Symbian OS Tips, Tricks & Code

The Symbian Signed specification contains a list of tests that will be applied to an application to make sure the application is of a high quality. The full Symbian Signed specification (current version 2.10.0) can be found here>>

The Symbian Signed specification contains 30 pages of tests that must all pass in order for an application to become Symbian Signed. However, there are areas that tend to cause signing failure more often than others.

Here are five things that are relatively easy to solve before submitting applications to Symbian Signed.

1. UID Information
PKG-07: Ensure the application's UID (and VID if present) is owned by the submitter and from the correct dedicated range: UID = 0x20000000 - 0x2FFFFFFF, VID = 0x70000000 - 0x7FFFFFFF or VID = 0. You can order a UID for free from the Symbian Signed website.

Note: The owner of each UID, SID, or VID shown below must match the ACS Publisher ID Distinguished Name otherwise your application will fail the Symbian Signed process.

2. Target tests using Developer Certificates
It is important to test the application on the target device. Since the runtime security enhancements for Symbian OS v9.1 would prevent access to some restricted APIs on target devices, it is necessary for you to request a Developer Certificate (DevCert) in order to permit you to develop and test applications on target mobile phones before submitting them for signing.

Instructions for this can be found here>>

3. Policy statement dialog
CON-02: The application should launch a policy statement dialog at the very first application startup instance, summarizing the use of network access, local connectivity, multimedia recording, read/write user data, phone call and location.

4. PKG file format
Make sure that "Localized Vendor name" and "Unique Vendor name" are consistent with your valid ACS and your UID/SID/VID. If the names are completely different then the app will be rejected by Symbian Signed.

Make sure that the hardware dependency device UID is bracketed with [] instead of {} or (). More information can be found about pkg-file format in the UIQ 3 beta SDK documentation.

5. Sign with valid ACS publish ID
Use the following command to sign your packaged application with your Valid ACS Publish ID before submission:
Signsis –s app.sis app_acs.sis publish.cer private.key

For more information, see
UIQ 3 beta SDK /Symbian OS v9.1 / Symbian OS Tools And Utilities / Installation reference / Package file format / dependency

More information:

• Symbian Signed>>
• Information on Developer Certificates from Sony Ericsson Developer World>>