Inalambrik, a South American firm specializing in software for BlackBerry smartphones, is launching JadBlack (Java Accelerated Development for BlackBerry). A key JadBlack feature is its use of the Perst Lite embedded database from McObject to add record storage, search, retrieval, and other highly efficient database features to mobile business applications for BlackBerry devices.

Inalambrik plans to introduce JadBlack this fall during the Latin American BlackBerry Collaboration Forum, which it is cosponsoring.

"Two years ago, we looked for a tool that would allow us to speed up the application development process in the Java ME environment of BlackBerry smartphones. We didn’t find anything that met our needs so we started the JadBlack Project to provide a code generator with a highly visual interface," said Inalambrik Director Rogelio Arosemena.

"With JadBlack, the developer defines application components, and the tool generates all the Java ME code to run on either the BlackBerry simulator or on the device. The command set is small but powerful: a few JadBlack command lines represent hundreds of lines of Java code. The developer describes what an application must do, rather than programming it. This eases both development and maintenance," Arosemena said.

Increasingly, mobile applications require an on-device database management system (DBMS) to provide fast, efficient data storage, sorting and retrieval. The open source, object-oriented Perst Lite embedded database offered the right combination of speed, portability, flexible storage (including on SD cards) and other features, Arosemena said. JadBlack adopted Perst Lite as its default DBMS and now includes a development copy of McObject’s database. With Perst Lite, JadBlack’s database integration features include:

• Tables and indexes visually designed in JadBlack’s integrated development environment (IDE)
• Record management commands (insert, update, delete, commit, rollback)
• Record key search command (search)
• Fast selection of multiple records using secondary indexes
• Automatic index maintenance during insert or update commands