Network Programming in .NET

If you are developing apps for BlackBerry using PhoneGap / Webworks for Blackberry, then you have probably noticed that  if you add a url to an external website, such as <a href=”http://www.google.com”>Google</a&gt;, then the destination website gets loaded within the frame of the app, giving a poor user experience, and no way to return to the app, apart from closing the app.

The solution is not obvious, since you have to use Webworks API (which is not cross-platform, it’s BlackBerry only).

use the following code when itializing JQuery

$(‘a[target=”_blank”]’).live( ‘click’, function()
{
if ( window.blackberry )
{
alert( ‘Loading website: ‘ + $(this).attr( ‘href’ ) );
var args = new blackberry.invoke.BrowserArguments( $(this).attr( ‘href’ ));
blackberry.invoke.invoke(blackberry.invoke.APP_BROWSER, args);
return false;
}
return true;
})

Then IMPORTANTLY add the following lines to the config.xml

<feature id=”blackberry.app” required=”true” version=”1.0.0.0″/>

<feature id=”blackberry.invoke”/>
<feature id=”blackberry.invoke.BrowserArguments” />

<access uri =”*”/>

I have heard that this invocation mechanism may change for BlackBerry 10 / Playbook, which I am going to test soon.