Building and running

Before you can successfully compile and build a Cascades application, you must link against all the libraries that you use in your app. For your convenience, a Cascades project automatically links against bb/data, most of bb/cascades, and most of the Qt modules, since these libraries contain some of the most commonly used APIs.

You can specify additional libraries that you want to link against in the .pro file for your application.

LIBS += -lbbcascadesmultimedia

LIBS += -lbbcascadesmultimedia -lbbdevice -lbbsystem

CONFIG += mobility
MOBILITY += connectivity

CONFIG += mobility
MOBILITY += sensors

The makefile in a Cascades project contains a set of instructions that specify how to build an application. When you use the QNX Momentics IDE to build and package your application, you don't typically need to modify any of these instructions. However, depending on the version of the BlackBerry 10 Native SDK that you're running, you might need to update some security settings.

These compiler and linker options help increase the difficulty of exploiting vulnerabilities in the application. With the correct configuration, many vulnerabilities that might allow attackers to take control of an application become more difficult to exploit. The recommended security settings for a Cascades app are as follows:

 QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE += -fPIC
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE += -fPIC
QMAKE_LFLAGS_RELEASE += -Wl,-z,relro -pie
QMAKE_POST_LINK = ntoarm-objcopy --only-keep-debug ${DESTDIR}/${QMAKE_TARGET} ${DESTDIR}/${QMAKE_TARGET}.sym && ntoarm-objcopy --strip-all -R.ident --add-gnu-debuglink "${DESTDIR}/${QMAKE_TARET}.sym" "$@" "${DESTDIR}/${QMAKE_TARET}" 

If your project has been updated to a recent version of Cascades, adding these settings might not work on their own. To determine if additional settings are required, look for the line containing the CONFIG variable in your .pro file. If that line contains cascades10, then the following settings are also required:

QMAKE_CFLAGS_RELEASE += -fstack-protector-strong
QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_RELEASE += -fstack-protector-strong
QMAKE_LFLAGS_RELEASE += -Wl,-z,relro

The build configuration type determines how the binary file is packaged (with or without debugging capability), and what type of target it will run on (device or simulator). Executables built using a debug configuration contain additional debug information that lets the debugger make direct associations between the source code and the binaries generated from that original source.

In addition, each build configuration can also contain a unique set of assets (as specified on the Assets page in the bar-descriptor.xml file).

When building your application, there are several different build configurations to choose from. To get started, you can use one of the following:

• Device-Debug (the default build configuration)
• Device-Release
• Simulator-Debug

To change the build configuration, right-click the project and select Build Configurations > Set Active and select the new build configuration.

When you build your project, the IDE creates binaries that are configured appropriately to run on the target that you specified. To build the binaries, right-click the project and click Build.

To run and debug an application on your target device or simulator, you require a launch configuration. It consists of various settings and environment variables that affect how the application starts. You enter these settings once, and then you can use this collection of settings again and again.

If you don't create a run configuration, the IDE creates a default configuration for you when you run your application for the first time.

You can choose from two configuration types for your BlackBerry project: Run As and Debug As. You can choose to set the active type to use either the Simulator-Debug, Device-Release, or Device-Debug.

To create a launch configuration:

1. Right-click a project in the Project Explorer and select Run As > BlackBerry C/C++ Application Dialog to create a run configuration (or Debug As > BlackBerry C/C++ Application Dialog to create a debug configuration).
2. Click the New launch configuration icon.

   You can see many configuration possibilities that all deal with starting your executable program. Right now, only the Main tab requires your input. Later, however, you should also take a look at what the other tabs have to offer.

   
3. In the Build configuration drop-down list, choose a build configuration for your application.
4. Make sure your target is listed under Target Options, and then click Apply. The launch configuration is now ready.
5. Click Close.

Once you've built the application binaries and created the launch configuration, the application is ready to run on the specified target.

If you're running the application on the device, you must also make sure to set the author information for the application before you can deploy to the device.

To set the author information, double-click the bar-descriptor.xml in your project. When the descriptor file opens in the editor, click Set from Debug Token to set the author information for the app. If you've already set up a debug token, the author information is populated automatically.

To run the application, right-click the binary file that you want to run and click  Run As > BlackBerry C/C++ Application.