old symbian glossary

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : AThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

A

ABI

Application Binary Interface. This is a standard for the interfaces of binary code running in ARM

environments, and is intended to allow inter-operation of binaries produced by different compilers that

conform to the standard. Describes the low-level interface between an application program and the

operating system, between an application and its libraries, or between component parts of the application.

The specification is published by ARM.

See also: ARM processors

abld.bat batch file

Controls all aspects of building a project in the SBSv1 build system. It is created in the current directory by

the bldmake tool from a component description file.

See also: bldmake tool

abstract

Used to describe a class which describes behaviour, but which does not implement it. Many

implementations of the behaviour might be available. Each is referred to as a concrete class.

See also: concrete

access count

A record of the number of objects referencing a contact item. A contact item cannot be fully deleted until its

access count is zero.

See also: contact item

access mode

The locking specified when opening a file: exclusive, readers only, or shared with any.

active object

A class derived from CActive, which is responsible for issuing requests to asynchronous service providers

and handling those requests on completion.

See also: active scheduler, asynchronous service provider

active scheduler

A class derived from CActiveScheduler, responsible for scheduling events to the active objects in an

event-handling program.

See also: asynchronous service provider, active object

address

For Bluetooth, each Bluetooth device has built into its hardware a 48-bit device unique address.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : A file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

agent

In the context of the Network Interface Manager (NifMan), the component which NifMan uses to set up a

connection.

Or, in the context of a vCard, a property within a vCard whose value is a string representing another entity.

See also: property, vCard, entity

alarm due time

The time that the alarm was/is due.

Before an alarm activates, this is the same as the alarm time. If the alarm is snoozed, then the due time

remains the same, but the alarm time becomes the new activation time.

See also: alarm time

alarm message

The message which is displayed to the user when the alarm time is reached.

See also: alarm time

alarm sound

An algorithmic sound or a sampled sound file stored in the system alarms directory (\System\Alarms).

See also: algorithmic sound, sampled sound file

alarm time

The time the alarm is next expected to activate.

See also: alarm due time

Alaw

A standard for encoding 12-bit sound as 8-bit data.

See also: sampled sound file

Aleppo

Legacy help authoring tool.

algorithmic sound

A sound generated by the sound driver by synthesising sounds according to an algorithm.

See also: sampled sound file

Alpha blending

The term used where a value (called 'Alpha') is used to indicate a transparency value for a pixel. If the

Alpha=maximum then the pixel is opaque, that is the full colour of the pixel is written to the destination. If

Alpha=0 then the pixel is fully transparent, and the destination is left unaltered. Values in-between cause

'blending' with the formula

Destination = Source*Alpha/max_Alpha + Destination*(max_Alpha-Alpha)/max_Alpha

AMPS

Advanced Mobile Phone System: a 1G standard which operates in the 800-900MHz-frequency band. It is

still widely used in the United States.


2 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

analog

The simple way to transmit speech, which is translated into electronic signals of different frequency and/or

amplitude. The first networks for mobile phones, as well as broadcast transmissions, were analog. Due to

being longer established in some countries, analog networks may offer better coverage than digital

networks, however analog phones are less secure and suffer more from interference where the signal is

weak. Analog systems include AMPS, NMT and ETACS.

anchor

Marks the start of a selection

See also: cursor, selection

API

Application Programming Interface, the visible public behaviour a system object or component exposes to

other objects or components.

An API is any interface that enables one program to use facilities provided by another, whether by calling

that program, or by being called by it. At a higher level still, an API is a set of functionality delivered by a

programming system, and as such the mix of APIs in a particular system tells you what that system can

do.

AppArc

The Symbian OS Application Architecture framework, which defines the application structure and basic

user interface handling.

application

Also known as 'software', an application is a piece of code written and packaged in such a way as to allow

the user to 'do' something. A program that provides a graphical user interface to the user; applications are

created using the application framework which provides standard means for applications to receive input

events and manage data (documents).Examples include the built-in agenda in Symbian OS, that ships in

every smartphone and allows users to manage appointments. Users can customize their smartphones by

loading their own applications, which can be bought or (found free) from network operators and online

retailers.

See also: document

application capabilities

Set of properties for an application that are understood by the application architecture, such as its support

for embeddability, and whether it is hidden. They are set in the application registration file provided with the

application.This concept should not be confused with a program's security capabilities.

application class

Defines the properties of the application, such as UID and caption, and creates a new document.

See also: document class

application framework

Handles application start-up and accessing the application data (its document).


3 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

application framework API

The frameworks that define the application structure and their basic user interface handling.

application program

A program made up of a number of classes. It usually consists of a user interface and an application

engine.

application resource file

A resource file written by an application programmer as part of the application source; such files are used

to define the application user interface, and to define literal strings and other constant data.

See also: resource file

application view

A window managed by an application, which typically displays user data.

app UI

The central user interface class. It creates and owns controls to display the application data, and

centralises handling of command input from standard controls such as menus and toolbars.

A control environment class which defines application-wide aspects of the user interface, such as key

event handling. Each application that uses the control environment has exactly one app UI.

or

The interface an application presents to the user, or the subclass of CEikAppUi an application uses.

See also: user interface

archive

A file attribute indicating whether it has been saved since changes were made to it. The archive attribute is

assigned to a file when it is created, replaced or written to.

See also: attribute

argument

A value on which a function operates.

ARM processors

A processor with 16/32 bit embedded RISC from ARM.

array buffer

An area containing the elements, or pointers to the elements of an array.

array capacity

The number of elements which an array can hold or represent within the space currently allocated to its

array buffer.

See also: array buffer

array granularity

The number of elements by which the array capacity of an array is increased.


4 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

See also: array capacity

ascent

The ascent of a character cell defines the position of the baseline within every character cell of a font. It is

the number of pixels from the top of the cell to the baseline. The baseline is not a pixel row itself, but

occurs between two pixel rows. Ascent in Wikipedia

ASIC

Application Specific Integrated Circuit

associated window

The window associated with a control. If the control is a window-owning control, this is the window is owns.

If the control is non-window-owning, it is the window in which the control is displayed, i.e., the window

owned by the nearest window-owning-control above it in the run-time control hierarchy.

ASSP

Application-Specific Standard Product. An integrated off-the-shelf part consisting of CPU, MMU, cache and

a number of on-chip peripherals (typically UART's, timers, LCD controller). Designed and marketed by a

silicon vendor and intended to be used in a class of devices.

asynchronous request

A request for an asynchronous service from an asynchronous service provider.

See also: asynchronous service provider

asynchronous service provider

A system, component or class which provides a service asynchronously. Requests are indicated by

function calls with a TRequestStatus reference parameter.

See also: Request status, active object, active scheduler, asynchronous request

AT+FCR=1

Class 2 modem receive command.

attack surface

The complete set of resources and interfaces exposed to potential attackers trying to compromise a

system's security.

attribute

A characteristic of a file or directory. Attributes determine the visibility of files and directories and whether

or not they can be deleted or modified. Attributes include hidden, read-only and archive.

For Bluetooth, a Bluetooth service is described by a service record, consisting of a list of service attributes.

Each attribute has an ID, a type, and a value.

See also: entry, hidden, archive, read-only

audio streaming

Playing audio data incrementally, as the data fragments are received by the client, rather than waiting until


5 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

the entire sound clip has downloaded before playing it.

automatic transaction

A transaction which is operated automatically by a database, if no explicit transaction is begun when

modifying the database.

See also: transaction

auto-repeat

Repeated key events generated by the window server when a user holds down a key

Document generated by Confluence on Jun 26, 2009 16:55


6 of 6 13/10/09 14:03

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : BThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

B

backed-up window

A window whose contents are backed up, so that the window never becomes invalid, and therefore never

needs to be redrawn except at application request.

See also: redraw, invalid, window

background colour

The colour with which to fill the parts of the view rectangle in which text (and paragraph fill colour, if one

has been set) cannot appear. Examples of such areas are below the last line of the document and in the

label and line cursor margins. May also be used to fill the left text margin, if one has been set.

See also: text area, paragraph fill colour, line cursor margin, label margin, left text margin, line

backup

Process of safeguarding data on the device by copying it to PC. Symbian OS has a backup and restore

framework which applications should use to ensure that system backups can happen effectively.

backward compatibility

Updating a component in such a way that client code which used the original version can continue to work

with the updated version.

See also forward compatibility

BAFL

Basic Application Framework Library, a collection of various utilities.

See also: Engine Utilities

band

Printing : Horizontal portions of a page whose height depends on the size of the memory buffer of the

printer device in use.

See also: printer device

bandwidth

Bandwidth is commonly used to refer to the amount of data that can be passed along a communications

channel in a given period of time. To be more accurate, both bandwidth and the speed of a connection

determine the rate at which a computer or network sends or receives data. As a good measure of

performance, Internet 'bandwidth' connections are usually rated in terms of how many bits they pass per

second (bit/s).

bank

An area of physical address space reserved for a particular type of memory (for example, RAM, ROM, I/O)

and which may be empty or only partially filled

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : B file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 5 13/10/09 14:04

baseband

The band of frequencies of a signal before it is modulated for transmission at another frequency. A

baseband processor refers to dedicated processor in a mobile phone to handle communication functions.

base station

A base station is a fixed transceiver that acts as the link between a mobile phone and the landline network.

Mobile phone networks are composed of an array of base stations that in combination provide coverage of

a network's geographic area. Each base station's range of reception is determined by the area it covers

and the number of calls that it is likely to process. In remote areas, a base station is likely to forgo power

for increased area of transmission.

base year

Application Engines : In an anniversary entry, this allows the application to display a number of years

between the base year and the current anniversary.

based-on link

Text Content : A pointer to the format layer whose attributes are inherited by another layer. To find out a

character or paragraph's effective formatting, all based-on links must be examined, beginning at the format

layer upon which all other layers are based.

See also: format layer, effective format

baseline

The baseline of a character is the notional line that splits the descent of a character from its ascent.

See also: character cell ascent, character cell descent

baseline offset

The perpendicular distance from the baseline of a font to another parallel line, such as the underline,

strikethrough, superscript or subscript position.

See also: baseline

BDB

Bank Descriptor Block, a list of entries describing banks.

bdf file

Binary distribution format - used in font definition files.

See also: Fontcomp

bearer

A telephone network used to carry a call.

bearer name

The type of data service, for example, Asynchronous or Synchronous.

BER


2 of 5 13/10/09 14:04

Bit error rate.

binary compatibility

Modifying a library in such a way that code which linked against the previous version can continue to run

with the new version without needing recompilation.

binary mode

When a file is open in binary mode, the data bytes in the file are read and written without any intervention

by the file system.

See also: text mode

BIO

BIO stands for Bearer Independent Object

BITGDI

The screen and bitmap-specific graphics drawing component.

See also: bitmap

bitmap

Provides the pixel patterns used by pictures, icons and masks, sprites and brush styles for filling areas of

the display.

See also: mbm

bitmap converter tool

Converts bitmaps between MS Windows to Symbian bitmap format and vice versa.

See also: multi-bitmap file format

bitmap mask

A bitmap whose pixels are used to hinder or allow the individual pixels of another bitmap to be written to a

graphics device.

See also: icon, bitmap

bitmap primitive

A graphics operation to draw a bitmap.

See also: graphics operation, bitmap

bldmake tool

SBSv1 build tool. It processes the component description file (bld.inf) in the current directory, and

generates a batch file (abld.bat) and several build batch makefiles (.make.abld) which are used to build the

component.

See also: abld.bat batch file

blit

Block transfer copy of pixel data from memory to a graphics device.

See also: stretch blit


3 of 5 13/10/09 14:04

BLOB

Binary Large OBject: a collection of binary data held in a file store or database. Commonly used to

represent multimedia objects such as images, sounds and video.

Bluetooth® wireless technology

A short-range radio communications technology, standardised by the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest

Group) in the form of the Bluetooth Specification, for wireless communications of data and voice between

both mobile and stationary devices. For instance, it specifies how mobile phones, computers and PDAs

interconnect with each other, with computers, and with office or home phones. The first generation of

Bluetooth® wireless technology permits exchange of data up to a rate of 1 Mbps per second, even in

areas with much electromagnetic disturbance. It transmits and receives via a short-range radio link using a

globally available frequency band (2.4 GHz ISM band).

Bmconv

Tool that converts bitmaps between Windows and Symbian OS bitmap formats.

bmp file

Extension for a Windows bitmap file.

See also: windows bitmap

bootloader

Optional code which runs immediately on reset, before the bootstrap.This is also referred to as the core

loader, or just the loader.

bootstrap

A short program, often written in assembler, which gains control when the machine is first powered on. The

bootstrap sets up an environment that allows the Kernel to continue to boot Symbian OS (for example,

setting up memory, I/O devices and creating virtual memory space).

bps

Bits per second: a way of quantifying data transmission throughput. It is the number of pieces of

information (bits) transmitted or received per second.

brush

The brush is used, in basic graphics functions, for filling areas drawn with the shape primitives, and also

for text background fills.

See also: pen, graphics context, brush attribute

brush attribute

Brush attributes, in basic graphics functions, are: brush colour, brush origin, brush style.

See also: brush, brush origin, brush style

brush colour

The colour which the brush uses for fills.


4 of 5 13/10/09 14:04

See also: brush attribute

brush origin

The point at which the top left corner of the pattern reference tile is positioned.


brush style

The style with which the brush fills fillables. This may be null, solid colour, a built-in pattern or a bitmap

pattern.


Brutus

Development board for the StrongArm SA-1100.

BSS

A section in an executable's disk image that denotes how much uninitialised data the executable needs to

run.

buffer

An area of memory designated to contain a portion of data awaiting processing.

See also: dynamic buffer, descriptor

buffer position

The position of a byte within a segmented or flat buffer: bytes are numbered from zero, and the address of

the byte indexed by a given buffer position is calculated each time the buffer is accessed.

See also: flat buffer, segmented buffer

built-in type

Data types which are part of the C++ language; for example, unsigned int, unsigned char.

button co-ordinator

An object which co-ordinates the behaviour of a group of option buttons. It keeps track of the current

chosen option button.

See also: option button



5 of 5 13/10/09 14:04

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : CThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

C

C function

In Symbian OS, this refers to a function with a trailing C in its name (more normally with a trailing LC), for

example NewLC(): such functions place a pointer to the object being worked upon onto the cleanup stack.

See also: leave, cleanup stack

C++

An industry standard object-oriented compiled language, formally standardized in 1998, but tracing its

history to the early 1980s, with an heritage in C and Simula. C++ is a general-purpose programming

language with a bias towards systems programming. C++ runs on most computers from the most powerful

supercomputers to the ubiquitous personal computers. Symbian OS is written in C++.

call

A specific communication on a line. See RCall.

See also: call capabilities, call status, call ownership

call capabilities

Includes ability to support data, fax or voice calls, and the valid actions, for example to hang up.

See also: call

call ownership

When an ETel client makes or answers a call, it is said to have ownership of that call. Only the client with

ownership can terminate the call or gain control of the underlying communications channel. All other

clients may just monitor the call and view its state.

See also: call

call status

The status of a call, such as dialling, idle, and connection.

See also: call

cancel function

A function provided by an asynchronous service provider to cancel a service that has been requested.

See also: asynchronous service provider, request function, active object

caption

An application's caption is the text displayed below its icon, typically this is the application name.

See also: application, icon

Caribide.c++

Software development tool for C++ development on Symbian OS.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : C file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access: a digital wireless telephony transmission technique.

1. CDMA allows multiple frequencies to be used simultaneously (Spread Spectrum). The CDMA idea was

originally developed for military use over 30 years ago.

2. The CDMA standards used for second-generation mobile telephony are the IS-95 standards

championed by QUALCOMM.

cell broadcast

Cell Broadcast (CB) messaging is a mobile technology feature defined by the ETSI's GSM committee and

is part of the GSM standard. It is also known as Short Message Service - Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB). Cell

Broadcast is designed for simultaneous delivery of messages to multiple users in a specified area (source:

Wikipedia).

cell identity code

The unique identifier for a particular cell in a mobile network.

cellular radio

The technology that has made large scale mobile telephony possible. Current cellular networks reuse the

same radio frequencies by assigning them to cells far enough apart to reduce interference. A cell is the

geographical area covered by one radio base station transmitting/receiving in the center. The size of each

cell is determined by the terrain, transmission power, and forecasted number of users. Service coverage of

a given area is based on an interlocking network of cells, called a cell system.

certificate

A public key together with some information that is collectively signed with a private key.

certification authority (CA)

An organisation that performs various functions in a PKI, including issuing digital certificates, supporting

certificate revocation and revocation checking.

certification authority certificate

A certificate that is used for signing other certificates.

Certificate generator

A tool used to create a certificate request file, which is sent to a certification authority.

