Tizen 2.3 Beta SDK Release Notes

  • Release Date: October 1, 2014

Introduction

Welcome to Tizen.

Tizen is an open source, standards-based software platform supported by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and chip suppliers for multiple device categories, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, and smart TVs.

The Tizen Platform consists of the Web framework (APIs) and Native framework (APIs).

The Tizen Software Development Kit (SDK) is a comprehensive set of tools for developing Web and Native applications for Tizen.
The SDK contains an install manager, IDE, tools, documents, samples and platform images for mobile and wearable profiles.

Tizen Platform Mobile Profile

Web framework

New Features

  • Web Device API
    • Account API
      • Manage accounts within the device (e.g. create an account, change the account information)
    • Archive API
      • Create archive file and perform manipulations on it (e.g. extract files, add a file to the archive).
    • Badge API
      • Display the count of notifications per application (badge) on the application icon.
    • Exif API
      • Manipulate Exif data from JPEG file.
    • FM Radio API
      • Manage FM radio operations.
    • Sound API
      • Control sound volume level.
    • Human Activity Monitor API
      • Support for Pedometer, wrist-up, HRM and GPS added.
    • Sensor API
      • Support for Light, Magnetic, Pressure, Proximity, and Ultra Violet sensor types added.
    • SystemInfo API
      • Added the Memory interface and DUID attribute.
    • Calendar API
      • Create a calendar with account and add/remove calendar to database.
    • Contact API
      • Addressbook interface added
    • Content API
      • 'isFavorite' attribute added in Content interface.
      • Playlist interface added.
    • Filesystem API
      • 'camera' virtual path added.
    • NFC API
      • Card emulation feature added.
    • Push API
      • getUnreadNotifications() to get unread push notifications added.
      • Retrieve unread message via the PushNotificationCallback of connectService().
    • Secure Element API
      • getSelectResponse() to get the data as received from the application select command added.
    • SystemInfo API
      • getCapability() replaces getCapabilities() for retrieving the device capabilities.
      • WEARABLE enum value is added SystemInfoProfile.
    • Time API
      • Register & Unregister callbacks to receive notification of changes to the time, date or time zone on a device.
  • Web Runtime
    • The Dynamic Box enabled.
    • Note: Dynamic Box Viewer is only supported on the reference target device, not on the Emulator.

Changed Features

  • Web UI framework
    • Base library is changed to TAU from jQM. Recommended to use TAU APIs.
    • The library JS path has been changed from tizen-web-ui-fw/{version}/js/tizen-web-ui-fw.js to lib/tau/mobile/js/tau.js.
    • Default theme file path has been changed from tizen-web-ui-fw/{version}/theme/default/theme.css to lib/tau/mobile/theme/default/tau.css
    • Date-time picker and Multimedia view widget are deprecated. Instead use html standard(input, video, audio tag)
    • Deprecated widgets: Gallery3D, Split view, Virtual Grid

Native framework

Tizen native framework has been fully revised to improve the performance and the scalability of Native applications. The new native framework has following benefits:

  • Multi-profile: Mobile in 2.3, other profiles in the near future
    • Minimal porting effort to run native application on multiple Tizen Profiles
  • Lightweight and fast enough to fit in every device segment.
  • Improved graphics: Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL)
    • Scalable, fast, themeable, easily customizable graphics for native apps (3rd party)
  • More open source library support for Tizen Native Applications
    • 10+ opensource libraries supported
  • Mature technology was already in Tizen, now in SDK and Compliance

New Features

  • Context
    • Activity Recognition
      • Recognize user activities such as walking, running, and in-vehicle
      • React to the recognized user activities
    • Gesture Recognition
      • Recognize gestures such as tap, shake, snap, and tilt.
      • React to the recognized user gestures.
  • Multimedia
    • Media Codec
      • Direct access to the media codec on device.
    • Media Tool
      • AV packet buffer for interworking between multimedia modules.
    • Radio
      • Start and stop radio.
      • Seek radio frequency.
      • Scan radio signals.
      • Get state of radio.
  • Security
    • Key manager
      • A secure repository protected by a user’s password for keys, certificates, and sensitive data of users and/or their Apps.
    • Privilege Info
      • Read information of the given privilege name with API version.
  • UI
    • Tizen Buffer Management
      • Low-level graphics buffer.
      • Get format list supported by the system.
      • Access the surface with the access type.
      • Support for multiple plane graphic buffers.
      • Get the information of surface and planes.
  • Open source Libraries
    • The following open source libraries are supported in 2.3 Beta release:
      • libEXIF (0.6.21) : Access EXIF meta information in image files.
      • json-glib (0.10.4) : Manipulate JSON documents.
      • glib (2.38.2) : Basic programming facilities.
      • libcurl (7.28.1_24) : A client side URL transfer library.
      • libxml2 (2.7.8) : Parse XML documents.
      • fontconfig (2.9.0) and freetype (2.4.9) : Render text and fonts.
      • minizip (1.2.5) : Process files in ZIP format.
      • sqlite (3.7.13) : A lightweight SQL database.
      • cairo (1.12.14) : 2D graphics library.
      • openssl (1.0.1g_1) : A library for basic cryptographic functions.
      • oAuth (1.0) : Open standard for authorization.

