The Palm OS Programmer's Companion is part of the Palm OS® Software Development Kit. This introduction provides an overview of SDK documentation, discusses what materials are included in this document and what conventions are used.
Palm OS SDK Documentation

The following documents are part of the SDK:
Document |
Description |
Palm OS Programmer's API Reference |
An API reference document that contains descriptions of all Palm OS function calls and important data structures. |
Palm OS Programmer's Companion |
A multi-volume guide to application programming for the Palm OS. This guide contains conceptual and "how-to" information that complements the Reference. |
Constructor for Palm OS |
A guide to using Constructor to create Palm OS resource files. |
Palm OS Programming Development Tools Guide |
A guide to writing and debugging Palm OS applications with the various tools available. |
What This Volume Contains

This volume is designed for random access. That is, you can read any chapter in any order.
Note that each chapter ends with a list of hypertext links into the relevant function descriptions in the Reference book.
Here is an overview of this volume:
Chapter 1, "Object Exchange." Describes how applications use the Exchange Manager to send and receive typed data objects.
Chapter 2, "Exchange Libraries." Describes how to implement an exchange library.
Chapter 3, "Personal Data Interchange." Describes the PDI library, which you use to exchange Personal Data Interchange (PDI) information with other devices and media
Chapter 4, "Beaming (Infrared Communication)." Describes the two facilities for beaming, or IR communication: the exchange manager and the IR library.
Chapter 5, "Serial Communication." Describes the serial port hardware, the serial communications architecture, the serial link protocol, and the various serial communication managers.
Chapter 6, "Network Communication." Describes the net library and Internet library and how to perform communications with networking protocols such as TCP/IP and UDP. The net library API maps very closely to the Berkeley UNIX sockets API.
Chapter 7, "Internet and Messaging Applications." Describes the Palm.Net system and how to use the Web Clipping Application Viewer and iMessenger applications to access and send information using the wireless capabilities of the Palm VIITM device.
Chapter 8, "Telephony Manager."Describes the component parts of the telephony API and shows how to use the telephony API in your applications.
Additional Resources

Documentation
Palm publishes its latest versions of this and other documents for Palm OS developers at
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/docs/
Training
Palm and its partners host training classes for Palm OS developers. For topics and schedules, check
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/support/classes/
Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a fast, web-based database of technical information. Search for frequently asked questions (FAQs), sample code, white papers, and the development documentation at
http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/kb/
|