CF card

Compact Flash card. A storage medium for mobile devices.

CFR

Confirmation to Receive. A digital response confirming that the entire pre-message procedure for receiving

a fax has been completed, and that message transmissions may commence.


2 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

character

The smallest recognised unit in the Symbian OS text model. Not always visible as text on the screen. For

instance, includes page and line breaks, paragraph delimiters and picture characters.

See also: word, paragraph, picture character, paragraph delimiter

character cell

The rectangular array of pixels that wholly contains the shape of a character in a font (see character

metrics).

See also: character cell metrics

character cell ascent

The number of pixels from the top of a character cell to the baseline.

See also: character cell, baseline

character cell descent

The number of pixels from the baseline to the bottom of a character cell.

See also: character cell, baseline

character cell height

The height of a character cell in a font definition, in pixels.

See also: character cell

character cell metrics

The ascent, descent, height and baseline measurements of character cell.

See also: character cell ascent, character cell descent, character cell height, baseline

character editor

A control which supports editing a single character.

character format attribute

Describes the appearance of characters; for instance font, font style and font size.

See also: format attribute

character format layer

A format layer specifying character format attributes.

See also: character, format layer, character format attribute

character justification

Full justification of text by adjusting the gaps between characters.

See also: word justification, justification

charge card

A pre-paid phone card.


3 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

check box

A control which may be used to toggle an application state.


child

A Message Server entry that belongs to another entry: for example, a message is a child of its folder.

chunk

An area of contiguous linear memory. It is the unit of memory allocation where a region of RAM is mapped

into contiguous logical addresses. Chunks are allocated during boot for purposes such as the Kernel's

data and stack.

CIG

Calling Subscriber Identification. An optional signal that indicates that the following fax frame is an

identification of the calling station. Used to provide additional security to fax communications.

See also: CSI

circuit switching

Means of creating a connection by setting up a dedicated end-to-end circuit, which remains open for the

duration of the communication.

CLDC

J2ME Connected Limited Device Configuration. The CLDC serves the market consisting of personal,

mobile, connected information devices. This configuration includes some new classes designed

specifically to fit the needs of small-footprint devices.

cleanup

The process of cleaning up after an exception or an error has occurred.

See also: leave, exception, cleanup stack

cleanup stack

The stack of partially constructed items maintained by CleanupStack::PushL() and CleanupStack::Pop(),

which will be cleaned up, should a leave occur.

See also: Cleanup, trap harness, leave

client

A program which requests services from another program.

See also: server, asynchronous request

client interface function

A member function in a client-side session (or subsession) class which implement a specific message

request to the server, using an operation code.

See also: client-side session, subsession, operation code


4 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

client subsession

The representation of a subsession in the client program. A client subsession has a corresponding

subsession object in the server program.

See also: subsession, subsession object

Client-side MTM

A component that provides functions to a client for manipulation of message data for a particular

messaging protocol.

client-side session

The representation of a session in the client.

See also: session

clipboard

A temporary stream store used to store text/pictures. Used in copying, cutting and pasting text.

clipping region

The region to which graphics primitives are clipped.

See also: region

clock alarm

A general type of alarm that can be set by users, and managed by the alarm server. The 8 clock alarms

can be set by any session. However, once set, they are independent of the setting application.

See also: timed alarm, untimed alarm, orphan alarm, snoozed alarm, session alarm

codec

A codec is a device or program capable of performing encoding and decoding on a digital data stream or

signal.

code section

A contiguous collection of character definitions covering part of the total character code range.

cold boot

The first time power is applied to a product, or a hard reset.

collate

The removal of differences between characters that are deemed unimportant for the purposes of ordering

characters into their collating sequence.

column

In DBMS, this is considered to be a named member of a row.

See also: row, table

column set

A set of column definitions describing the structure of a table or rowset.


5 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

See also: table, rowset, column

command

A user operation or action on a device's screen that has a meaning to an application. Uikon allows

commands to come from a number of sources, including toolbands, menu bars and hotkeys.

See also: user interface, application, hotkey, menu bar, toolband, toolbar

command button

A control which may be used to initiate a command in an application or to toggle an application state.

See also: latching command button

commit

Complete a transaction and ensure that all changes to the database are permanent.

See also: transaction, rollback

communicators

Information centric products with voice capability. In effect a fully featured personal digital assistant and

mobile phone in one unit. The Nokia 9210 Communicator is an example of such a Symbian OS phone.

See also: Crystal

component

Part of a path, which indicates either a directory or a file. ORA collection of releasables from one source

tree. Many components make up a ROM.

See also: path

component control

A control contained by a compound control.

See also: control, compound control

composition text

The text currently being composed by the user in a front-end processor.

See also: Front End Processor

compound control

A control which contains other controls. These controls are its components.

See also: control, component control

compound identifier

A set of three UIDs which, in combination, identify a Symbian OS object; encapsulated by a TUidType.

See also: UID type

concrete

Used to describe a class which implements the behaviour defined by an abstract class.

See also: abstract


6 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

concrete control

A class that is derived from CCoeControl and can be instantiated.

CONE

Abbreviation of Control Environment.

See also: control environment

connection element

A flag used by ETel to specify whether or not RLP is used.

See also: RLP

connectivity

Includes PC synchronisation and file transfer and Infrared beaming.

contact database

A database of contact items.


contact group

A contact item that holds a set of associated contact cards or own cards.

See also: contact item, own card

contact item

Contains the details for a single contact.

contact item id

Uniquely identifies a contact item.


container control

A compound control.

See also: compound control

content provider

A company that provides services to mobile phone users or network operators. These services could be

shopping, web surfing, chat rooms, playing games, accessing data such as music and books through a

server.

content type

For a field for a contact item, specifies a field's type, and optionally a vCard property to which the field type

maps.

See also: field type, vCard

context

Environment, such as the thread or process, in which an operation is taking place.In Messaging, the entry


7 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

with which a Client-side MTM or User Interface MTM is currently working.

context switch

A context switch is a switch in execution between one thread/process and another. This involves saving

the currently executing thread process's context (that is, its address space mappings) and restoring the

newly executing thread process's context.

context sensitive help (CS help)

Provides users with the specific help topic for the context to which it relates. CS help files are generated

using the CS Help compiler, which replaces the Aleppo help authoring tool used in releases prior to and

including v5.

control

A rectangular area of the screen that may respond to user input events.

See also: window, control environment

control environment

Provides an active-object interface to the window server's asynchronous services, and provides framework

for controls and app UI.

See also: window server, control, app UI

control factory identifier

A value that identifies a particular control class to a factory object which can instantiate objects of that

class.

control observer

A mixin protocol that allows a control to send events to another control.

See also: mixin protocol

controller

How the user changes the state of, or provides input to, a system.

See also: MVC

cosmetic animation

A style of animation used for controls like animated buttons or icons. Because the existence of the

animation is optional, speed and quality may change. Cosmetic animation is the opposite of high dynamic

content animation, which is used by camera and video applications.

CP1252

Code page 1252. The code page for the Windows variant of the Latin1 character set.

CPU Family

A class of CPU, for example the ARM7, ARM9 and StrongARM are all types of ARM CPU, so they belong

to the ARM CPU family.


8 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

critical section

A Kernel object used to serialise access to a resource which may only be shared between the threads

within a process. Access to the critical section is through an RCriticalSection handle.

crop

Eliminate unwanted portions of a picture when it is output. Cropping is done according to a set of margins.

See also: picture, scale, margins

CRP

(1) Command Repeat Procedure. This optional response indicates that the previous command was

received by the fax machine in error, and should be repeated in its entirety.

(2) Content Rendering Plug-in. A combination of artwork provider and a Drawer. The CRP is loaded into a

window server process for server-side rendering.

See also: certificate, certification authority (CA), digital certificate, digital signature, public/private key pair

cryptography

Public Key and Asymmetric - Public-key cryptography uses a pair of keys, one that is designated the

private key and kept secret, the other key is called the public key and is generally made available.

Information encrypted using one key can only be decrypted using the other, and vice versa. The

implication of this is that if a message can be decrypted using the public key, then it must have been sent

from the owner of the private key.

Crystal

Codename for a half-VGA screen size, keyboard-based UI variant that Symbian produced at v6.0.

CS help compiler

Builds help files from the command line, using information defined in a project file, rtf source file or files,

and an optional customisation file. The compiler also generates a C++ header file containing literal

descriptors for each context - which can be used to provide a link to the appropriate help topic from an

application.

CSI

Called Subscriber Identification. Optional signal used to provide the specific identity of the called

subscriber by its international telephone number.

See also: CIG

CSR

Certificate Signing Request: an unsigned certificate, used to create a valid certificate by signing it with the

private key of a certificate authority.

CSY

Communications server. Symbian OS plug-in that provides a protocol module for the serial comms server.

The name is derived from the term "Comms SYstem module" and always appears as the filename

extension for such modules.

See also: CSY module


9 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

CSY module

Plug-in communications server module.

See also: CSY

CTS

Clear To Send. An RS232 input line that is taken as an indication that it is safe for us to transmit data when

high.

See also: RS232

current file position

The position at which the next file read or write operation will start, or from which relative seek operations

take effect.

cursor

DBMS: Part of a rowset object that maintains the current position within the rowset.

or

Text Views: A document position that functions as the insertion point if there is no selection. If there is a

selection, the cursor is the end of the selection which may be extended.

See also: text object, text view, selection, anchor, rowset

customisation file

An optional file used by the context sensitive help compiler to control the appearance of the generated

help text.

See also: project file



10 of 10 13/10/09 14:04

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : DThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

D

D-AMPS

Digital AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service) is the digital wireless standard widely used

throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific and other areas. D-AMPS uses digital TDMA on the one hand, and

is required to be compatible with installed AMPS base station networks on the other. D-AMPS operates on

the 800 and 1900 MHz bands.

database

A collection of tables and indexes. The context for all DBMS operations.

See also: table, index, schema, DBMS

date editor

A concrete control which supports editing a date value.

See also: time and date editor

day note

An appointment that has no start or end date-and-time.

DBMS

Database management system. A component that controls the organisation, storage and retrieval of data

(fields, records and files) in a database. The SQL component provides an alternative database

implementation.

DCD

Data Carrier Detect. An RS232 input line that is generally held high by a modem while a data connection is

active.

See also: RS232

DCE

Data communication equipment (e.g. modem).

See also: DTE

DCN

Disconnect. This command indicates the initiation of fax modem phase E-- call release. This command

requires no response.

DCS 1800

Digital Communications System: another name for GSM working on a radio frequency of 1800 MHz. Also

known as GSM1800 or PCN, this digital network operates in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : D file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

default country

The default country is used as the default country to dial to.

See also: home city

default display time

The time at which, by default, agenda entries are displayed in views.

default document file

The document file in which a file-based application saves data if no filename is given by the user.

See also: document file

default document file name

The name of an application's default document file.

See also: default document file

default owning window group

If a window group is closed while it has the keyboard focus, this window group receives the focus, unless

the closed window group had called SetOwningWindowGroup(). A window group becomes the default

owning window group by calling RWindowGroup::DefaultOwningWindow().

See also: owning window group

default screen device

A screen device created by CCoeEnv when it is constructed. Typically used as the standard screen device

for this application.

default session path

The default path for the current file server session. It is set to the connecting process!s private directory.

See also: path

deferred loading

The loading into memory of pictures inserted in a rich text object only when they are required to be

displayed. The purpose is to reduce the time taken to retrieve a text object and to save memory usage.

See also: picture, picture header

descriptor

A string, so-called because it is self-describing. A class derived from TDesC, which describes an area of

memory used as either a string or some binary data.

descriptorize

To marshal a flat data object, typically a struct or T class, into a descriptor for inter-thread data transfer.

device

File Server : a hardware and software interface which may be associated with a volume, and which has

one of the letters A through Z assigned to it.


2 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

See also: volume

device area

The area of the graphics device to which drawing can be done, (if no smaller clipping region is set in a

window graphics context).

See also: clipping region

device password dialog

Dialogs that allow the user to enter or change the device password.

DFC

Delayed Function Call. A function that is called after all interrupt service routines have been called but

before execution returns to application code. May be 'scheduled' by ISRs to perform services for them.

DFRD

Device Family Reference Design. All products from the same DFRD are able to run the same third party

software, content and services. From v7.0 onwards, this term is no longer used.

dialog

A control, normally invoked by the selection of a menu command, allowing interaction between the user

and the program.

See also: control

digital

A way of encoding information. On digital networks, data doesn't need to go though the extra step of being

converted to an analog signal, voice is sampled and coded in a way similar to how it is recorded on a CD.

Digital networks are fast replacing analog ones as they offer improved sound quality, secure transmission

and can handle data directly as well as voice. Digital networks include mobile systems GSM, D-AMPS,

CDMA, TDMA and UMTS.

digital certificate

An electronic message attachment that is used for security purposes. The most common use of a digital

certificate is to verify that a user sending a message is who they claim to be, and to provide the receiver

with the means to encode a reply.

digital signature

A digital code that can be attached to an electronically transmitted message that uniquely identifies the

sender.

direct file store

A file based persistent store in which streams can be created and objects externalised to them but, once

committed and closed, they cannot subsequently be changed.

See also: file store

Direct Navigational Link (DNL)


3 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

Applications that use the view architecture can allow other applications to send messages specifying a

view to display, and possibly relevant accompanying data, called a Direct Navigational Link (DNL)

message. The ability to request views and send DNLs is provided by the UI Control Framework API's

CCoeAppUi class.

See also: View Architecture

directory

Structure containing information on files and subdirectories.

See also: path

directory entry

Holds information about a file or a directory owned by the directory that contains the entry.

direct screen access

A way of drawing to the screen without using the window server. As this avoids client-server

communication, it is much faster.

DIS

Digital Identification Signal. Frame containing the capabilities of the called fax.

See also: DTC

displayable window

A window that can be displayed on the screen. In practice, this means all concrete window classes except

window groups.

dithering

Error diffusion, or dithering, is a way of avoiding aliasing due to a cut-down palette size. If a colour cannot

be matched exactly then the nearest colour is used and the difference remembered. Then on the next pixel

the difference is added to the desired colour and the result matched to the nearest colour available. In this

way a mid-blue, for example, might be represented by a scattering of dark blue and light blue, if that

mid-blue were not available in the current palette.

DLL

Dynamic Link Library. Dynamic Link Libraries are loaded in response to an explicit API call made by an

executing program.

See also: dynamic link library, statically loaded DLL, dynamically loaded DLL, API

DLL export table

An area in the DLL which lists the DLL addresses of exported items; In Symbian OS, these items are

indexed by ordinal.

See also: DLL, export, name build, ordinal build

document

Application Architecture : A run-time object containing data associated with a specific instance of an

application program. A document may be stored to and restored from a document file.

Application framework : File-based applications use a document object to provide an intermediate layer


4 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

between the app UI, the model and the file the model will be stored in. Non-file-based applications will only

use a document to create the application's UI.

See also: app UI, model, application program, document file

document class

Represents the data model for the application. In file-based applications, it stores and restores the

application's data. It handles requests to edit a document by creating an app UI.

document file

A file that is the externalised form of a main document and any embedded documents it contains.

See also: document

document head stream

A stream directly accessible from the root stream dictionary.

See also: root stream dictionary

document position

A reference to a position in an editable text object. It is an integer ranging from zero (start of document), to

the length of document. Depending on the context, a document position either refers to the character

indexed by this number, or the point between this character and its predecessor (if any).

See also: text object

door

The Symbian OS document embedding mechanism. A door represents an embedded document. There

are two types of door: glass doors and iconic doors.

See also: document, glass door, iconic door

DoS

Denial of Service: an attack on the security of a system which results in it being unavailable for use.

down event

A Window Server event of type Button1Down, Button2Down or Button3Down. The user actions that result

in these events will vary depending on the type of pointing device: mouse, pen, etc.

drag event

An event corresponding to a user's dragging a draggable control.

Drawer

In graphics, this is the ECOM plug-in that does CRP rendering of the content in the window server

process context.

drawing client

A client that calls on the Drawer to draw through the DrawWsGraphic() function.

drawing mode


5 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

Determines the logical operation used to put pen or brush colour onto the graphics device. Defined in a

graphics context.

See also: pen, brush, graphics device

drive

The letter used to identify one device or volume accessed through the File Server.

See also: device, volume, path

drive list

The list of volumes that are currently valid.

drive name selector

A type of choice list which allows a drive to be selected from those currently available.

DRM

Digital rights management; the administration of rights in a digital environment. Rights may include

controls on the use and redistribution of digital content. A set of technologies to prevent unauthorized use

of copyrighted content.

DSR

Data Set Ready. An RS232 input line that is taken as an indication that the device is connected to an

active serial port.

See also: RS232

DST

Daylight savings time.

