Quick +Start

Generic OS Services is a collection of components and libraries that provide +generic OS level services to the Symbian platform components and applications.

Getting started with Generic OS Services

The following +list briefly describes how device creators or Symbian Developers can use the +APIs of the components and libraries provided by Generic OS Services:

Use the Plug-In Framework +(ECom) APIs to register, discover plug-ins and load appropriate plug-ins.
Use the P.I.P.S. libraries +(libc, libm, libpthread and libdl) +to port POSIX-based applications to the Symbian platform.
Use the Standard C++ +libraries to develop or port Standard C++ applications or libraries to the +Symbian platform.
Use the Librt library APIs to port Librt-based applications +to Symbian platform quickly and easily.
Use the EUser High Level +(EUserHL) library to do better string handling, resource management, and error +handling and object creation along the lines of standard C++ practices. EUserHL +library provides a usability layer to hide away some of the complexities of +the Symbian platform.
Use the Zip Compression +Library APIs to perform file and stream compression and decompression.
Use the task scheduler +APIs to develop applications with scheduling options and capabilities.
Use the Active Backup +Client APIs to create backup and restore software with complete control of +the data backed up and restored.
Use the HTTP Utilities +library APIs to extract URI components, construct and modify Uniform Resource +Indicators (URIs), text utilities, and URI component utilities required to +work with URIs.
Use the MIME (Multipurpose +Internet Mail Extension) Recognition Framework APIs to implement data type +recognition using MIME recognizer plug-ins.
Use the Basic Application +Framework Utilities library (BAFL) to in turn use utilities, such as clipboard, +command-line parser, descriptor array, environment change notifier, incremental +matcher, resource files, localized names of plug-ins, system sounds and string +pools.
Use the Base Services +Utility library (BSUL) to validate messages and handle errors.
Use the Activity Manager +library to enable clients to monitor user inactivity (idle time) and user +activity (key press).
Use the System Utility +library to perform the following tasks:
- Retrieve software and +language package version strings for display purposes.
- Check for free space +on a disk drive before file creation or writing.
- Get device type information +(phone model) for display purposes.

Architecture

The Generic OS Services module is +a group of non-related components and libraries that provide OS level services +to other components of the Symbian platform. The components and libraries +in Generic OS Services are grouped into the following collections:

Compression +Libraries
Generic Open +Libraries
Generic +Services
Low +Level Libraries and Frameworks

The following diagram outlines the Generic OS Services collections +and components associated with each collection:

+ Collections and components of Generic OS Services + + +

Technologies

Generic OS services enables, implements +or uses the following technologies:

zlib: The Zip Compression Library (EZLib) +provides C++ wrapper classes that encapsulate the functionality of the Open +Source zlib library +v1.2.3. It provides stream and file compression and decompression functionalities.
Standard C++: A +Standard C++ environment with IOStream and STL (Standard Template Library) +libraries enables you to develop or port Standard C++ applications or libraries +quickly and easily on Symbian platform. For more information, see the Standard C++ Porting Tutorials section.
P.I.P.S. Is POSIX +on Symbian Platform (P.I.P.S.): P.I.P.S. provides an API layer, above +the Symbian platform native APIs, that is more closely aligned with industry +standard APIs making Symbian software development more accessible to Symbian +Developers who program using the C language. Symbian Developers can use the +P.I.P.S. libraries (libc, libm, libpthread and libdl) +to port POSIX-based applications to the Symbian platform. For more information, +see the P.I.P.S. Porting +Tutorials section.
POSIX.1b, Real-time +extensions: The Librt library enables support POSIX.1b, Real-time extensions +on Symbian platform and is based on the Linux Standard Base (LSB) 3.1 specification. +It covers features such as shared memory, clocks and real time emulation for +timers. Support for the Librt library on Symbian platform enables you to port +Librt-based applications to Symbian platform quickly and easily. For more +information, see the Librt section
MIME (Multipurpose +Internet Mail Extension): MIME is an internet standard system for identifying +the type of data in a file or stream. Types can include graphics, photos, +audio, video files and formatted text. MIME type recognition enables devices +to identify data in streams or files and start appropriate applications automatically.

This +technology is implemented by the MIME recognition framework component. The +MIME recognition framework implements data recognition using MIME recogniser +plug-ins. For more information, see the MIME +Recognition Framework section.
ECom Plug-in: The +Plug-in (ECom) framework is a generic framework that enables registration +and discovery of plug-ins, and the loading of an appropriate plug-in. The +Plug-In framework is intended to provide a common and system-wide mechanism +for instantiating a dynamically determined component. For more information, +see the Plug-in Framework section.