Changed Features

  • Application Framework
    • Tizen::App in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Application Framework with the features listed below.
    • Application model
      • UI application model
      • Background service application model without a graphical user interface
    • Application Controls
      • Framework to share application functionalities
      • Explicit and implicit application control resolution
    • Data controls
      • Framework to access specific data exported by other applications and to share application data
    • Application management
      • Multitasking in the application
      • Service type applications
      • Active application changing event
    • Package management
      • Get information of the installed packages.
      • Application-specific metadata in the manifest
      • Package filtering and package app filtering for more effective ways to get installed package list
      • Get package information from the specific Tizen package file
    • Message Port
      • Send messages to the message ports of another application.
      • Receive messages from other applications
      • Trusted communication (allowed only if both applications are signed with the same certificate)
    • Notification
      • Text message notifications on the status bar
      • Ongoing notifications
      • Additional notification functionality to customize each notification message
      • Change notification title, icon, and sound
      • Badge change event listener
      • Notifications by application control - implicit AppControl resolution is attempted when the user selects the message
      • Remove an individual notification
      • Thumbnail and multiline-type notifications
    • Badge
      • Create and remove badges for the application icon.
      • Set and get the value and visibility of the badge.
    • Bundle
      • A small string-based Dictionary ADT (Abstract Data Type).
        • Create and manage a small dictionary for passing information among modules or processes via IPC like message port.
  • Content
    • Tizen::Content in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Content feature with the features listed below.
    • Media-Content
      • Content information management such as file attributes, metadata, custom data, and playlists
      • Retrieve all content associated with a content directory.
      • Metadata extraction (such as EXIF and ID3 tags from images, audio, and video)
      • Scan for a file or directory to synchronize content information with the local content database
      • Content DB change notifications
    • Download manager
      • Download contents through HTTP
      • Enable and disable download notifications
      • Setting the allowed network type
      • Manage the HTTP header fields
  • Messaging
    • Tizen::Messaging in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Messaging feature with the features listed below.
    • Message management
      • Create, send and receive SMS messages
      • Search SMS/MMS messages in the inbox, sentbox, outbox, or all message boxes.
      • Send and receive WAP Push messages
    • E-mail
      • Create and send E-mail messages.
      • Set E-mail attributes.
    • Push
      • Connect to the push service.
      • Receive push notification data.
  • Base
    • Tizen::Base and Tizen::Locales in 2.2.1 Naive API has been replaced with Base feature with the features listed below.
    • Calendar data (utils-i18n)
      • Convert the date, time, and calendar fields using the Gregorian calendar, which is used by most of the world
      • Manage time zone information with DST (Daylight Saving Time).
    • Formatting data (utils-i18n)
      • Format numbers, currencies, date, and time.
    • Data types & Collections provided by eglibc, glib, and c++ standard library are supported.
    • Utility functions provided by glib, c++ standard library, minizip are supported.
    • Threads and synchronization mechanisms provided by glib are supported.
    • Smart pointers
      • Sole ownership management smart pointers: auto_ptr and unique_ptr.
      • Reference-counted shared ownership management smart pointers: shared_ptr and weak_ptr.
      • Custom deleter: unique_ptr and shared_ptr.
      • Move semantic: unique_ptr (explicit move), auto_ptr (implicit move), and the std::move() method template.
  • IO
    • Tizen::Io in 2.2.1 Native API has been obsolete and is supported by open source libraries such as eglibc, glib, sqlite, standard c++ library.
      • File & Directory functions supported by eglibc and glib are provided.
      • Database features supported by sqlite3 are provided.
  • Multimedia
    • Tizen::Media in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Multimedia feature with the features listed below.
    • Audio and video recorder
      • Audio and video pre-processing filter APIs.
    • Camera
      • Camera to display a live preview and capture a still image.
    • Image Util
      • JPEG image decoding and encoding.
    • Metadata Extractor
      • Metadata extraction in a media file.
    • Player and recorder
      • Play audio and video from media files stored on a device or streaming over the network.
      • Playback of DTMF tones (Tone Player)
      • Playback of waveform audio file format (*.wav, WAV player)
      • Low-level audio playback and capture
      • Audio and video recording
    • Sound Manager
      • Check and controlling output volumes
      • Handling a volume changed notification
      • Determining a sound session policy
      • Handling the notification of a sound session interruption
    • Video-util
      • Transcoding media files.
  • Network
    • Tizen::Net in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Network feature with the features listed below.
    • Bluetooth
      • Support for the following.
        • Bluetooth Audio Profiles (HFP, HSP, and A2DP)
        • GATT(Generic Attribute Profile)
        • OPP (Object Push Profile)
        • HID (Human Interface Device Profile)
        • HDP (Health Device Profile) services