DTC

Digital Transmit Command. The command response to the capabilities identified by the DIS signal.

See also: DIS

DTE

Data terminal equipment (e.g. computer).

See also: DCE

DTMF

Dual Tone Multi Frequency (touch tone).

A method used by the telephone system to communicate the keys pressed when dialling. Pressing a key

on a phone's keypad generates two simultaneous tones, one for the row and one for the column. These

are decoded by the exchange to determine which key was pressed.

DTR

Data Terminal Ready. An RS232 output line that can be held high to indicate that a device serial port is

active.

See also: RS232


6 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

dual band

Dual band mobile phones can work on networks that operate on different frequency bands. This is useful if

you move between areas covered by different networks. Some networks operate on two bands, for

instance GSM-1800 in town centers and GSM-900 in the rest of the country.

dual mode

Dual mode mobile phones have more than one air interface and hence can work on more than one

network. One example is phones that operate on both digital and analog networks. They are quite useful if

you want the advantages of a digital phone, but regularly visit areas where analog is the only service

available.

DUNP

The Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking Profile. It allows a computer to use a Bluetooth cellular phone or

modem to make and receive data calls.

duration editor

A control which supports editing a duration value.

See also: time editor, time offset editor

dynamic buffer

A buffer, derived from CBufBase, used to hold data is of significantly varying length, which can be

extended when necessary.

dynamic link library

A library containing functions that are linked and stored separately from the programs that use them.

See also: DLL, statically loaded DLL, dynamically loaded DLL

dynamically loaded DLL

A DLL loaded by another program using RLibrary::Load(). Application programs may not call functions

from this DLL directly.

Also known as a polymorphic DLL.

See also: Polymorphic DLL



7 of 7 13/10/09 14:05

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : EThis page last changed on Jul 14, 2008 by mbarn.

E

E32

Original name for the base components of Symbian OS.

E32Image

Symbian OS executable file format.

EABI

Embedded Application Binary Interface.

ear

A triangular button that can be pressed to set another control to the next or previous in sequence. Ears are

displayed to either side of the control they affect.

ECOM

ECOM stands for Epoc Component Object Model, It's a generic framework in Symbian OS from v7.0 for

use with plug-in modules.

EDGE

Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution. An enhanced modulation technique designed to increase

network capacity and data rates in GSM networks. EDGE should provide data rates up to 384 Kbps.

EDGE will let operators without a 3G license to compete with 3G networks offering similar data services.

EDGE is not expected before 2001 at the earliest.

editable text

Text and other text object components (including pictures and other attachments) that may be edited under

program control. An interface is provided to the layout engine so that editable text can be displayed on

screen, and commands and selections made from the screen. The two most important forms of editable

text are rich text and global text.

See also: rich text, global text, plain text, layout engine

EFF

Electronic Font Foundry.

See also: Electronic Font Foundry format, Fontcomp

effective format

The set of format attributes that apply to a character or paragraph. Consists of the attributes specified by

the applicable format layers.

See also: format attribute, format layer

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : E file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 5 13/10/09 14:06

EIKON framework

A GUI programming framework including concrete controls and standard dialogs, which was replaced in

v5.1 by UIKON and device-specific UI libraries.

EKA1

EKA1 is the first-generation kernel for Symbian OS. It offers pre-emptive multitasking and memory

protection, but no real-time guarantees and a single-threaded device driver model. It has now largely been

superseded by EKA2.

EKA2

The name of the real-time kernel available for Symbian OS from Symbian OS v8 onwards.

True real-time performance became increasingly critical for Symbian OS as phones evolved into

converged multimedia devices. From Symbian OS v9 onwards, all systems are based on EKA2.

Electronic Font Foundry format

Font format licensed by Symbian for use in Symbian OS. Also referred to as EFF.

See also: EFF

ELF

Executable and Linking Format

embeddable capability

Embeddable documents can be embedded within another application.

See also: application, application capabilities

empty

A rectangle is empty when the area contained within it is zero or negative. This situation occurs when the

rectangle is not normalised, or when it has a height or width of zero. A region is empty if it contains no

rectangles.

See also: normalise, rectangle, region

Emulator

An implementation of Symbian OS hosted on PCs running Microsoft Windows. The Emulator is the

primary development environment for Symbian OS.

End entity certificate

A certificate which has been signed by a certification authority. An EE certificate may be used to sign a SIS

file or a MIDlet, but may not be used to sign certificates.

engine

The UI and view independent portion of an application, concerned with data manipulation and other

fundamental operations independently of how these are eventually represented to the user.

See also: model, MVC


2 of 5 13/10/09 14:06

Engine Utilities

Also known as BAFL, this component provides utilities for applications.

See also: BAFL

entity

An object to be parsed by the Versit parser. The entity types supported by Versit are: vCalendar, vCard,

vEvent, vTodo.

Entities may either be top level entities, or sub-entities.

See also: versit, top level entity, sub-entity

entry

A directory entry. This may be either a file or directory.

or

An item recorded in the Index by the Message Server, such as a message, service, folder, or attachment.

Each Index entry (and so each item) is uniquely identified by an ID field.

See also: attribute

entry ID

Uniquely identifies an agenda entry in an agenda file. Unlike the unique ID, the entry ID can change if the

entry is updated, or if another entry is deleted from or added to the file. It therefore cannot be used to

identify the entry during synchronisation.

See also: unique ID

entry observer

A class implemented by a messaging client that is notified when the data representing an individual entry

changes, or when requested access to a message store has been successfully gained.

entry point

In Symbian OS before v9, a function E32Dll() that was called when a DLL was loaded, or attached by a

thread or process.

See also: DLL, export

entry symbol

The character which is used to represent an entry in Agenda application views.

EOP

End Of Procedure. Indicates the end of a complete page of fax information, and that no further documents

are expected. Proceed to phase E upon receipt of a confirmation.

EPOC

The original name for Symbian OS.

EPOC32

Early version of the operating system that evolved into Symbian OS

The 32 in 'Epoc 32' represents that it was a 32-bit operating system. Its predecessor, EPOC, was only 16

bit, also known as SIBO.


3 of 5 13/10/09 14:06

ESN

Electronic Serial Number: a unique number used to identify handsets on CDMA mobile phone networks.

ESOCK

The Symbian OS sockets framework. It provides an abstract sockets interface, for which extensions to

support particular sockets protocols, such as TCP/IP, can be written.

See also: socket

E-TACS

Extended Total Access Communications System: a 1G mobile phone network developed in the UK and

available in Europe and Asia.

ETel

The Symbian OS telephony framework. It provides an abstract telephony interface, for which extensions to

support particular telephony protocols or devices can be written.

ETel core API

The ETel API that implements the subset of near-universally supported telephony functionality.

See also: ETel

ETEXT

The Symbian OS component that relates to text content and formatting.

See also: FORM

event

A loose term used to describe the cause of the completion of a request to an event source.

See also: event source, asynchronous request

event queue

A queue of keyboard, pointer and redraw events maintained by the window server, for each of its current

client applications.

See also: window server

event source

An asynchronous service provider that causes requests to complete when some event (usually not directly

solicited) occurs.

Event sources must buffer the events they detect, until they are able to 'give' them to a user program by

virtual of a request completion. Buffer overrun is a real possibility.

See also: event, asynchronous service provider

exception

Abnormal condition that causes the CPU to stop what it is doing and jump to a specific piece of code.Or

In an agenda entry's repeat details, a date for which the repeat algorithm does not apply.

See also: leave, trap harness, repeat details, repeating entry


4 of 5 13/10/09 14:06

excess width

The width over which excess space is to be distributed when drawing justified text.

See also: justification

exe

An Executable file that contains the code for a program. A type of binary which when loaded is used as the

basis for a new process.

exec call

A call to the Kernel via a software interrupt.

export

Within the context of a DLL, to make a function or data available for use by application programs or other

DLLs.

See also: DLL, import

export by ordinal

Within the context of a DLL, an exported function referred to by its ordinal number instead of by name.

See also: Export

expose

A window is completely or partly exposed when a window that used to be on top of it is moved or

destroyed.

See also: window

extension

Identifies the type of a file. It comprises everything after the final dot. If there is no final dot, the extension

is empty.

See also: path

extent

A control or window's position and size.

externalise

The process of writing an object's data to a stream.

See also: stream



5 of 5 13/10/09 14:06

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : FThis page last changed on Aug 11, 2008 by admin.

F

F32

Original name for the file server component of Symbian OS.

See also: file server

Fading

Changing colours so that they are closer to white or closer to black.

fat space

A space between words in output text that has been widened by one or more pixels beyond the standard

width of a space character in the current font.

See also: justification, excess width

fax header line

The fax header line appears at the top of every fax page sent by a Symbian OS phone. It includes the

sender ID, phone number, time, date and page sequencing information.

fax modem

A modem capable of sending and receiving faxes using one of a number of recognised command sets.

fax on demand

Retrieving fax by making a voice call to the source, then turning on the fax to receive the call.

See also: fax polling

fax phase

All fax transmission/reception progresses through the phases A (dialling and answering), B (Negotiation),

C (Sending data), D (status exchange), and E (hangup). For more information see Fax phases.

fax polling

Retrieving a fax through fax negotiation on a fax initiated call.

See also: fax on demand

fax session

Fax sub-session incorporates fax functionality into ETel. Not used directly, but through fax client.

faxstore

The Symbian OS fax storage classes, which implement the ITU T.4 fax coding standards.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : F file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

FEP (Front-End Processor)

Allows the input of characters by a user, for example, by handwriting recognition or voice, and converts the

input transparently into text.

FHNG:#

The class 2 modem error reporting code for hanging up. This includes a number, represented by the #

which indicates the reason for hanging up.

field

A format field is a code which causes the insertion of information into a text object. This information can

then be automatically updated.

Or

A section of a contact item containing a discrete part of the item's information. Contact item fields have a

label and a content type.

See also: contact item, label, content type

field definition

Specifies a subset of fields to use when searching a contact database.

See also: field, contact database

field set

The set of fields owned by a contact item.

See also: field, contact item

field type

A UID which uniquely identifies a field's type.

See also: UID, field

FIFO

First In First Out. A queued type of buffer.

file

A collection of data in persistent storage, accessible via the file server.


file descriptor

In standard C, a handle to an I/o resource, for instance a file, socket or terminal.

See also: file descriptor table

file descriptor table

In standard C, a way of implementing file descriptors by treating them as indexes into an array.

See also: file descriptor

file name

The entire name of a file including its path, or just its file name.


2 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

See also: path

file name editor

A concrete control that supports editing a file name.

file name selector

A type of choice list that allows a file name to be selected from a directory listing.

file selection observer

A file/folder selector/editor which is dependent on a folder/drive selector.

See also: file name selector, folder name selector, drive name selector, file name editor, folder name editor,

file selection observer protocol

file selection observer protocol

A protocol which enables a file/folder selector/editor to update its contents when the selection in a

file/folder selector changes.

See also: file name selector, folder name selector, drive name selector, file name editor, folder name editor

file server

The server which mediates all file system operations. All application programs which use files are clients of

this server.

See also: F32, file server session

file server session

A session from a client program to the file server: a client program may have any number of sessions,

which allows components to have their own sessions, and to operate without interference from other

components.


file specification

A specification of the name of one or more files. May contain wildcards.

See also: path, wildcard

file store

A persistent store which is file based.

See also: persistent store, store

file switch

When an application closes its current file and opens another specified file in response to a message from

the shell.

See also: application, document file

file system

A set of conventions used to access a drive, and the software which implements those conventions. Local,

ROM and installable file systems are supported.


3 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

See also: ROM file system, local file system, remote file system

file-based application

An application that stores data in persistent storage. For instance, a word processor.

See also: non-file-based application

file name

The name that identifies the file within its directory. It comprises everything from the character following the

last backslash to the character preceding the final period (if there is one).

See also: path

fillable

A closed shape, that may or may not be filled.

See also: fillable primitive

fillable primitive

A graphics operation to draw a fillable shape.

See also: fillable

Firmware

Programs stored in semi-permanent storage such as ROM.

fiq

On the ARM family of processors, a fast (high priority) interrupt.

fixed point editor

A concrete control that presents the appearance of editing a number with a fixed number of decimal

places, e.g. 3.141, but actually edits an integer scaled appropriately, e.g. 3141.

Flash memory

Non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed.

flat buffer

A dynamic buffer using flat storage, that is, a single segment of memory, which is re-allocated if the buffer

must expand, or if the buffer is compressed.

See also: segmented buffer, buffer position

floating point editor

A concrete control that supports editing one double-precision number.

flush

To empty a buffer, sending its contents to the next stage in processing.

Fnttran


4 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

Font conversion utility for creating a font store file from a font definition (text) file.

fold

The removal of differences between characters that are deemed unimportant for the purposes of inexact or

case-insensitive matching. As well as ignoring differences of case, folding ignores any accent on a

character.

folder name editor

A concrete control that supports editing a folder name.

See also: root folder

folder name selector

A type of choice list that allows a folder name to be selected from those existing below a specified root

folder.

FOMA

Officially short for Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access, is the brand name for the 3G services being

offered by Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo.

font

A collection of characters of a particular height (measured in points, or in other device-dependent units).

See also: typeface

Font Source file

A font format: Also referred to as FSC format.

See also: Fontcomp, FSC

Fontcomp

Converts fonts in EFF or FSC formats to Symbian OS font file format.

See also: GDR, EFF, FSC

footer

Text repeated at the bottom of every printed page.

See also: header

forced line break

Forces a new line without beginning a new paragraph.

See also: line, paragraph

foreground

A window is in the foreground if its z position is closest.

An application is loosely said to be in the foreground if it has keyboard focus.

FORM

The Symbian OS component that relates to Text Views.


5 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

See also: ETEXT

format attribute

Describes the appearance of text. Divided into paragraph and character format attributes. Stored in format

layers.

See also: format layer, paragraph format attribute, character format attribute

format layer

Specifies the attributes of a region that differ from surrounding regions. A region of text is formatted

according to the attributes in its effective format. This is built up from format layers. A global text object has

a single paragraph format layer, and a single character format layer, specifying the formatting of the entire

text object. A rich text object's format layers may refer to regions smaller than the entire text object.

See also: character format layer, paragraph format layer, effective format, text object, rich text object,

global text object

format mode

Whether text layout is to include wrap to device or printer width and whether device or printer fonts are to

be used for layout.

See also: text view

formatted band

The part of a document enclosed within the view rectangle. Additionally, any part of a paragraph that

extends above the top of the view rectangle is also within the formatted band.

See also: text object, view rectangle

forward compatibility

Updating a component in such a way that code which works with the new version also works with the

original version.

See also backward compatibility.

framework

A component that allows its functionality to be extended by writing plug-in modules ('framework

extensions'). The extension developer writes classes that derive from interfaces defined by the framework.

The framework loads the required extensions during run-time.

Symbian OS uses frameworks extensively, including UIKON, ESOCK, and ETel.

See also: framework extension, polymorphic DLL

framework extension

A component that provides some plug-in functionality to a pre-defined framework. In Symbian OS, a

framework extension is implemented as a polymorphic DLL.

See also: polymorphic DLL

freeze

A process of fixing the association between name and ordinal, for function exported from a DLL.

freeze file


6 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

A colloquial reference to a def file; so called because it freezes the association between name and ordinal,

for exported functions.

See also: export

Front End Processor

A piece of software present on a target phone that allows the user to enter handwriting and for it to be

converted transparently into text input.

See also: composition text

FSC

Font format: Font Source file

See also: Fontcomp, Font Source file

FTT

Failure To Train. A fax modem's digital response rejecting the training signal and requesting a retraining.

full name

The concatenation of the name of a subsession object and the full name of its owner subsession object, if

any.

See also: subsession object

full ordinal position

A window's ordinal position, taking into account windows of other priorities. (Ordinal position is normally

specified relative to windows of the same priority.) Usually applies only to window groups.

See also: ordinal position



7 of 7 13/10/09 14:06

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : GThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

G

GCE

Graphics Composition Engine. A driver that combines surfaces together

on the screen.

GDI

Graphics Device Interface.

See also: Graphics Device Interface

GDR

Symbian OS font file format.

See also: Fontcomp

generated header

A header file generated by the resource compiler, conventionally with extension .rsg, containing definitions

of symbolic constants which refer to resources in the resource file.

See also: resource file, resource

ghost image

Repetition of a block of memory, caused when two physical addresses map to the same memory block,

typically when some address lines are not connected.

glass door

A visual representation of an embedded object which displays the embedded object (for example, a sketch

or graph).

See also: door, iconic door

global chunk

A global chunk is a memory area which is available to all threads and processes.

global text

Editable text with a single, global, set of paragraph and character format attributes, so that a text object is

displayed with entirely uniform formatting.

See also: editable text, text object, format attribute

global text object

A text object containing global text.

