9