Opera Software ASA

Developing widgets

Table of contents

• W3C Widgets
  • Benefits
  • Examples of Opera Widgets
  • Widget distribution
• Making a widget
  • Developer guide
  • Developer support
  • Developer tools
    • Widgets Plug-in for Eclipse IDE
    • Widget Runtimes
    • Opera Dragonfly
    • Opera TV Emulator
• Future of Widget technologies
  • Device APIs
  • Opera Unite
  • Opera extensions

W3C Widgets

Widgets are applications that can be installed and run on desktop, mobile, TV and other devices. They are made with client-side web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript and are based on a set of W3C specifications.

Opera Software has been a main driver in standardising the technology, working with Nokia, Microsoft and others who are also implementing the standards. Because widgets are made with open web standards, they do not tie users to closed technologies and give developers more freedom. The exact same code can work across Windows, Mac, Linux, and various mobile phone and TV platforms, without any changes at all.

Creating a widget is very much like creating a webpage—widgets are made with the same programming languages that web developers already know, and, in the end, all files are simply zipped up in a single package for easy deployment and installation. That means that, for most experienced developers, there is only a lean learning curve to make widgets. It’s fair to say that anyone with a little knowledge of web technologies can easily create a widget within minutes.

Creating a widget is very much like creating a webpage. Widgets are made with the languages that web developers already know, then all files are simply zipped up in a single package for deployment and installation. For experienced developers, there is a very small learning curve to make widgets, and anyone with a working knowledge of web technologies can create their first functional widget in under ten minutes.

Benefits

• For users

  Widgets do not chain users to their devices. They can, for example, buy a mobile phone from another manufacturer or operating system and still have access to their widgets. Users can also run their widgets on other devices, such as computers and television sets.

• For developers

  Web developers can use the languages they already know to create cross-platform applications. Their applications can run on any kind of device, reach a wider audience with less effort.

Examples of Opera Widgets

• Twiget
• River IQ Game
• Google Translator
• Ebook Reader
• Pipe Mania

Widget distribution

There are a number of places where widgets are distributed, and it is a market that it is growing rapidly.

• Opera Widgets for Desktop
• Vodafone’s Opera Mini widgets
• Verizon (via the VCAST store)
• Ericsson’s widget store

The following developer portal is soon to open:

• Telefonica

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Making a widget

Opera offers many resources and tools that make developing widgets easy.

Developer guide

The Opera Widgets SDK offers a step-by-step guide to creating a widget.

Dev.Opera is a great resource to find information about Opera’s technologies, such as widgets and extensions, as well the latest web technologies, such as HTML5, CSS3, SVG and more.

Developer support

Developers can stay up to date on the latest news about Opera Widgets by reading our Widgets Team’s blog.

If you have any questions, the best place to get them answered is by reading and posting on Opera’s Widgets forum.

Developer tools

Widgets Plug-in for Eclipse IDE

The Widgets Plug-in for Eclipse is a tool that simplifies the widget development process. It makes it easy to to create a widget project quickly, implement some code and run it in an emulator. With this plug-in, there’s no need to know the widget configuration file specification. The plug-in supports both W3C and WAC standards, and all features can be added easily with just few clicks.

Widget Runtimes

Desktop

The Opera web browser for desktop is an excellent browser for daily web use that makes using the Web easier and more fun, and it also acts as the runtime platform for widgets. The Opera browser is available for most desktop operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Linux.

Mobile

The Opera Widget runtime for Android

This Opera Widget runtime allows widgets to run on Android devices.

Opera Widget Desktop Emulator

To create widgets for mobile devices, you can run the Opera Widget Desktop Emulator right from your desktop operating system to simplify development and testing. Using this emulator, you can load and test widgets in a similar manner as you would do on an Android device.

Opera Dragonfly

Built in to the Opera browser is a full-featured development and debugging tool, Opera Dragonfly. It requires no extra installation, and using it is as simple as right-clicking on a page element and selecting “Inspect Element”.

Opera Dragonfly offers extensive capabilities that include debugging JavaScript, inspecting the DOM, checking CSS parameters, remote debugging of widgets, monitoring network resources and much more.

Debugging software on a mobile device could be cumbersome, which is why all Opera products come with remote debugging capabilities. You can use Opera Dragonfly in your desktop browser and configure the widget manager on a mobile device to communicate with each other. You can then view, stop and step into code in widgets running on the device from your desktop. You can find more information about remote debugging, and a screencast is available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G_ytiQv-4c.

Opera TV Emulator

The Opera TV Emulator allows any web developer to develop and debug content for TVs and other devices from a Linux desktop environment. This includes all the documentation required to get started in developing web applications for TVs.

Request your copy here: http://www.opera.com/business/tv-emulator/

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Future of Widget technologies

Opera continues to innovate and build on the widget standards, both internally and developing open standards.

Device APIs

Opera has already implemented the WAC 1.0 APIs that allow widgets to access device capabilities, such as incorporating live video from the camera into a page, accessing the address book, and sending messages via SMS, MMS, or email. This allows developers to produce applications with the same functionality as native OS-based applications. We work with the W3C and WAC on standardising and enhancing this technology, as well as adding it to our own product range.

Opera Unite

Opera Unite provides a Webserver API to widgets. This enable developers to offer services that can be installed and run by any user with a couple of clicks directly from their own laptop. Included with Opera are applications to share photos, music, and files, and developers have also created a wide variety of other applications.

Learn more about Opera Unite. Get started on your own Opera Unite applications with our Opera Unite developer’s primer.

Opera extensions

The Opera 11 desktop browser comes with a framework for extensions that add extra functionality to the browser. This extensions framework is built on existing standards, with W3C Widgets as the basis. If you can write a web application or widget, you already have the skills you need to write extensions. They also make use of HTML5 technology such as cross-document messaging, and, of course, you can use CSS as well.

Learn more about extensions.

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