See also: global text, text object

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : G file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 3 13/10/09 14:06

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service: a radio technology for GSM networks that adds packet-switching protocols,

shorter set-up time for ISP connections, and offer the possibility to charge by amount of data sent rather

than connect time. GPRS promises to support flexible data transmission rates typically up to 20 or 30 Kbps

(with a theoretical maximum of 171.2 Kbps), as well as continuous connection to the network. A 2.5G

enhancement to GSM, GPRS is the most significant step towards 3G, needing similar business model,

and service and network architectures. GPRS started to appear in some networks during 2000.

graphics context

Contains context for graphics operations to a graphics device. A graphics device may have one or more

graphics contexts. Abbreviation: GC.

See also: graphics device, drawing mode, pen, brush

graphics device

A device that can produce a graphics context for drawing. A device has a typeface store, and twips-

to-pixels and pixels-to-twips mappings.

See also: graphics context

Graphics Device Interface

The Symbian OS component related to graphics manipulation, graphics context, bitmaps.

See also: GDI

graphics operation

Operations that affect output to a graphics device. Include: shape operations (line primitives and fillable

primitives), text drawing primitives, bitmap primitives.

See also: line primitive, fillable primitive, graphics device, bitmap primitive, text drawing primitive

GRID

A component that provides functionality for row and column layout.

grouped property

A property that is a member of a group of related properties within a vCard.

See also: property, vCard

group label

A field in a contact group used to identify the group to users, for example, 'family', or 'colleagues'.

See also: contact group, field

GSM

GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephone system that uses a variation

of time division multiple access.

The most widely used digital mobile phone system and the de facto wireless telephone standard in

Europe. Originally defined as a pan-European open standard for a digital cellular telephone network to

support voice, data, text messaging and cross-border roaming. GSM is now one of the world's main 2G

digital wireless standards. GSM is present in more than 160 countries and according to the GSM

Association, accounts for approximately 70 percent of the total digital cellular wireless market. GSM is a

time division multiplex (TDM) system. Implemented on 800, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz frequency bands.


2 of 3 13/10/09 14:06

GUI

Graphical User Interface.

gutter margin

The gap between the labels margin and the text area. This term, also known as the line cursor margin, is

used by classes that have no knowledge of cursors.

See also: cursor, label margin, line cursor margin



3 of 3 13/10/09 14:06

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : HThis page last changed on Jul 14, 2008 by mbarn.

H

HAL

Hardware Abstraction Layer. Used to provide a generic interface to the hardware and 'hide' hardware-

specific functions.

handle

A handle is a way of identifying an object that is owned or managed by another thread or process.

orA client's representation of an object managed by the server.

See also: object

handler

In the context of asynchronous programming, the function that handles the completion of a request.

See also: asynchronous request

hard hyphen

A hyphen at which line wrapping cannot occur. It ensures that the enclosing word remains on the same line

should a line break be required anywhere within the word. In this case, the word is moved to the next line.

See also: soft hyphen

hard reset

Restarting a system from scratch, a 'cold boot', as opposed to a 'soft reset' which preserves the system

state.

hard space

A space at which line wrapping cannot take place. It ensures that the enclosing characters or words

remain on the same line. Should a line break be required anywhere within the group of characters or

words, they are moved to the next line.

hardware bitmap

A bitmap that can be drawn to by graphics acceleration hardware.

hash

This is a small, fixed length value generated by a function that has the property that different values for the

data result in different hash values. The hash is encrypted using a private key to create the digital

signature.

hashing

Using a one-way function to produce a short but effectively unique value representing a longer block of

data.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : H file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

Hayes

The manufacturer that first defined the Standard AT Command Set for modems.

See also: Hayes TSY

Hayes TSY

The ETel TSY that supports Hayes modem commands.

See also: Hayes

HCI

For Bluetooth, the Host Controller Interface (HCI) driver packages the higher level components to

communicate with the hardware.

header

Text repeated at the top of every printed page.

See also: footer

hidden

A file or directory attribute. Assigned to files or directories that should not normally be visible to the user.

See also: attribute

hidden capability

If hidden, applications run in the background.

See also: application capabilities

high water mark

In the context of serial communications, when this point is passed in a receive buffer, a flow control

suspend event is triggered.

See also: XOFF

hlp file

Help file.

home city

The current location of the user. It is used to set variables such as UTC offset and summer time zones.

See also: default country, UTC

home time

The date and time taking into account both daylight saving if in effect and the current time zone's offset

from Universal time.

See also: universal time

horizontal option button list

A concrete control that contains a number of option buttons arranged horizontally. It is used to toggle

mutually exclusive application states.


2 of 4 13/10/09 14:07


host controller

The Bluetooth Host Controller components provide the lower-level of a Bluetooth stack. It is typically

implemented in hardware.

hotkey

A key press combination that sends a command. Usually this is to provide a short-cut to a menu option

(e.g., ctrl+S for File | Save).

See also: command

hotkey table

A table maintained by the UIKON framework for each application. It contains a list of all hotkeys, together

with the commands they invoke, as defined in the application resource file.

See also: application resource file

hotspot

The part of a line which should be positioned at a specified height.

See also: line

hrh file

Common C++ or resource header, for inclusion in either type of source file.

HSCSD

High Speed Circuit Switched Data: dedicated circuit-switched data communications technology for GSM

which boosts data throughput up to 14.4 Kbps in a single channel, and by aggregating channels, up to

57.6 Kbps. An asymmetrical service can be offered where, for instance, one channel is allocated for the

uplink and several are aggregated for the downlink. HSCSD can provide a fixed bit rate (transparent

mode) or a variable one (non-transparent mode). In most cases HSCSD is available to network operators

as a pure software upgrade. HSCSD started to appear in some networks in 1999.

HSDPA

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA, also known as High-Speed Downlink Protocol Access) is a

3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA)

family, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have

higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

HSP

The Bluetooth Headset Profile. It allows a headset to be wirelessly connected to a device for audio input

and output.*HTTP*HyperText Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a method used to transfer or convey information on the World Wide

Web. Its original purpose was to provide a way to publish and retrieve HTML pages.

Comments:


3 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

Heap?

Posted by error at Dec 17, 2006 22:47



4 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : IThis page last changed on Jul 14, 2008 by mbarn.

I

icon

In the context of applications, icons represent applications when embedded, or when they are shown on

the extras bar or system shell.

In the context of the GDI, an icon is a bitmap (and mask) which is drawable and selectable. Icons are

commonly used as visual representations of commands, data, and applications.

See also: application, bitmap, bitmap mask

iconic door

A visual representation of an embedded object which displays an icon representing the embedded object.

See also: door, glass door

IDE

Integrated Development Environment.

idle thread

The idle thread, also called the NULL thread, is a system thread that runs when there are no other threads

ready to run.

See also: Null thread

identifier

Unique 32-bit identifier for window group.

identity certificates

The certificates used for secure software installation are known as 'Identity Certificates', in which the

information supplied with certificate is a name identifying the public key's owner.

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force: a body that develops and ratifies standards for network data interchange

(see www.ietf.org).

IMEI

International Mobile Station Equipment Identification-- a phone serial number.

i-mode

Proprietary packet-based information service for mobile phones. i-mode delivers information (such as

mobile banking, and train timetable) to mobile phones and enables exchange of email from handsets on

the PDC-P network. Launched in 1999 by NTT DoCoMo, i-mode is very popular in Japan (especially for

email and transfer of icons), but is not currently being used elsewhere.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : I file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

import

Within the context of an application program, to use a function or data defined in a DLL.

See also: DLL, export

import library

A static library which an application program uses at link time, to resolve references to symbols defined in

a corresponding DLL. Information from this library concerning the location of export functions in the DLL is

included in the application's executable file.

See also: DLL, export, static library

important effect

A tag that can be used in a customisation file to indicate to the context sensitive help compiler that the

marked text must be preceded by the graphic or text for an important event in the output help file.

See also: note effect, customisation file

IMT-2000

International Mobile Telecommunications-2000: term used by the International Telecommunications Union

(ITU) for the specification for projected third-generation wireless services. Formerly referred to as

FPLMTS, Future Public Land-Mobile Telephone Systems.

incremental matcher

A class which supports incremental matching of a pattern against a set of stored strings.

incremental operation

A potentially long-running database function that is broken into smaller steps, enabling applications to

remain responsive.

See also: database

incrementally

See incremental operation.

See also: incremental operation

index

In the context of DBMS, an ordering of one or more columns (the key) from a table in a database.

The Message Server Index records state and generic message header information for every entry.

See also: key, database, table

Infrared beaming

The exchange of data on infrared system.

initiator

For Bluetooth, the device that initially requests communication.

inline


2 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

An agenda entry may be stored inline or out of line. Inline means that the entry's rich text object is stored

in the same stream as the entry.

See also: out of line

installation file

Symbian installation (SIS) file, which provides a standard way for packaging files for deployment to a

device.

See also: installation file generator

installation file generator

Creates a digitally signed installation file using the public/private key pair.

See also: installation file

integer editor

A concrete control which supports editing an integer value.

integer range editor

A concrete control which supports editing an integer range value. Has two fields; the second may not be

smaller than the first.

interface class

A class that primarily defines a protocol, but does not provide an implementation. This means they only

describe the expected behaviour of an object. The use of multiple inheritance is restricted to interface

classes.


internalise

The process of reading data from a stream and assigning the data to an object or constructing an object

from the data.

international dialling prefix

The country dependent dialling prefix used to make an international call, e.g. the prefix is 00 in the UK.

See also: national dialling code, national dialling prefix

interrupt handler

Code that the processor jumps to on receipt of an interrupt request.

interrupt latency

The time between an interrupt going off and the interrupt being serviced by the operating system.

invalid

An area of a window is invalid if the window server knows that its content was not drawn by the

application. Applications may also invalidate parts of their own windows.

See also: window, redraw


3 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

ioctl

An I/O control operation on a communication socket, e.g. to set an option on that socket.

IPC

Inter process communication. Communication across thread and process boundaries. Used by servers in

Symbian OS. Used by clients to communicate with out-of-process servers on Symbian OS.

See also: server

IrDA

1. Infra Red Data Association. This body sets the standards used in infra-red communications. Originally

founded by Hewlett-Packard and others.

2.A suite of protocols for infrared (IR) exchange of data between two devices, up to 1 or 2 meters apart (20

to 30 cm for low-power devices). IrDA devices typically have throughput of up to either 115.2 Kbps or 4

Mbps. IrDA protocols are implemented in Symbian OS phones, many PDAs, printers and laptop

computers.

IrOBEX

Infrared Object Exchange protocol used to exchange vCards and vCals.

irq

On the ARM family of processors, a normal (priority) interrupt.

ISR

Interrupt Service Routine. Code that performs actions necessary to deal with the condition that caused the

interrupt.

ISV

Independent Software Vendor, also referred to as a third-party developer: a software author using publicly-

available development tools.

IWF

Interworking Function. This is the interface between the GSM PLMN and an outside network such as the

PSTN.

See also: PLMN, PSTN



4 of 4 13/10/09 14:07

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : JThis page last changed on Jul 14, 2008 by mbarn.

J

J2ME

Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME): The edition of the Java platform that is targeted at small,

standalone or connectable consumer and embedded devices. The J2ME technology consists of a virtual

machine and a set of APIs suitable for tailored runtime environments for these devices. The J2ME

technology has two primary kinds of components - configurations and profiles.

Java

Industry standard object-oriented language and virtual machine, invented by Sun Microsystems and

formally released in 1996. Java is an ideal language for network applications and applets. Sun's Java

specifications include many Java APIs and platforms, including the JavaPhone API and PersonalJava

platform, which are included in Symbian OS.

JavaPhone

A Java API specification controlling contacts, power management, call control, and phonebook

management, intended specifically for the programmability requirements of mobile phones.

JTAPI

The Java Telephony API is an extensible API that offers an interface to all call control services (from those

needed in a consumer device up to those of call centers). JTAPI is part of the JavaPhone API.

justification

The processes of spreading out the text on a line so that it is evenly distributed between the left and right

margins. Also called full justification. Symbian OS supports word and character justification.

See also: word justification, character justification

just-in-time (JIT)

Just-in-time debugging is used to attach a debugger to a process at the point at which it is about to

terminate.

JVM

Java Virtual Machine.


Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : J file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 1 13/10/09 14:07

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : KThis page last changed on Jul 14, 2008 by mbarn.

kernel

The core of the operating system - manages memory and hardware resources(including the processor and

the memory), loads processes and libraries, schedules threads for execution.

The kernel runs with a higher privilege than other programs (so-called user-mode programs). The power

and robustness of an OS's kernel play a major role in shaping overall system design and reliability.

A kernel connects the application software to the hardware of a computer.

Symbian OS's Kernel is called EKERN.EXE.

kernel object

An object that is created and managed in the address space of the OS kernel, rather than of an individual

process.

key

A value constructed from one or more columns in a row, which can be used to identify the row within an

index.

See also: column, row, index

key event

An event from the window server indicating a key down, repeat or up.

See also: window server, pointer event

keyboard focus

Any particular key event is sent only to one window group. This is the group that has current keyboard

focus.

See also: window group

keyboard repeat rate

The time interval between repeated key events generated by the window server. There are two settings

involved: the initial delay before the first repeat event is generated, and the interval between subsequent

events.

See also: auto-repeat

keyspace

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : K file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 2 13/10/09 14:08

In Symbian OS, a subsection of the central repository that contains the settings managed by one particular

application.

Attachments:

kernel.png (image/x-png)


Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : K file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

2 of 2 13/10/09 14:08

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : LThis page last changed on Oct 08, 2008 by freddiegjertsen.

L

L2CAP

The Bluetooth Logical Link Control And Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP). It controls how multiple users of the

link are multiplexed together, handles packet segmentation and reassembly, and conveys quality of service

information.

L function

In the context of Symbian C++ programming, a function with a trailing L in its name, (for example, NewL())

such functions may leave, either directly by calling User::Leave(), or indirectly by calling other functions

that may leave.

See also: leave

label

A descriptor which contains the name of a contact item field, for instance First name or Home address.

See also: descriptor, field.

label margin

Margin used for labels, normally used for paragraph style.

See also: view rectangle, line cursor margin

LAF

A Look and Feel software module provided by phone manufacturers to customise devices and user

interfaces. For example, the scroll bar appearance.

landscape

Horizontal page orientation for printing.

See also: orientation, portrait

Language downgrade path

An array of up to eight languages which are used in turn to find the best matching language-specific

version of a language-neutral filename.

The first language in the path is the language of the current locale. Up to the next three (at indices 1, 2 and

3) can be customised. The remaining languages in the downgrade path are based on a table of language

near equivalence which is internal to Symbian.

language extension procedure

An OPX procedure written in C++ that can be called from an OPL program.

See also: OPX, OXH

large bitmap

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : L file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 4 13/10/09 14:08

A FBS bitmap whose size is greater than a certain threshold value, currently set at 4Kb.

See also: small bitmap.

latchable

Buttons that can latch change their state when pressed and stay in that state until changed again by the

user.

latching command button

A command button that remains depressed when the pointer is removed from it.

See also: command button

latency

The time taken between the occurrence of an event and the response to it.

latitude editor

A concrete control that supports editing a latitude value.

layout co-ordinate

x,y co-ordinates whose origin is the top left hand corner of the text area.

See also: text area, window co-ordinate

layout engine

The Symbian OS text layout engine lays out editable text in a window.

See also: editable text.

layout object

Represents necessary interface between document and view.

See also: text object

LDD

A logical device driver. Part of a kernel device driver which includes the logical functions of a device e.g.,

on and off, and read and write. Typically, a single LDD provides functionality common to a class of

hardware devices, whereas a PDD supports a specific member of that class.See also: PDD

leave

To leave, is to invoke the function User::Leave(). This causes a return to the current trap harness.

A function may also leave because a function it called left.

See also: trap harness, cleanup stack

left adjust

The number of pixels to move before displaying a character.

See also: right adjust

left text margin

The distance between the leftmost extent of a paragraph and the left edge of the text area.


2 of 4 13/10/09 14:08

An increasing left text margin width causes a scroll right to occur (text moves leftwards) and a decreasing

left text margin width causes a scroll left to occur (text moves rightwards).

For an illustration of the left text margin, see Screen layout.

See also: text area, paragraph

length

The length of data currently represented by a descriptor.

line

Text Views : A line of text as seen on the view. A line is a member of just one paragraph. One paragraph

may consist of many lines. Lines only apply to text that has been formatted.

ETel : A physical line from which calls are made.

See also: line capabilities, phone, call, paragraph, formatted band

line capabilities

Indicates the functionality supported by a line, as encapsulated by the Telephony Server, such as

connecting to data, voice or fax calls; detecting the hook and line status, and creating calls.