    • Device and service discovery
    • Note: Bluetooth features are only supported on the reference target device, not on the Emulator.
    • Connection management
      • Custom connection management service API.
      • Selecting the preferred connection.
      • Internet protocol (IP) address that represents a network resource or service (IPv4 supported only).
    • Wi-Fi
      • Functionality for managing the local Wi-Fi device.
      • Note: Wi-Fi features are only supported on the reference target device, not on the Emulator.
    • Socket and HTTP features supported by openSSL, libcurl are provided.
  • Security
    • Tizen::Security in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Security feature with the features listed below.
    • A wide range of cryptographic algorithms, certificate handling mechanisms, hash functions, and key management algorithms covered by openSSL are supported.
    • Smack
      • A significant number of rules have been revised to allow required access only.
      • Map Smack rules with Native/Web privileges to support better access control on kernel space.
  • Social
    • Tizen::Social in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Social feature with the features listed below.
    • Account Manager
      • Methods to manage the account information.
      • Methods to access accounts and account providers.
    • Contacts
      • Manage and search contacts on the device storage.
      • Import and export vCard files.
      • Contact aggregation.
      • Manage user profiles.
      • Bulk operations for adding, updating, and removing contacts.
      • Store application launch data in contacts.
      • Extra data for categories.
    • Calendar
      • Manage and search personal schedule and task information on the device storage.
      • Import and export vCalendar files.
      • Methods to update an event instance.
      • Absolute time for reminders.
  • System
    • Tizen::System in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with System feature with the features listed below.
    • Device
      • Listen and handle events for various devices such as battery, display, haptic, led, and power services.
    • Dlog
      • Send log outputs.
    • Storage
      • Information regarding internal and external storages.
    • Runtime-Info
      • Runtime information such as hardware availability (e.g., if a USB device is connected or not), current language setting, and so on.
    • System-Settings
      • Access various system settings.
    • Sensor
      • Acceleration, gravity, gyroscope, humidity, light, magnetic, orientation, pressure, proximity, temperature, tilt, and ultraviolet sensors.
      • Getting and setting options for sensors
    • System-Info
      • System information such as API and platform versions, supported device features, and screen dimensions.
    • PowerManager of Tizen::System in 2.2.1 Native API has been obsolete and included in Device feature.
  • Telephony
    • Tizen::Telephony in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Telephony feature with the features listed below.
    • Telephony information
      • Getting information of the current call type, status, and event.
      • Getting information of the current network such as the cell ID, LAC, and PLMN.
      • Getting information of the current network status such as the availability of call and data services and roaming.
      • Getting information of the inserted SIM card.
  • Tizen::Text in Tizen 2.2.1 Native API is now covered by Base feature.
  • UI
    • Tizen::Ui 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with UI feature with the features listed below.
    • EFL (UI core)
      • UI controls.
        • Containers, such as forms, panels, split panels, and windows, which can be used to hold different UI components
        • Windows, such as frames, pop-ups, and message boxes, which can be used to support layered display surfaces for UI components
        • UI components for user interaction, including button, entry, genlist, gengrid, panes, label, slider, tab bar, and various date, time, and color pickers, and so on.
      • Scalable UI
        • Develop and migrate multi-resolution applications with utilities, such as the layout manager, logical coordinates, and automatic resource selection.
      • Themes
        • Tizen provides a set of themes. Each application can select a theme to use.
      • Effects
        • 3D effect animations, such as page flipping and various rotations.
      • Multi-point touch and gestures
        • Multi-point touch events and touch gestures.
      • Scene management
        • Form life-cycle management and makes the transitions between forms or panels easier.
      • Animation
        • Key frame-based, animation of UI controls (such as view or panel transitions).
      • SW Accessibility
        • Container for customization of screen reader functionality for the visual handicapped people.
      • Focused UI
        • UI controls' focus could be displayed and moved by touch gestures and HW keyboard.
      • 2D Graphics
        • Platform-independent 2D graphics.
        • Graphics rendering methods and data structures
        • Floating point matrix and vector manipulation functions
      • 3D graphics
        • OpenGL® ES 1.1 and 2.0, which are subsets of the OpenGL® 3D graphics API designed for mobile devices.
        • Supported by OpenGL rendering on Evas.
  • Web
    • Tizen::Web in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with ewk API that supports the features listed below.
    • EWK
      • Web browsing : Load and render a page from the network or local storage
      • Page navigation list : List of visited pages
      • Page control
        • Get the size of a Web page
        • Scroll a Web page
        • Clear navigation history
      • Settings : Configure Webview
        • Set javascript enable, user agent, load image, encoding, font size etc.
        • Private browsing control
      • Cookie and cache control
        • Clear the cache and cookies.

