The WabaSDK (Software Development Kit) consists of reference documentation, a set of Java classes and some programs that are used to bundle application classes into a format suitable for small devices.

The reference documentation included in the WabaSDK includes a full reference for all the Waba foundation classes. If you are interested in the Waba API, you should download a copy of the WabaSDK and look in the "doc" subdirectory of the distribution.

Classes

The Java classes that come with the WabaSDK classes are "bridge" classes since they implement the Waba foundation API but "sit on top of" the Java API.

This is best illustrated by the following diagram:

The Waba foundation classes that are installed when you install a WabaVM are different from the foundation classes you use when developing your program with the WabaSDK. They interface directly to the VM and call methods that are native to the device the VM is operating on.

The class structure when running an application with a WabaVM looks like this:

The Native Waba classes and the Waba SDK classes have the same API. So, you can write your program using Java and the WabaSDK and run the program on a device with a native WabaVM without any changes to your application.

Tools

The WabaSDK comes with some simple programs that you can use to package your program up into a format suitable for a small device.

A program called exegen creates launch programs for PalmPilot and Windows CE devices. Launch programs are used to start up Waba programs.

The generated PalmPilot launch executable is very small and simply gives the WabaVM on the device the name and location of the Waba program to execute and tells the VM how much memory to allocate for the program.

The launch program for a Windows CE device is simply a Windows shortcut that starts up the VM with the appropriate parameters - telling it where to find the application classes and how much memory to allocate for the program.

The launch programs generated by exegen causes a Waba program look like any other application on the device.

Another program contained in the WabaSDK is warp. It generates Waba Application Resource Packages - also known as WARPs.

Warps are packages that hold class files, images and other resources that an application needs to run. Two warp files are generated by the warp program; a PDB WARP for the PalmPilot and a WRP WARP for Windows CE devices.