See also: line

line cursor

Indicator in line cursor margin, used to indicate which line the cursor is on.

See also: line cursor margin, cursor

line cursor margin

Margin used for line cursor.

See also: view rectangle, label margin, line cursor

line primitive

A graphics operation to draw, (using the pen), a line or sequence of lines.

See also: pen, polyline, graphics operation

line status

In the context of ETel, the current status of calls on the line, e.g. dialling.

linear address

Alternative name for virtual address, the name 'linear' is historical. 'Virtual' is preferred.

list

Objects or data items connected together to form a meaningful sequence. Also known as a 'queue'.

local file system

A file system which mediates access to any devices local (non-removable) to the machine.

See also: file system

local time


3 of 4 13/10/09 14:08

See home time

See also: universal time, home time

location area code

This specifies the general location, similar to an STD code for mobile numbers.

location-based services

long network name

Networks have both short and long names. The long name is used in preference. In Symbian OS, the long

name is 16 characters.

See also: short network name

longitude editor

A concrete control which supports editing a longitude value.

low water mark

When this point is reached in a receive buffer, a flow control resume event is triggered.

See also: XON



4 of 4 13/10/09 14:08

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : MThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

M

main document file

The file currently interfaced to by an application's document. It can contain other files as embedded

objects.

See also: document, file

major build number

The number used to represent a significantly different software release. For example, in App 3.1, the major

build number is 3.

See also: minor build number

makefile

A file containing all the information necessary to specify how to build projects in various environments;

generated by build tools from a .mmp file.

Makesis

A program that uses a package file to create Symbian installation files (sis file).

See also: sis file, package file

margins

A set of measurements (in twips), defining the insetting of the top, bottom, left and right edges of a

rectangular object, for example, a picture.

See also: picture

markup information

Information that is not part of a rich text object's text content, and which may be stored in a separate

stream from the text. Consists of specific paragraph and character formatting, the style list, if owned by the

object itself, and pictures. Fields are not markup information.

See also: specific formatting

mask

Bitmap defining transparent regions of another bitmap.

maximum length

The maximum length of data that a modifiable type descriptor is capable of holding.

mbm

File extension for the Symbian multi-bitmap file format.

See also: multi-bitmap file format

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : M file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

mbld file

File format used by the historical Menu builder tool.

MCF

Message Confirmation. Indicates that a complete message has been received and that additional

messages may follow.

ME

Mobile Equipment. For example, a mobile phone.

MEAD

Historical GUI tool that created the source, resource, makefiles and build configuration files for a generic

Symbian application.

media

The media for storing information: may be a disk, a ROM, a flash RAM, etc; may be removable or

non-removable; may be divided into one or more partitions.

See also: device, partition

media server APIs

Historical component that provided audio and image manipulation. Replaced by the Multimedia

Framework.

memory leak

In computer science, a memory leak is a particular kind of unintentional memory consumption by a

computer program where the program fails to release memory when no longer needed.

menu bar

A strip of menu headings normally hidden off-screen. The menu items on a menu bar send commands to

an application when selected.

An application's menu bar and the commands it sends, are defined in its resource file.

See also: command, menu item

menu builder

Historical tool designed to assist developers in the creation of menu structures for Symbian applications.

menu item

An item on a menu bar. A menu item has an associated command.

See also: menu bar, command

message

A data structure which the server uses to communicate with a client. It contains an opcode specifying the

service request and a message argument array that is used when reading from and writing to the client.


2 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

See also: message argument array

message argument array

An array of pointers to message arguments in the client address space. This array is used by the kernel to

create a message that facilitates reading and writing to the client from the server.

See also: message

Message Server

The server that maintains and controls access to all the entries within the messaging system.

Message Server session

The channel of communication between a client and the Message Server.

message service function

A member function in a server session (or object) class which implements the servicing of a specific

message request from a client program.

See also: server-side session, object

message slots

Determines the number of outstanding requests a client may have with a server at any one time.

message store

A Symbian OS direct file stream store associated with a Message Server entry that holds message body

text, and protocol-specific data.

MExE

Mobile Station Application Execution Environment (GSM 02.57): a framework to ensure a predictable

environment for third-party applications in GSM or UMTS handsets (ie the Mobile Station). MExE does this

by defining different technology requirements called 'classmarks'. MExE classmark 1 is based on WAP,

classmark 2 on PersonalJava and JavaPhone, and classmark 3 on J2ME CLDC and MIDP. Other

classmarks may be defined in the future. MExE specifies additional requirements for all classmarks, for

instance a security environment, capability and content negotiation, a user profile, user interface

personalization, management of services and virtual home environment. A handset can support any

number of classmarks.

MIDP

Mobile Information Device Profile. Set of Java APIs that is generally implemented on the Connected

Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). It provides a basic J2ME application runtime environment targeted

at mobile information devices, such as mobile phones and two-way pagers. The MIDP specification

addresses issues such as user interface, persistent storage, networking, and application model.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions; first proposed in RFC 2045-2049, and continually updated by newer

RFCs. A protocol whereby an Internet mail message can be composed of several independent items,

including binary and application-specific data. Applications can register themselves as supporting

particular MIME types.


3 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

See also: application capabilities

minor build number

The number used to represent a sub-release.For example, in App 3.1, the minor build number is 1.

See also: major build number

mixin

An interface class for 'mixing in' with primary base classes, and the only form of multiple inheritance

encouraged on Symbian OS. A historical synonym for an interface class.

See also: interface class

mixin protocol

A set of functions defining a protocol for interaction between one class and another. It can be defined by

some virtual functions in a primary base class, or in a mixin class.

See also: interface class, mixin

MMCA

MultiMediaCard Association. An international organization created to promote the adoption of the

MultiMediaCard as the storage standard for telecommunications products.

MMP

Also known as project file. A hand-edited file whose main purpose is to specify the source files which go to

make up a releasable. Used as an input to the build tools.

MMP file

Project definition file - specifies the properties of a project in a platform and compiler independent way.

MMU

Memory Management Unit, translates virtual to physical addresses and provides access permission

control.

MMS

Based on the same principles as its evolutionary precursor SMS, multimedia messaging services (MMS)

involve the transmission of images, video clips, sound files and text messages over a wireless network.

Designed specifically for 3G (and beyond) networks, MMS allows for the quick delivery of varied,

content-rich information to a multimedia-enabled device.

MMU

A hardware component which maps kernel and user process virtual memory addresses on to physical

memory.

mobile country code

Uniquely identifies the country of domicile of the mobile subscriber.

mobile network code


4 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

Identifies the home GSM PLMN for the mobile subscriber.

See also: PLMN

model

Another word for an application engine.

See also: MVC, engine

model

An object used to store the current state of an application or the file it is currently editing.

See also: app UI, document

Model, View, Controller

A way of partitioning the design of software. The 'model' is the internal workings of the program (the

algorithms), the 'view' is how the user sees the state of the model and the 'controller' is how the user

changes the state or provides input.

See also: MVC

modem connection status

Indicates whether the modem is connected or disconnected, or if the connection mode cannot be

determined.

modifier changed event

An event generated by the window server when the state of one of the modifier keys changes.

See also: modifier key

modifier key

The SHIFT, CTRL and FN keys.

module definition file

File with .def extension, which specifies an ordinal value for each named function or data item to be

exported from the DLL. It is used during an ordinal build to insert ordinal information into the DLL export

table, allowing exports to be accessed by ordinal from user programs.

See also: DLL, export, ordinal build

mover

A control for moving other controls: dragging the pointer generates events to request the control's observer

need to move. All dialogs contain a mover control.

See also: control

MPS

Multipage Signal. Indicates the end of a complete page of fax information, and to return to the beginning of

phase C upon receipt of a confirmation.

MS

Mobile Station. This comprises the mobile equipment (usually a phone) and the SIM card.


5 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

MTM

Message type module: a group of components that together provide message handling for a particular

protocol.

MTM component

A library that provides an implementation of an Client-side MTM, User Interface MTM, UI Data MTM, or

Server-side MTM.

MTM type UID

UID that defines whether a particular MTM component is a Client-side MTM, User Interface MTM, UI Data

MTM, or Server-side MTM.

multi-bitmap file format

Symbian OS bitmap file (.mbm) format.

multi-field numeric editor

A control that supports editing of a number of numeric fields.

Multimedia

(Lat. Multum + Medium) is media that uses multiple forms of information content and information

processing (for example, text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to inform or entertain the

(user) audience.

MultiMediaCard

A data storage device providing small-size, high capacity data storage to handheld communication

devices.

multiplexer

A device that combines several signals for transmission over a single medium.

Multi-mode

A multi-mode mobile phone works on multiple radio standards. For this to be possible a phone must have

hardware that allows it to process these different signal types. For instance, W-CDMA is designed with

GSM compatibility in mind, easing the creation of phones that receive both signal types. This is important

as it allows the gradual introduction of WCDMA (3G) networks without forcing customers to give up the

wide coverage of GSM (2G) networks.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

Also known as MIME.

See also: MIME

mutex

A Kernel object used to serialise access to a resource, which may be shared between threads across

processes. Access to the mutex is through an RMutex handle.


6 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

MVC

Acronym for Model, View, Controller.

See also: Model, View, Controller



7 of 7 13/10/09 14:08

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : NThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

N

name build

A build where the resulting DLL export table indexes exported functions by name.

See also: DLL, export, DLL export table, ordinal build

narrow band protocols

A higher level grouping of components, which includes SMS and GSM messaging protocols.

national dialling code

The code that identifies the destination of an international call, for example, UK=44, USA=1.

See also: international dialling prefix, national dialling prefix

national dialling prefix

The number/s removed from the local number when dialling in from another country. For example, the 0 in

front of all UK numbers is removed when dialling into the UK.

See also: international dialling prefix, national dialling code

network operator

Company with a license to provide wireless telephony services.

network registration

Phones that are registered to a network can access its services.

NMT

Nordic Mobile Telephone. One of the earliest 1G cellular network developed jointly in Denmark, Finland,

Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Originally operated in the 450 MHz band. Later the 900 MHz was used as

well.

non-file-based application

An application that does not store any data in persistent storage. This means that when the application is

closed, user data is lost.

See also: file-based application

nonprinting character

A special character, for example tabstop or paragraph break that is normally hidden and cannot be printed,

but which can optionally be displayed.

non-thick shape

A line or fillable with an outline that is drawn only one pixel wide is a non-thick shape.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : N file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 2 13/10/09 14:09

See also: thick shape, fillable

non-thick straight line

A straight line that is drawn only one pixel wide.

non-window-owning control

A control which does not directly own a window. Typically, its extent covers only part of a window.

See also: control, window, extent, window-owning control

normal character

Any character in a character set, excluding non-alphabetic characters (such as the copyright symbol, or a

block graphics symbol, for example).

See also: character

normal font

A standard font, 10-point Arial, created by CCoeEnv when it is constructed.

normalise

To exchange the co-ordinates of the top and bottom or left and right of a rectangle to ensure that the

rectangle's width and height have values of zero or greater.

See also: rectangle

note effect

A tag that can be used in a customisation file to indicate to the context sensitive help compiler that the

marked text must be preceded by the graphic or text for a note in the output help file.

See also: important effect, customisation file

notifier

A Symbian OS service that provides simple UI output for low level, non GUI, threads.

nudge button

A button on the end of a scroll bar which can be pressed to move the current position.

See also: scroll bar

null thread

Also known as the idle thread. A kernel thread which is the lowest priority thread in the system - it only

runs when there is no higher priority thread to run and usually puts the phone into power-saving mode.


Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : N file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

2 of 2 13/10/09 14:09

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : OThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

obey file

A text file which is input to ROMBUILD, the ROM building tool. It describes what files go to make up the

ROM, and how they are laid out, among other things.

OBEX

Object Exchange: a set of high-level protocols allowing objects such as vCard contact information and

vCalendar schedule entries to be exchanged using either IrDA (IrOBEX) or Bluetooth® wireless

technology. Symbian OS implements IrOBEX for exchange of vCards, for example between a Nokia 9210

Communicator and an Ericsson R380 Smartphone, and vCalendar.

object

In the context of client-server architecture, an object represents a single resource managed by a server.

Clients refer to it using a handle.

See also: handle

object container

A home for a set of related reference counting objects.

Adding an object to an object container ensures that it gets assigned a unique id.

See also: object, reference counting object

object container index

This is used to create an object container. It ensures that the object containers it produces generate

unique ids within the server.

See also: object container

object index

An object that generates handle numbers for reference counting objects. Used to store objects. Adding an

object to an object index returns its id.

See also: object, reference counting object

object owning object container

An object container which owns the subsession objects it contains; it is responsible for their deletion.

See also: object container, subsession object

observer

Receives notification from an agenda model's observer controller whenever an entry or to-do list is added,

updated or deleted in the agenda model.

See also: observer controller

observer controller

Notifies all observers that have been registered with the agenda model when an entry or to-do list is

added, updated or deleted.

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : O file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 4 13/10/09 14:09

See also: observer

OCSP

Online Certificate Status Protocol, defined in IETF RFC 2560. A communication protocol to determine

whether a particular certificate has been revoked.

ODR

Acronym for the One Definition Rule.

See also: One Definition Rule

One Definition Rule

No translation unit (in an application including all its DLLs, statically linked or dynamically loaded) shall

contain more than one definition of any variable, function, class type, enumeration type or template.

A consequence of the One Definition Rule, is that all objects (including variables and functions) that

semantically refer to the same C++ object

map onto the same address in object code.

For example, say we have the function, inline int getCounter { static int iCounter = 0; return iCounter++ ; }.

If the One Definition

Rule holds, all instances of this in-lined function in an application, including all its dependant binaries

(statically linked or dynamically loaded)

will access the same static variable iCounter. Note that in Symbian OS as in Microsoft Windows, the One

Definition Rule does not hold;

whereas on Unix and Linux the One Definition Rule does hold.

on event

An event generated by the window server when the machine is switched on.

OOM (out-of-memory)

An error caused when the available RAM has been exhausted, preventing further heap allocation.

opcode

Short for 'operation code', a short code used to represent one of a set of functions.

open font system

A system to allow plug-in support for different font types.

OpenSSL

An open source toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL v2/v3) and Transport Layer Security

(TLS v1) protocols as well as a full-strength general purpose cryptography library.

operation code

An identifier that identifies the type of request being sent from a client to a server.

operation object

An active object that is responsible for an asynchronous request to the Message Server.


2 of 4 13/10/09 14:09

option button

A concrete control that may be used to toggle an application state. A group of option buttons may be used

to toggle mutually exclusive application states.

See also: check box

OPL

Organiser Programming Language. An open source BASIC-like language that can be used for rapid

application development.

OPX

An OPL extension DLL providing language extension procedures.

See also: language extension procedure, OXH, OPL

ordinal

A number which identifies a column in a particular column set or rowset.

See also: column, column set, rowset

ordinal build

A build which produces a DLL export table that indexes functions by ordinal.

See also: DLL, export, DLL export table, name build

ordinal position

The position of a window in the z-order, i.e. from front to back on the screen. The front-most window (the

window in the foreground) has an ordinal position of 0.

orientation

Whether page is vertically or horizontally aligned.

See also: portrait, landscape

origin

The top-left corner of a control.

orphan

(1) an object which cannot be accessed either as a local automatic variable, a global variable, via a pointer

or as the result of any function call;

(2) to create such an object

Orphaned objects are undesirable as they use unrecoverable system resources. There are two types of

orphaned object: objects orphaned on the stack and objects orphaned on the heap. Orphans can be

created through program errors, or by a function leaving. It does not matter if T objects are orphaned on

the stack. All other orphans are undesirable and, in the case of leave processing, it is essential to ensure

that cleanup code handles objects that would otherwise be orphaned.

See also: leave, cleanup

orphan alarm


3 of 4 13/10/09 14:09

When a session with the alarm server closes the connection it can orphan the alarm. This alarm will be

serviced after the session closes.

An orphan alarm has no session owner and no session is notified when the alarm is due.

See also: Timed alarm, untimed alarm, clock alarm, snoozed alarm, session alarm

OS

Operating System: historically, the minimal set of software needed to manage a device's hardware

capability and share it between application programs. Practically, "OS" is now used to mean all software

including kernel, device drivers, comms, graphics, data management, GUI framework, system shell

application, and utility applications. This would define Windows, Palm OS and MacOS as operating

systems. Symbian provides an operating system - Symbian OS - tailored for data-enabled mobile phones.

OTA

Over-the-air (OTA) device management allows an individual or a network operator to make changes to the

software setup or configuration of a mobile phone, by 'pushing' a configuration update to the phone via a

wireless link. This eliminates the need for docking the phone or going through elaborate synchronization

processes and can allow for the simple implementation of firmware upgrades, software distribution, the

running of diagnostics and content delivery.

out of line

An agenda entry may be stored inline or out of line. Out of line means that the entry's rich text object is

stored in an embedded store in the entry's stream. An agenda entry is set to be stored out of line if its rich

text object is large.