Unsupported Features

  • The following features are not supported in 2.3 Beta release:
    • Wi-Fi Direct® (Tizen::Net in 2.2.1 Native API) (will be added in 2.3 official)
    • Tizen::App in 2.2.1 Native API has been replaced with Application Framework with the features listed below.
    • NFC (Tizen:: Net in 2.2.1 Native API) (will be added in 2.3 official)
    • Application management
    • AppSetting (Tizen::App in 2.2.1 Native API)
    • Image recognition and QR code recognition (Tizen::Ui in 2.2.1 Native API)
    • QuickPanelFrame and Dynamic Box (Tizen::Shell in 2.2.1 Native API)
    • Vibrator (Tizen::System in 2.2.1 Native API)
    • Serial port (Tizen::System in 2.2.1 Native API)
    • IME and Downloadable IME (Tizen::UI in 2.2.1 Native API)

Tizen Platform Wearable Profile

Web framework

New Features

  • Web Device API
    • Human Activity Monitor API has been added with the support of pedometer, wrist-up, HRM and GPS.
    • The Sensor API has been added with the Light, Magnetic, Pressure, Proximity, and Ultra Violet sensor types.
    • The Memory interface and DUID attribute have been added in SystemInfo API.
    • The MessagePort and SystemSetting and Download API have been added.
  • Web Runtime
    • The Dynamic Box is enabled.

Changed Features

  • Web Runtime
    • The Application ID constraint has been added to Web application packages (widgets). Once the application has been published, the ID cannot be changed.
    • The following configuration elements have been added to support the Web IME: , , , and .
  • Web UI Framework (TAU)
    • The library path has been changed from lib/tau/ to lib/tau/wearable/. All JS and CSS files are present in the changed path.
    • A new wearable theme style has been applied for all widgets (new resolution, 360x480, is supported)
    • The namespace for all widget constructors has been changed from tau. to tau.widget. (for example, tau.widget.Popup()).
    • Default Popup widget style is changed.
    • Options of Popup widget added for modal style.
    • Page layout calculation bug fixed
  • Webkit
    • The following Web APIs and features have been added:
      • Geolocation, Webspeech (TTS only), and SVG
      • Network access including XHR, Web Socket, and Web page access through, for example, hyperlinks.

Fixed Bugs

  • Web UI Framework (TAU)
    • SectionChanger widget : enable/disable, refresh method bug fix.
    • VirtualList widget : Jumping to the last position of list fixed.
    • Popup widget: Fixed the issue that popup is being closed before finishing animation.
    • IndexScrollbar : Fixed the issue that lowest index in 2nd depth blinks unnecessarily.