See also: inline

own card

A contact item containing information about the device's owner. This can be sent to another compatible

electronic device as a vCard.


owning service

The messaging service that is the ultimate parent of an entry.

owning window group

If a window group is closed while it has the keyboard focus, its owning window group receives the focus.

This will be the default owning window group, unless the window group has called

SetOwningWindowGroup().

See also: default owning window group

OXH

An OPL header file for inclusion in OPL source code, specifying the public interface to an OPX. Published

by the OPX provider.

See also: OPX, language extension procedure



4 of 4 13/10/09 14:09

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : PThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

P

P2P

Peer to Peer: network services which involve direct data connections between two or more client devices.

A canonical P2P application is file sharing.

package file

Makesis project file type, which has the extension pkg.

See also: Makesis

packet switching

Technique whereby the information (voice or data) to be sent is broken up into packets, of at most a few

KB each, which are then routed by the network between different destinations based on addressing data

within each packet. Use of network resources is optimized, as the resources are needed only during the

handling of each packet. This is an ideal model for ad hoc data communication, and works well also for

voice, video and other streamed data. Mobile phones with packet-switched communication appear to be

"always connected" to the data network, whereas in the case of circuit-switched connections, setup time

takes around 30 seconds to connect from a mobile phone to an ISP. Use of packet-switched network can

be charged according to the volume of data transferred and not to any notion of time spent online.

PAD

Packet Assembler/Disassembler. Allows access to a packet data network from a circuit-switched network.

page specification

The page orientation and page size for printing encapsulated by the TPageSpec class.

See also: orientation

panic

An operation to terminate a thread that has caused an error. Panics are used when the error is due to

incorrect program code, such as passing an illegal parameter value.

paragraph

A sequence of one or more words terminated by a paragraph delimiter.

See also: paragraph delimiter

paragraph delimiter

Marks the end of a paragraph. In rich text, the paragraph delimiter may be regarded as storing the

paragraph format attributes for the paragraph that it terminates. This means that when a paragraph

delimiter is deleted, the paragraph formatting for that paragraph is set to the paragraph formatting of the

paragraph into which it is merged.

See also: paragraph, paragraph format attribute, rich text

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : P file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

paragraph fill colour

The colour setting used to fill a paragraph. May also fill the left text margin, if one has been set.

See also: text area, background colour, left text margin

paragraph format attribute

Describes the appearance of paragraphs; for instance margin width, text alignment, bullets and paragraph

spacing.

See also: format attribute, rich text, global text

paragraph format layer

A format layer specifying paragraph format attributes.

See also: paragraph, format layer, paragraph format attribute

parent

A Message Server entry that owns another entry: for example, a folder is the parent of a message within it.

partition

An area of a media that can be used as a single device and, if formatted, as a volume.

See also: device, media, volume

password mode

Window server mode where the user is required to enter a password before any further actions can be

performed.

path

The identification of a file or directory by its components. The components are drive, directory

components, filename and extension.

See also: drive, filename, extension

PC Synchronisation

Connecting a Symbian phone to a PC and synchronising the data store, for example, email, PC based

contacts, diary, and other applications.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect. A standard for connecting peripherals to processors that is processor

independent.

PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)

The process of taking samples of an analog sound and storing the results as binary data.

PDD

A physical device driver. A PDD provides functionality specific to a particular device.

See also: LDD


2 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

PCN

Personal Communications Network: another name for GSM 1800 (it is also known as DCS 1800). It is

used in Europe and Asia Pacific.

PCS

Personal Communications Service: an American generic term for a mass-market mobile phone service,

emphasizing personal communication, independent of the technology used to provide it. PCS includes

such digital cellular technologies as GSM 1900, CDMA and TDMA IS-136.

PDC

Personal Digital Cellular: the 2G TDMA-based protocols used in Japan, owned by NTT DoCoMo. PDC

services operate in the 800 and 1500 MHz bands.

PDD

Physical Device Driver: part of a kernel device driver which includes interfaces to specific hardware

functions of a device.

PDE

Page Directory Entry. In an MMU with two level page table, this term is used for the 32 bit entry in the first

level table, or page directory. Each PDE maps 1M on ARM, 4M on X86.

PDU message

The PDU message format describes a generic SMS message as a byte stream.

See also: text message

PE

Portable Executable - a standard format for executable (image) files and object files. The PETRAN tool

converts executables from PE format to the Symbian OS executable format.

pen

The pen is used for free line and shape outline drawing. The pen colour also affects text colour.

See also: brush, graphics context, pen attribute

pen attribute

Pen attributes are: pen colour, pen style, pen width.

See also: pen, pen colour, pen style, pen width

pen colour

The colour in which the pen draws lines and text.

See also: pen attribute

pen style

The style with which the pen draws lines. This may be null, solid, dotted/dashed.



3 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

pen width

The width in pixels that the pen draws lines.


permanent file store

A file based persistent store in which streams can be created and subsequently re-opened and changed.

See also: file store

persistent store

A store whose streams have a longer lifetime than the applications that created them.

See also: stream, store

PersonalJava

A Java platform optimized for the requirements and constraints of mobile devices.

phone

A physical object which connects to a line.

See also: phone capability

phone capability

Ability to support fax and modem protocols. May include: fax interface supported, ability to transmit voice,

modem detection events supported, ability to steal comms port.

See also: phone

phone indicator

An indicator showing some status information for the phone. Indicator types are defined in TIndicatorType.

phone mode

Phone operational state; idle, establishing line, online data and online command.

phone status

The mode of operation and modem connection status for the phone.

See also: phone mode, modem connection status

physical address

A 'real' address, the value that must be placed on the system address bus to select a physical memory

bank or device.

picture

Text Content : A graphic inserted into a rich text object. Pictures are type extensible.

Graphics Device Interface (GDI) - Basic Graphics Functions : An object with an original size in twips, that

can be stored, restored, and drawn to any graphics context. Concrete picture classes draw in different

ways and allow cropping and scaling. Pictures are the basis for doors.

See also: door, crop, scale, rich text, picture header, picture character


4 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

picture character

Represents a picture.

See also: picture

picture header

Identifies a picture type. A picture occupies a single character position. The picture header is stored in the

same stream as the text. The picture is stored in a different stream to support deferred loading. When

inserting a picture into rich text, the picture header rather than the picture itself is inserted into the text.

See also: picture, deferred loading, picture header factory

picture header factory

Produces picture headers of a single type. Required because pictures are type-extensible.

See also: picture, picture header

PIM

Personal Information Managers, for instance agenda and contacts applications.

PIN

Personal Identification Number: a simple authentication mechanism requiring the user to enter a string of

digits that only they know.

PIN2

A personal identification number which provides access to protected areas of the SIM e.g. barred phone

books.

P.I.P.S.

Is POSIX on Symbian OS. An API layer, above the Symbian OS native APIs, that is more closely aligned

with standard C and POSIX APIs, making Symbian software development more accessible to developers

who program using the C language. POSIX libraries on Symbian OS significantly reduces the effort

required to migrate existing desktop and server components, and mobile applications from other platforms,

onto Symbian OS.

pixel

A single display element for a graphics device (screen).

pkg file

Makesis project file extension.

See also: package file

plain text

Provides storage for text and services to manipulate it but does not support format attributes and cannot

be displayed.

See also: editable text, text object, format attribute


5 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

platform

A set of technology, which acts as a foundation for real-world applications, or higher-level platforms.

Symbian OS includes C++ APIs, a leading Java implementation, an application suite and integration with

wireless and other communications protocols.

platform

A set of technology, which acts as a foundation for real-world applications, or higher-level platforms.

Symbian OS includes C++ APIs, a leading Java implementation, an application suite and integration with

wireless and other communications protocols.

PLMN

Public Land Mobile Network. Another name for a GSM phone network.

See also: PSTN

plug-in

A polymorphic interface DLL used to enhance, or extend the operation of a framework.

point

A point specified in terms of (x,y) co-ordinates

See also: rectangle, region

point primitive

A graphics operation to draw (using the pen) a single point.

See also: pen, graphics operation

pointer cursor

The cursor that indicates the current position of the pointer (different from the text cursor and line cursor).

pointer event

A pointer-related event such as up, down, drag, move.

See also: window server, key event

pointer grab

When the pointer is grabbed by a window, all events are sent to that window, regardless of which window

they occurred in.

policy

The way an application works is its policy. Policy imposes constraints which on the one hand limit freedom

of design and implementation, and on the other hand make it easier to design and implement if the policy

is followed.

See also: policy-free

policy-free

A user interface or programming system is policy-free if it imposes little or no policy.

See also: policy


6 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

polling

Polling is the fax mode of operation where the caller requests the remote answering machine to send a

fax.

polyline

A concatenated sequence of straight lines.

See also: line primitive

polymorphic DLL

A DLL that provides some plug-in functionality to another program by implementing a pre-defined interface.

They are dynamically loaded by the DLL user during run-time using RLibrary::Load().

In Symbian OS, the typical use of a polymorphic DLL is to implement a framework extension.

Polymorphic DLLs are sometimes known as provider DLLs.

See also: framework extension, dynamic link library, DLL, dynamically loaded DLL

polymorphic interface DLL

See polymorphic DLL

POP3

Post Office Protocol version 3: a common protocol for transferring mail from the server ('Post Office') to the

client. Defined in RFC 1939.

portrait

Vertical page orientation used for printing.

See also: orientation, landscape

POSIX

Portable Operating System Interface, standards specified by the IEEE that define the API for software

compatible with variants of the Unix operating system.

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service: a basic telephony service that offers only the ability to place and receive

calls.

PPP

The Point-to-Point Protocol, an IETF standard, which manage the dial-up link.

preferred networks list

Priority list for selection of a preferred network.

pre-processor

Prepares source files for further processing, used in C++ to replace macro representations with the code

to be compiled.


7 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

primary

The first executable in the ROM to run, namely the kernel.

primary base class

A base class which is not an interface class. Usually, derived from CBase.

See also: interface class

primary inheritance tree

The inheritance tree formed by primary base classes. By the rules of interface class use, multiple

inheritance may never be used to form an inheritance graph that is more complex than a tree with a single

root.

See also: primary base class, interface class

print parameter

Number of copies and page range to print.

printer device

A graphics device that is used for printing.

See also: graphics device

printer model

UID and associated name of a printer.

See also: printer device

printer model list

The list of supported printer models.

See also: printer model

priority client

ETel priority clients have privilege in call manipulation functions. For instance, the priority client can hang

up or put on hold other clients calls. If another client has a data call active, and the priority client suddenly

needs to make an emergency call, it can force the other call to be dropped by making that request.

priority function

ETel priority functions are executed using pre-allocated memory, and hence cannot fail with an out of

memory error. Any client can use a priority function, not just the priority client.

process

The Symbian OS unit of memory protection - one user process may not access another's memory. A

process contains one or more threads.

process-relative

A handle is process-relative if ownership of that handle is vested in the process.

See also: handle


8 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

product

A combination of CPU core, ASSP and surrounding development board. Often the early stages of a

product in the more traditional sense.*progress bars*A control that provides a visual indication of the

progress of a process.

project file

The CS Help project file defines the location of all resources required to produce the output help file.

See also: customisation file, MMP

property

A uniquely named value in a vCard or a vCalendar, consisting of a property name, one or more property

parameters (optional), and a property value.

See also: property name, property parameter, property value

property group

A collection of grouped properties.

See also: grouped property

property name

Uniquely identifies a property.

See also: property

property parameter

Qualifies a property name. Has a name and optionally a value. A property can have more than one

property parameter.

See also: property

property value

A string containing the value for a property.

See also: property

protocol family

An integer which uniquely identifies a protocol suite.

protocol provider

A class that provides services according to a protocol defined in a protocol class.


protocol user

A class which uses services from a protocol provider class, defined by a protocol.

See also: mixin protocol, protocol provider

Psion PLC

A consumer hardware company mostly known for developing the Psion organiser as well as a whole range


9 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

of more advanced, clamshell-design. Psion was established in 1980 as a software house with a close

relationship with Sinclair Research.

PSTN

Public-switched Telephone network.

See also: PLMN

public/private key pair

A public key known to everyone and a private key that is known only to the recipient of the message.

When someone wants to send a secure message to another person, they use their public key to encrypt a

message. The receiver then uses their private key to decrypt it.

PTE

Page Table Entry. In an MMU with two level page table, this term is used for the 32 bit entry in the second

level table, or page table. Each PTE maps 4K on ARM and 4K on X86.



10 of 10 13/10/09 14:10

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : QThis page last changed on Jul 11, 2008 by mbarn.

Q

Quartz

Codename for Symbian originated UI variant targeting pen-based smart-phone type devices with

quarter-VGA and smaller screen sizes. From v7.0 onwards, Quartz is known as UIQ and is shipped by UIQ

Technology AB, a Symbian partner Reference Design Centre.


Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : Q file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 1 13/10/09 14:10

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : RThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

R

race condition

An undesirable condition when two or more operations may be attempted simultaneously, and the system

behaviour depends on which is processed first.

RAM Disk

A simulated disk drive whose data is actually stored in RAM. Preserved over warm resets.

Rcomp

The filename of the resource compiler.

See also: resource compiler

read-only

A file or directory attribute. Indicates that the file or directory cannot be modified or deleted, but a read-only

directory may have its contents modified or deleted.

See also: attribute

read-only data file

When used in the context of the world server, the term read-only file refers to the file used as the main

source for the world database arrays. It is usually stored in ROM, but may be overwritten by a file in RAM,

C:\Resource\worldserver\Wld_Data.dbz.

real name

The name used to store a file on disk. For some file systems, this may not be the same as the name used

by most file system calls.

receiver

For Bluetooth, the device that receives a communications request from an initiator.

recognizer

Plug-in code that can examine sample data, and return, if recognized, its data type. A data type is also

commonly known as a MIME type.

See also: MIME

rectangle

A rectangle specified in terms of its top-left corner and the co-ordinate below and to the right of its

bottom-right corner.

See also: point, region

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : R file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

redraw

Part or all of a window must be redrawn if either the window server causes it to be invalidated, or the

application model changes, requiring an update.

See also: window, invalid

redraw event

An event from the window server indicating that part of a window must be redrawn.

See also: redraw, window server

reference city

Searches for the city nearest to a specified map co-ordinate are always started from a reference city.

reference counting object

An object which can track concurrent references to itself, and which arranges automatic destruction of

itself when the final reference is removed.

reference designs

User interface designs for Symbian OS delivered to Symbian licensees.

region

A region used, for example, in clipping or maintaining the invalid region of a window. Implemented as a list

of rectangles.

See also: rectangle, window

registered alarm

A CAgnAlarm object that handles the interface between the agenda model and the alarm server.

registry

A Message Server abstraction that provides facilities to locate and load particular MTM components.

remote file system

A file system that mediates access to files that are remote from the machine (perhaps linked by a network),

and which may not use native machine formats. The remote file system is responsible for translating the

non-native format into the correct form required for all File Server Client Side API calls. Must be an

installable file system.


releasable

A separately built item (executable, library, device driver etc.) which forms part of a component.

renderer

A supplementary application that controls the drawing of surface

content to the surface of a component. A renderer describes how pixels are

written to the screen.


2 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

repeat details

The definition of the dates on which a repeating entry occurs, made up of a repeat algorithm and

exceptions.

See also: repeating entry

repeating entry

An agenda entry which has its repeat details set.

See also: repeat details

repro, reproing

The act of erasing what was on the flash memory, and re-programming it with a new ROM image. Also the

name of the tool used to do this.

request function

A function provided by an asynchronous service provider to initiate an asynchronous service.

Requests are indicated by function calls with a TRequestStatus reference parameter.

See also: asynchronous service provider, cancel function

request semaphore

A semaphore created when a thread is created and is used to indicate the completion of an asynchronous

request; the request status is used to distinguish between different requests.

See also: asynchronous request, request status. semaphore

request status

An object that indicates the completion status of a request represented by TRequestStatus.


requisite

A file that must be present for an application to run, for example a DLL.

reschedule

The operation of changing the currently executing thread. This involves saving the register contents of the

currently executing thread and restoring those of the newly executing thread. If the new thread is in a

different process, there is a context switch too.

residual stub file

Remains of installation file (sis file) stored in system directory to prevent over-writing and assist in

application removal.

See also: sis file, Makesis

resolver

For communications, turns a symbolic address into an actual address. The best known resolver is the

Domain Name Service (DNS) for TCP/IP.

resource


3 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

Data defined in a resource file, externally to a program. The resource file contains language-dependent

string text and specifications of user interface elements.

See also: resource file, resource compiler, Rcomp

resource compiler

A tool for creating a resource file from text input.

See also: resource, Rcomp

resource file

The file containing the resources for a particular program.

resource header file

A file containing a definition of all the resources used by a particular control. It can be #included in a

resource file and has the extension .rh.

See also: Rcomp, resource file, resource

review alarm

Alarms that are set to activate at some time in the past, for example, as a result of a change to daylight

saving time.

See also: Timed alarm, untimed alarm, orphan alarm, clock alarm, snoozed alarm

RFC

Request For Comments: an IETF standard.

RFCOMM

An interface that allows an application to treat a Bluetooth link in a similar way as if it were communicating

over a serial port.

rich text

Editable text with character and paragraph format attributes that may be different for each character and

paragraph of the text object.

See also: editable text, text object, format attribute, picture

rich text object

A text object containing rich text.

See also: rich text, text object

right adjust

The number of pixels to move after displaying a character.

See also: left adjust

RLP

Radio Link Protocol. A protocol used over the air interface.

RNG


4 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

Ring Indicate. An RS232 input line that is generally held high by a modem while the telephone is ringing.

See also: RS232

rollback

Undoing a change in such a way that the net effect is that no change in the state of an application or its

data can be perceived.

In the context of DBMS, this means to abandon a transaction and restore the previous state of the

database.

In the context of exception handling, this is normally a requirement of cleanup after an exception has

occurred.

See also: transaction, commit, leave, cleanup

ROM file system

The ROM contains files which may be read and executed in place, but not written. It holds code and data

that must persist when the phone is switched off. On Symbian OS, it is usually identified as the Z:drive.


root certificate

A self-signed certificate: the root of a certification hierarchy.

root folder

A folder name selector will display all folders beneath this folder.

See also: folder name selector

root stream

A stream in a persistent store from which all other streams within that store can be found.

See also: stream id, UID

root stream dictionary

The stream dictionary stored in the root stream of a document: each entry in the dictionary is a main

stream of the document's data.

See also: document head stream, stream dictionary, root stream

row

Data from a database; described by a column set.

See also: database, rowset, column set

rowset

A set of rows returned by a database, as a result of an SQL query or opening a table.

See also: row, database, SQL, table, cursor

RS232

This is the standard for serial data transmission using cables, normally carrying between ±5V and ±12V on

both data and control signal lines.


5 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

rss file

Resource source file, for input to the resource compiler.

rtf

Rich text file.

rtf source file

Contains text, conveyed in styled markup, for a help file. This includes the category (application) name,

help file UID and the topic titles, context terms, synonyms, index terms, and body text. See also: CS help

compiler

RTS

Request To Send. An RS232 output line that can be held high to indicate we are able to receive data.

See also: RS232

RVCT

ARM's RealView Compilation Tools



6 of 6 13/10/09 14:18

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : SThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

S

S60

The S60 Platform (formerly Series 60 User Interface) is a platform for mobile phones that uses Symbian

OS. S60 is currently amongst the leading smartphone platforms in the world. It is developed primarily by

Nokia and licensed by them to other manufacturers including Lenovo, LG Electronics, Panasonic and

Samsung (source: Wikipedia).

sample

Measurements of the amplitude of an analog sound. The time intervals between samples is called the

sample rate.

sampled sound file

A file containing sound encoded in Alaw format.

See also: Alaw

scale

Increase or decrease the size of a picture when it is output.

See also: picture, crop

scale factor

The percentage of the original dimension by which a picture dimension has been scaled, for example, a

scale factor of 150% means that the scaled dimension is 1.5 times that of the original dimension.

See also: scale

scan

Moving to a new document position and in the process providing information about the number of

characters skipped and the new document position. Requires a scan mask to determine the direction and

destination of the scan.

See also: scan mask, document position

scan conversion

The process of converting a drawing from its representation in memory to its representation for output

using the graphics device.


scan mask

Determines the destination of a scan. A scan can either be forwards or backwards, and the destination will

be either the first or last character in the current or next word or paragraph.

See also: scan, paragraph delimiter, word delimiter

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : S file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

schema

The structure of a database or a rowset. A database schema describes its tables, their column sets and

indexes; a rowset schema describes its column set.

See also: database, rowset, table, column set, index

screen colour

The colour of a screen pixel.

scroll bar

A vertical or horizontal bar containing a scroll thumb and nudge buttons.

Scroll bars can be used to move the current view in controls that need to display more data than their

extent allows.

See also: scroll thumb, nudge button, extent

scroll thumb

Marks the current position and the size of the current view on the control being scrolled by a scroll bar.

The size of scroll thumbs are proportional to the amount of data visible in the current view.

See also: scroll bar

scrolling

Moving the text and cursor vertically or horizontally within the view. Scrolling up means the cursor and text

move down the screen. Scrolling right means the cursor and text move leftwards.

See also: cursor, text view

SD Memory Card

Secure Digital Memory Card. A flash based memory card designed to provide secure high capacity data

storage.

SDK

Software Development Kit.

SDP

The Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol (SDP). It is used for locating and describing services provided

by or available through a Bluetooth device.

secondary

The executable that is hand-loaded and executed by the Kernel, namely the file server.

secret editor

A concrete control that supports editing a hidden text string. Generally used to edit confidential information

such as a password.

sectioned

A ROM image is sectioned when it is split into two distinct parts, the upper of which may be replaced by a

functionally similar, but different part. This is mainly used in localisation.


2 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

segment

A block of contiguous memory within a segmented RAM bank.

segmented buffer

A dynamic buffer using segmented storage – that is, a list of segments that new segments are added to if

needed for expansion, and removed if needed when data is deleted.

See also: flat buffer, buffer position

segmented RAM bank

A RAM bank in which the RAM is not contiguous and contains unusable 'holes' or ghost images of blocks

of RAM within the bank space.

selection

The selected region of the document, usually indicated in a view by a highlight and usually used as the

target for operations such as replacing and deleting text and copying to the clipboard.

See also: text object, text view, cursor, anchor

semaphore

A Kernel object used to synchronise co-operating threads in Symbian OS. Access to the semaphore is

through an RSemaphore handle.

See also: request semaphore

separator

Characters 0x09 - 0x0D (tab, line feed, vertical feed, form feed and carriage return).

Series 80

Nokia Series 80 or Series 80 is a platform for enterprise and professional level mobile phones made by

Nokia. It uses the Symbian OS. Common physical properties to this Symbian OS user interface type is a

screen resolution of 640 x 200 pixels and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Series 90

Series 90 or Nokia Series 90 is a platform for mobile phones that use Symbian OS. It is developed

primarily by Nokia, and currently used only in the Nokia 7700 and 7710 phones.

server

A program that performs services for another program.

See also: client, asynchronous request

server call

A call to the kernel in which the kernel server thread runs on behalf of the user program. (Compare with an

exec call, where the kernel runs in the user program's context.)

Server-side MTM

A component that provides the interaction between the internal data representation of message data, and


3 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

the transport components for a particular messaging protocol.

server-side session

The representation of a session in the server.

See also: session

service

A Message Server abstraction that collects settings information—usually to set up communication

protocols, such as ISP settings—and specific folders for a given single instance of an MTM.

service provider

A company that provides mobile phone users with services and subscriptions to mobile phone networks.

session

The channel of communication between a client and server.

session alarm

Type of alarm that is handled on behalf of a session with the alarm server. They serve the requirements of

PIM applications.

See also: Timed alarm, untimed alarm, orphan alarm, clock alarm, snoozed alarm, PIM

session cleanup stack

Specialised cleanup stack for automatic cleanup of Message Server entries in error conditions.

session observer

A class implemented by a messaging client that is notified of events such as shutdown warnings, new

message arrival, and registration of new MTMs.

session path

The default path currently in use for a particular file server session.

See also: system default path, file server session

shadow height

A variable local to each window, which, together with the session's shadow vector, determines the

dimensions of the window's shadow.

shadow vector

The number of pixels to the right, and down, that the bottom corner right corner of a shadow is located,

relative to the bottom right corner of a window, for a shadow height of 1.

share mode

How a file is to be shared when there are multiple readers and writers.

shared library


4 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

A library that is used by more than one program. Loaded when an executable that links to it (statically) is

loaded.Compare with polymorphic DLL.

short network name

Networks have both short and long names. In Symbian OS, the short name is 8 characters long. The long

network name is used by preference, however the short name may be used instead, if the display is small.

See also: long network name

sibling

Windows that have the same parent window.

sibling list

A list containing all a window's children.

side bar

Touch sensitive toolbar mounted vertically along the side of the screen.

In the TechView UI, this term refers to the off-screen area used for zooming, cutting/pasting, infra-red

connection, and accessing the menu bar.

See also: toolbar, task bar

signal

The act of signalling the completion of a request.


signal source

A loose term for the object(s) that handle a request, and indicate its completion by a signal.

See also: signal

SIM

Subscriber Identity Module.The SIM card is the smart card inserted inside all GSM phones. It identifies the

user account to the network, handles authentication and provides data storage for basic user data and

network information. It may also contain some applications that run on a compatible phone (SIM

Application Toolkit).

simple control

A control that is not compound.

See also: compound control

SIS file

Symbian installation file. A collection of executables and/or data files packaged in a form suitable so that

the software installer can install them onto a device.

See also: residual stub file, Makesis

sisar

Pre-v9 GUI-based SIS file generator.


5 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

small bitmap

A FBS bitmap whose size is less than a certain threshold value, currently set at 4Kb.

See also: large bitmap

Smart Messaging

Nokia protocol that enables you to send messages to set up your phone.

smartpone

A generic name for voice centric mobile phones with information capability. The Sony Ericsson P990i is an

example of such a Symbian OS phone.

SMS

Short Message System. A protocol, defined within the GSM standard, which allows point-to-point

transmission of short messages. 'Short' means 140 bytes, or 160 characters with the special 7-bit SMS

character set. Can also be used to transmit up to 31k of binary or text data by concatenating messages.

Sent and received via the network operator's message center to your mobile phone, or from the Internet,

using a so-called 'SMS gateway' website. If the phone is powered off or out of range, messages are stored

in the network and are delivered at the next opportunity.

SMS message reference number

A reference number assigned by the network to each SMS message from a phone. The number is

incremented for each new SMS message, and allows clients to relate status report (for example, error)

messages to the sent messages.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The most common protocol employed for transferring Internet mail

messages from the client to the server.

snoozed alarm

A type of orphan alarm in which the alarm is active but quiescent for a certain period.

All snoozed alarms are also orphaned.

See also: Timed alarm, untimed alarm, orphan alarm, clock alarm

socket

An abstraction of a communication end-point between two applications, particularly over TCP or UDP. The

Symbian OS ESOCK component provides a generic sockets interface.

See also: ESOCK

soft hyphen

A hyphen at which line wrapping may occur. When inserted at any point in a word, ensures that a hyphen

followed by a new line will be inserted at that point should a line break be required anywhere within the

word. If no line break is required in the word, no hyphen will be displayed.

See also: hard hyphen


6 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

software installer

A Symbian OS component, part of the security subsystem, which is responsible for the installation of all

native software packages (SIS files).

speaker control

Determines modem modes when speaker is on. For example, when carrier is active, inactive, on when

dialling etc. See RCall::TMonitorSpeakerControl.

See also: speaker volume

speaker volume

If the speaker is active, defines the modem volume level. See RCall::TMonitorSpeakerVolume.

See also: speaker control

specific formatting

Any format attributes that are applied over a rich text object's global format layers and styles.

See also: effective format, rich text object

sprite

An arbitrary-shaped bitmap that may be moved without applications having to redraw the underlying

screen. Typically used for pointer cursors and for animated figures in games.

spoofing

A technique for attacking security systems by masquerading as another user, process or device.

SQL

Structured Query Language. A standard language for querying and modifying relational databases. Also

the name of the Symbian OS component that provides an SQL database service.

See also: rowset

SSL

A technique for attacking security systems by masquerading as another user, process or device.

SS string

Supplementary Service string. Characters added to a phone number to control network behaviour. For

example, to enable/disable caller ID.

standard event

Any event that is not a redraw event or a priority key event.

static library

A file that is linked with the executable at link time. The conventional extensions are .lib (ABIv1 toolchain)

and .dso (ABIv2 toolchain). Other executable code may link to this library to resolve references to exported

functions.

See also: import library


7 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

statically loaded DLL

A DLL loaded by the program loader at the same time as the application program that uses it is loaded.

Application programs may call functions from this DLL directly.

See also: DLL

STDLIB

Symbian OS implementation of the C standard library created to allow a Java virtual machine to run on

Symbian OS. A more complete implementation of Standard C and POSIX APIs is provided by P.I.P.S.

See also: P.I.P.S.

store

A collection of streams.

Also: the Symbian OS component that deals with streams and stores.

See also: stream

store map

An object of type CStoreMap that is used when externalising swizzled in-memory objects.

See also: swizzle

store-aware

A class that defines and implements the ExternalizeL() and InternalizeL() member functions.

stray signal

A signal to a particular thread, whose program is not designed to handle it. The correct program response

is to panic. Stray signals are hard to debug.

See also: signal

stream

The external representation of one or more objects.

stream dictionary

Maintains two-way associations between a unique identifier and a stream id.


stream id

An object that uniquely identifies a stream within a store.

See also: stream, store

Stretch blit

Block transfer with stretching.

See also: blit

styled markup

Styled markup is used to differentiate text in the CS Help source RTF file for the different parts of the final

output help file, for example, synonyms, topic headings and normal text.


8 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

sub-entity

A parser entity that is embedded in another entity. For example, a vEvent or vTodo.

See also: entity, agent, vEvent, vTodo

subsession

The means by which a client thread may have two or more independent channels of communication with a

server, within a single session.

See also: session, object

subsession object

The representation of a subsession in the server program. A subsession object has a corresponding client

subsession in the client program.

See also: session, client subsession, object

super page

A reserved section of RAM which is used to pass information from the bootstrap to the kernel. Information

is also passed in a second reserved memory area called the CPU page.

surface

A graphics surface. A pixel buffer stream for a device. A surface is written to the screen and can be

combined with other surfaces.

SurfaceID

The handle that represents an allocated surface.

surface placement

A function that puts a surface in the window server, which is then written to the screen.

SVG

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML specification and file format for describing two-dimensional

vector graphics, both static and animated.

See www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG or Wikipedia for more information.

SWI

Abbreviation for the software installer.

SWInstall

The Symbian OS SoftWare Install subsystem.

swizzle

A container type object that maintains its representation of another object by pointer or by stream id.



9 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

Symbian Connect

The PC-based Symbian Connect is a system for data synchronization, file management, printing via PC,

application installation from a PC, and other utility functions allowing Symbian OS phones to integrate

effectively with PC and server-based data.

Symbian Developer Network

The developers' support network for Symbian OS, where you will find all the resources to enable you to

develop world-class applications for Symbian OS phones.

Symbian Ltd

A software development and licensing company that produces Symbian OS, a smartphone operating

system.

It was established in June 1998 and is headquartered in Southwark in the UK.

Symbian OS

Symbian's advanced open standard operating system for data enabled mobile phones. It includes a multi-

tasking multithreaded core, a user interface framework, data services enablers, application engines and

integrated PIM functionality and wireless communications.

SyncML

Synchronization Markup Language, an industry-wide effort to create a single, common data

synchronization protocol optimized for wireless networks. SyncML's goal is to have networked data that

support synchronization with any mobile device, and mobile devices that support synchronization with any

networked data. The SyncML structured data layer will use XML wherever appropriate. SyncML is intended

to work on transport protocols as diverse as HTTP, WSP (part of WAP) and OBEX, and with data formats

ranging from personal data (for example, vCard & vCalendar) to relational data and XML documents. The

SyncML consortium was set up by IBM, Nokia and Psion among others. Symbian is a sponsor of the

SyncML consortium.

synchronisation count

A reference count for synchronised entries and to-do lists which prevents them from being deleted while

they are still needed for synchronisation.

synonyms

In CS Help, synonyms are alternative words for a topic, that may be searched on.

system default path

Before v9.1, the File Server defined a system default path, which was the initial session path for new file

server sessions. After v9.1, the initial session path is the connecting process!s private directory.

See also: file server session, session path

system graphics context

A graphics context created by CCoeEnv during its construction. It exists for the lifetime of the CCoeEnv

object, and is typically used as the standard graphics context for drawing controls.

See also: graphics context


10 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

system pointer cursor

A pointer cursor in the system-wide system pointer cursor list.

See also: pointer cursor, system pointer cursor list

system pointer cursor list

An indexed system-wide list containing pointer cursors.

See also: system pointer cursor

system template

The original template initialised when a contact database is first created. All other templates are based on

the system template.