IDE and Tools

New Features

  • Common tools
    • Dynamic Analyzer
      • The Dynamic Analyzer is tool to analyze the native application at runtime. It can help the developer to enhance the performance and reliability of the application.
        • This feature provides:
          • Effective analysis of the application behavior at runtime
          • Integration with the IDE menu
          • System information in the Timeline view
          • Overall application analysis in the Summary view
          • Detailed file, thread, network, and OpenGL analysis
          • Saving and loading the trace result
          • Recording and replaying application user interaction
          • Showing related source code as a tooltip and in the IDE
          • Combining chart and table selections
          • Range-based analysis
  • Web IDE and tools
    • Added the breadcrumb in HTML Editor.
    • Added an advanced content assist in HTML Editor.
    • Added an advanced content hover in HTML Editor
    • Added Javascript static analyzer(JSA)
  • Web UI Builder
    • Animator.
      • Added predefined animations (4 categories, 62 animations).
    • Data Binding View.
      • Binding information tooltip on Page Designer.
      • Added 16 bindable widgets for TAU
    • Project Template.
      • Added 4 TAU project templates.
    • N-Screen.
      • CSS Layer panel.
  • Native IDE and tools
    • Native IDE is new for Tizen version 2.3.It is a smart and powerful development environment to create native applications for Tizen platforms.
      • Project Wizard.
        • This feature provides:
          • Various templates and samples to create native applications
      • Editor.
        • This feature provides:
          • Code assist for Tizen native APIs for 2.3.
          • Multi-form editor for the manifest file. You can configure the ID, version, icon, and privileges of the application.
      • Building and packaging.
        • This feature provides:
          • TPK (Tizen Package File) packaging.
          • Author and distributor signing
          • Multi-process application packaging. Multi-process applications enable hybrid architecture combining UI and service applications.
          • LLVM 3.4 and GCC toolchain
      • Running and debugging.
        • This feature provides:
          • Various debugging methods: normal, attach.
          • RDS (Rapid Development Support) for uploading only the changed files when re-launching, skipping the packaging process.
          • Crash report service and crash file viewer
          • Building the project automatically if there is no executable file when launching the application
  • Emulator
    • Emulator Control Panel (the original event injector is removed)
      • This feature provides:
        • Message Synchronization between ECP(UI and CLI tools) and Emulator.

Changed Features

  • Common IDE and tools
    • Common
      • Upgraded the eclipse based platform to Kepler (4.3) SR2.
    • Web UI Builder
      • Programming model
        • Programming model changed for new UI FW TAU
      • Animator
        • Timeline filtering for hiding animation unassigned widgets.
    • Platform IDE
      • On Windows, support to choose file transferring method between device and build server (SCP/SDB).
      • When debugging, disable “load library symbol” option if the project is EFL application.
    • Emulator
      • Menu
        • The host keyboard menu was deleted from popup menu and Emulator Control Panel. From now on, Tizen platform automatically recognizes a host keyboard when key event is injected.
      • Emulator Manager
        • HD(720x1280) resolution density has changed to 306.

Known Issues

  • Common tools
    • Because old workspace metadata is incompatible by the major upgrading effect, IDE crash can be occurred. Recommend to create new workspace.
    • Connection Explorer view sometime does not show all running emulator information.
  • Native IDE and tools
    • The EDC UI template and sample applications are not available on Mac OS X because the edje_cc for Mac is absent.
    • Some compile warning messages are found when you build some template/sample applications with llvm compiler. This issue is caused by llvm known bug, http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.compilers.llvm.bugs/23281.
  • Web UI Builder
    • Some TAU widgets are not included in the widget palette or not work properly.
    • Selected resolution in the N-Screen View is not applied on the app.
    • In some cases, the designer may not work properly if you modify the HTML code directly.
    • Display scroll bar in the middle of Contents area in the simulator if animation apply to Content
    • Animation does not work properly with N-Screen
    • IDE creates console window when internal browser has been created in Windows 8.
  • Emulator
    • On Windows, depending on your OS theme ( like Windows 7 non-Aero themes , Windows XP themes), a display surface could be erased for a while if emulator window is obscured by other window . If you click the emulator window, the display surface would work correctly.
    • The Emulator skin may not be drawn properly on Ubuntu™ . If the graphics driver is not installed or an old version is installed. To fix this issue, upgrade the graphics driver.
    • When the disk storage is full, various incorrect operations may occur.
    • To use the Tizen emulator, you need Intel VTx supported by CPU, latest vendor-provided version of the graphic card driver et al. Please check the prerequisites for the Tizen emulator.