See also: contact database, template



11 of 11 13/10/09 14:19

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : TThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

TA

Terminal Adapter. Connecting equipment between the Terminal Equipment (computer) and the phone, e.g.

a PCM/CIA card. A TA may contain a phone book.

table

Belongs to a database; stores any number of rows of data which conform to the structure described by a

column set.

See also: database, row, column set

TACS

Total Access Communication System: a British 1G analog mobile telephone standard based on the US

AMPS system. It was later adopted in other countries including Hong-Kong and Japan.

task bar

Touch sensitive toolbar for launching applications.

In the TechView UI, this term is used to refer to the lower off-screen area from which applications are

launched.

See also: toolbar, side bar

target hardware

A phone handset running Symbian OS. (compare with emulator).

TCB

Trusted Computing Base.

TCE

Trusted Computing Environment.

TCP/IP

The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the suite of communications protocols used to make

connections on the Internet.

TDMA

1. Time Division Multiple Access: a digital wireless telephony transmission technique. TDMA allocates

each user a different time slot on a given frequency. GSM, D-AMPS, PDC and DECT use TDMA in one

form or another.

2. A name generally used for D-AMPS. TDMA networks are operated in the US, Latin America, New

Zealand, parts of Russia and Asia Pacific.

technology type UID

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : T file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

UID that indicates the messaging technology that the MTM group implements.

telephony

Telephony is the technology associated with the electronic transmission of voice, fax, or other information

between distant parties using systems historically associated with the telephone.

See also: ETel

template

In Contacts, a template is a contact item that contains a set of fields on which new contact items can be

based.

template label

In Contacts, a label identifies a template to users. For instance, 'work template' could indicate a template

used to create contact cards in the style of a work colleague.

template port

An example base port for an imaginary development board that can be used as a starting point for a port

to a real system.

terminal emulation

Used when making a computer respond like a particular type of terminal. Terminal emulation programs

enable you to access a mainframe computer or bulletin board service using a personal computer.

text area

Area within the view rectangle in which text can appear. The label and line cursor margins are not part of

the text area.

See also: view rectangle, label margin, line cursor margin

text cursor

Used for 'cursor' when it needs to be distinguished from 'line cursor'.

See also: cursor, line cursor

text definition

Specifies a set of fields and field separators, which is used to create a string to represent a contact item.

See also: field, contact item

text drawing primitive

A graphics operation that outputs text to a graphics device.

See also: graphics operation, graphics device

text message

The text message format consists of a number of message types supported by the GSM standards. Types

include, submit, deliver, status report, and command.

See also: PDU message


2 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

text mode

When a file is open in text mode, CR and LF combinations are translated between the file system's native

format and the Symbian OS format (which uses CR, LF to designate the end of every line).

See also: binary mode

text object

An object derived from CEditableText, that contains a body of text, pictures etc.

See also: editable text, picture

text view

View of a document.

See also: text object, layout object

thick line

A line drawn with a pen of greater width than one pixel.

thick shape

A line or fillable with an outline that is drawn greater than one pixel wide is a thick shape.

See also: thick line

thin template

An idiom used to minimize code bloat from the use of standard C++ templates.

thread

A single unit of execution within a process; threads run concurrently.

See also: process

thread-local storage

A machine word of memory that may be used to anchor information in the context of both a DLL and a

thread. It is one technique used to store global writeable static data for a DLL. Used instead of writable

static data, which is not supported for Symbian OS DLLs.

See also: DLL

thread-relative

A handle is thread-relative if ownership of that handle is vested in the thread.

See also: handle

time and date editor

A concrete control that supports editing a time and date value.

See also: time editor, date editor

time editor

A concrete control that supports editing a time value.

See also: time and date editor


3 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

time offset editor

A concrete control that supports editing a time offset value.

See also: time editor, duration editor

timed alarm

Timed alarms are associated with timed agenda entries. The time of the alarm can be adjusted by

changing the time of the agenda entry.

See also: clock alarm, untimed alarm, orphan alarm, snoozed alarm, session alarm

TLS

Transport Layer Security: a network security protocol defined by IETF RFC 2246. Developed from SSL.

TOCTOU

Time Of Check, Time of Use: a mnemonic describing the risks of race conditions when operations may

affect security attributes between the time the security check is made and the time the result of the check

is acted upon.

to-do list ID

Uniquely identifies a to-do list in an agenda file. Unlike the unique ID, the to-do list ID can change if the list

is updated, or if another list is deleted from or added to the file. It therefore cannot be used to identify the

list during synchronisation.

See also: unique ID

toolband

A horizontal strip of information and buttons along the top of a document's UI— also known as the top

toolbar.

The TechView UI implements toolbands as horizontal toolbars.

See also: top toolbar, command, toolbar

toolbar

A rectangular 'bar' of screen area where tools can be launched.

In the TechView UI, this refers specifically to vertical strip of controls down the left- or right-hand-side of an

application. Usually contains a clock, the name of the current file or application and a number of command

buttons, but can contain any kind of factory-constructable control.

See also: compound control, toolband, control factory identifier, task bar, side bar

top level entity

A parser entity that is not nested within another entity but into which other entities can be nested.

vCalendars and vCards can be top level entities. vEvents and vTodos cannot be top-level entities.

See also: entity, vCalendar, vCard

top toolbar

A horizontal toolbar at the top of the screen. Also known as a toolband.

See also: toolband


4 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

top-level control

A window-owning control whose associated window is a top-level window.

See also: window-owning control, associated window, top-level window

top-level window

A window whose parent window is a window group.

transaction

One or more changes to a database which have been completed, and can either be committed or rolled

back together.

See also: database, commit, rollback

transport independence

The concept that different protocols can be accessed through the same sockets API.

TRAP, TRAPD

Trap harness macros within which leaving code may be executed and any leaves 'caught'. Can be likened

to a combination of try and catch in standard

C++.

trap harness

Construction associated with the TRAP and TRAPD macros. Code executed inside a trap harness may

leave, returning control to the cleanup part of the harness, and automatically resulting in items being

cleaned up from the cleanup stack.

See also: leave, cleanup stack

triad

Group of three digits in the integer portion of a number. Triads are separated by the thousands separator.

For example, using the comma as the thousands separator, there are two triads in the number

'123,456.789'.

Trust anchor

A certificate on a device that is trusted directly by the device for some purpose, such as verifying EE

certificates used to sign SIS files.

TSY

An ETel extension module that handles the interaction between the ETel server, and a particular telephony

device or family of devices.

See also: ETel

twip

1/1440th of an inch, or 1/20th of a point. All measurements supported by the GDI are either in pixels for

devices, or twips for real-world sizing.

See also: point


5 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

twips editor

A concrete control that supports editing a paper measurement unit value: inches or cms; it presents the

program with measurement in twips.

two-phase construction

An idiom used on Symbian OS to ensure that an object can be initialized safely using leaving code.

typeface

A group of related fonts of various sizes, which share the same typeface name and typeface attributes.

See also: Font



6 of 6 13/10/09 14:19

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : UThis page last changed on Jul 11, 2008 by mbarn.

U

UART

Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter. Common name for the hardware that drives an RS232

serial port.

See also: RS232

UI

In the world of smartphones, a user interface (also called a graphical user interface, or GUI) is a

customized technology layer that is integrated with Symbian OS to form a complete product. These UIs

are developed by 'UI vendors', including Nokia, UIQ Technology and NTT DoCoMo.

UI control framework

A framework for creating user interface controls; a framework for applications to handle user interface

events; and environment utilities for control creation and access to windowing functionality.

UI Data MTM

A component that provides user interface resources for a particular messaging protocol.

UI environment

The central user interface class. It creates and owns controls to display the application data, and

centralises handling of command input from standard controls such as menus and toolbars. The app UI

base class is provided by CEikAppUi, which can be customised by using the resource structure

EIK_APP_INFO.

UID

A UID, or 'Unique Identifier', is a globally unique 32-bit number used in a compound identifier to uniquely

identify an object, file type, etc.

When users refer to 'UID' they often mean UID3, the identifier for a particular program.

See also: UID type, UID1, UID2, UID3, compound identifier

UID type

A set of three UIDs which, in combination, identify a Symbian OS object; encapsulated by a TUidType.

See also: UID1, UID2, UID3

UID1

The first UID in a compound identifier (UID type). It identifies the general type of a Symbian OS object and

can be thought of as a system level identifier; for example executables, DLLs, and file stores are all

distinguished by UID1.

See also: UID, UID type, UID2, UID3

UID2

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : U file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

The second UID in a compound identifier (UID type). It distinguishes within a type (i.e. within a UID1), and

can be thought of as an interface identifier. For example static interface (shared library) and polymorphic

interface (application or plug-in framework) DLLs are distinguished by UID2.


UID3

The third UID in a compound identifier (UID type). It identifies a particular subtype and can be thought of

as a project identifier (for example UID3 might be shared by all objects belonging to a given program,

including library DLLs if any, framework DLLs, and all documents).


UIKON

Symbian OS common APIs for graphical user interfaces.

UIQ

UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon

Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the

core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities

through third-party applications (source: Wikipedia).

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service, part of the IMT-2000 initiative, is a 3G standard supporting

a theoretical data throughput of up to 2 Mbps. First trials started in 2001. It should be rolled out in most of

the world by 2005.

Unicode

ISO 10646-1 defines a 'universal character code' which uses either 2 or 4 bytes to represent characters

from a large character set. Thus, Far Eastern character sets can be represented.

In Symbian OS, 2-byte UNICODE support is built deep into the system.

Western European, Eastern European, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai,

Urdu, Hindi and all other major world languages, living and dead, to be encoded in a single character set.

The Unicode specification also includes standard compression schemes and a wide range of typesetting

information required for worldwide locale support.

unique ID

In the context of an agenda entry, thus uniquely identifies an agenda entry or to-do list in an agenda file.

This value is assigned when the entry or to-do list is created, and is preserved during updates. Because of

this, it can be used to identify the entry or to-do list during synchronisation.

See also: entry ID

unit

A piece of hardware on which a device may be found.

universal time

The system time, equivalent to GMT.

See also: home time


2 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

universal time offset

The offset in seconds from the universal time.

See also: universal time

untimed alarm

Untimed alarms are associated with untimed agenda entries. The alarm time is independent of the time of

the entry with which it is associated.

See also: Timed alarm, clock alarm, orphan alarm, snoozed alarm, session alarm

up event

Window Server : An event of type Button1Up, Button2Up or Button3Up. The user actions that result in

these events will vary depending on the type of pointing device: mouse, pen, etc.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator, an address of a resource on the World Wide Web.

user interface

The layer of controls, editors and dialogs which allows a user to control a running application. In Symbian

OS, user commands are handled by a subclass of CEikAppUi.

See also: application, command

USB

Universal Serial Bus(USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. A major component in the

legacy-free PC, USB was designed to allow peripherals to be connected using a single standardised

interface socket, to improve plug-and-play capabilities by allowing devices to be connected and

disconnected without rebooting the computer (hot swapping).

User Interface MTM

A component that provides user interface functions for a particular messaging protocol.

UTC

Universal Time Co-ordinated. The UTC offset is the same as the GMT offset.

Utility classes

Utility classes provide easy access for applications to frequently-used functionality. Notable files are

EikFileUtils for file access, and EikResourceUtils for resource access.

UUID

A Universally Unique Identifier, a unique 128-bit number. UUIDs are used for Bluetooth device addresses.



3 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : VThis page last changed on Jul 16, 2008 by mbarn.

variant

A set of variant DLLs that support a particular piece of hardware. It is possible to build a ROM with support

for more than one piece of hardware, by including more than one set of variant DLLs in the ROM image.

variant DLL

A variant DLL is a layer of customisation for the base. It allows the same kernel binary to be shared

between different pieces of hardware that share the same ASSP. There are variant DLLs for each of the

main areas that may vary between pieces of hardware that share the same ASSP - such as the keyboard

and digitiser.

variant number

The Makesis variant number distinguishes application that implement the same functionality, but which

have some platform or other dependence.

See also: minor build number, major build number

vCalendar

An electronic calendar or schedule. Consists of a collection of properties. Defines a transport- and

platform-independent format for exchanging calendar and schedule information so that any vCalendar-

compliant application can send or receive calendaring and scheduling information to or from any other

vCalendar-compliant application. For instance, users with mobile phones running vCalendar-aware

applications can schedule meetings automatically over an infrared link or via sending an SMS.

See also: property

vCard

An electronic business card. Consists of a collection of properties. Standard defining the format of an

electronic business card. All devices supporting vCard can exchange information such as phone numbers

and addresses. For instance a user with a vCard-aware phonebook application on a handheld computer

can easily transfer names and phone numbers to a vCard-aware mobile phone.

See also: property

verifiable EE certificate

A valid end entity certificate that is verifiable by a trust anchor.

versit

The parser for vCard and vCalendar objects.

See also: vCard, vCalendar

vEvent

A group of properties that define an event. vEvents are sub-entities nested within a vCalendar entity. They

support alarms and recurrence.

See also: property, vCalendar, sub-entity

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : V file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

VFAT

The Microsoft Windows 95 and NT version of the FAT file system. Supports long file names.

VGA

Video Graphics Array: 'standard' screen size of 640 by 480 pixels.

view

A well-defined representation of user data. Many applications are designed around a set of fundamental

data views, which are implemented in a layer above the engine but below the UI.

See also: MVC, engine

view architecture

Allows applications to make and receive requests to show a particular view of their data. Applications can

also pass small amounts of data in such requests. The view architecture allows applications to have a fine

level of integration between their user interfaces.

See also: Direct Navigational Link (DNL)

view definition

Specifies a subset of fields to be loaded when reading a contact item.

See also: contact item, field

view device

Graphics device used.

See also: view window, text view

view rectangle

Rectangle within view window used for view.

See also: view window, view device, text view

view window

Window used for view.

See also: view rectangle

virtual address

An imaginary address used internally to the CPU which is translated by the MMU into a physical address

for external access.

VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP, sometimes pronounced 'voyp') is a protocol that enables the

transmission of voice traffic over packet-based networks. The Internet Protocol (IP) was originally

designed for data networking but its success as a world standard for data networking has led to its

adaptation to voice networking.

volume


2 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

A volume of storage media, formatted with a particular file system type, available for retrieving and (in most

cases) storing information.

See also: device, partition

Vtable

Virtual method table: in C++, contains pointers to all the virtual member functions defined in a class.

vTodo

A group of properties which define a to-do, (for example, an activity or action-item). vTodos are sub-entities

nested within a vCalendar entity. They support alarms and recurrence.

See also: property, vCalendar, sub-entity



3 of 3 13/10/09 14:19

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : WThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

W

W32REPRO

ROM image programming utility which runs on a PC.

wait

A wait for a request to complete. Completion will be indicated by a signal.

See also: asynchronous request, signal

wait loop

The construct used to control response to multiple outstanding asynchronous requests.


WAP

Wireless Application Protocol is a secure specification that enables users to access information instantly

using devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smart phones and communicators. WAP

was conceived by four companies: Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet (today called

Phone.com). The WAP Forum is an industry association with over 200 members. Symbian is a full

member of the WAP Forum.

WAP browser

Used to locate and display WAP pages.

WAP Server

Manages client access to WAP services.

WAP stack

Is a set of protocols that covers the whole process of wireless content delivery: from the definition of WML

and WMLScript for creating and layout of the actual content, the specification of security measures in the

WTLS to the lowest parts of the stack dealing with the actual transport of content.

warm reset

A system restart that preserves the state of RAM disks. It will occur if any critical thread dies.

WCDMA

Wide-band CDMA: a CDMA protocol originated by NTT DoCoMo and now adopted for third-generation use

by ETSI in Europe. WCDMA supports very high-speed multimedia services such as full-motion video,

Internet access and video conferencing.

WDP

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : W file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 4 13/10/09 14:20

Provides the WAP general datagram transport services above the various data capable bearer services.

whitespace character

A page or line break, space character, tab stop or paragraph delimiter.

See also: paragraph delimiter

wildcard

A special character which acts as a substitute for one or more characters in a file name or extension.

See also: path

WIN32

Win32 system libraries to link to in a WINS build.*WINC*On EKA1 versions of the OS, an implementation

of the non-GUI parts of Symbian OS. Its chief purpose was to allow the Symbian application engines to be

used to access application documents from programs running on a PC.

window

An area of the screen for displaying part of the GUI of an application.

window co-ordinate

x,y co-ordinates whose origin is the top left hand corner of the view window.

See also: view window, layout co-ordinate

window group

An invisible window that acts as the parent window for all other windows in an application. Typically, each

application has one window group. In the window server, window groups are also the unit of keyboard

focus.

See also: window, keyboard focus

window group changed event

An event that occurs whenever a window group is destroyed, and whenever a window group name

changes.

window group priority

Priority that allows a window group to override ordinal position of windows in the system.

window origin

The top left corner of a window, from which all co-ordinates are measured.

window server

A server which manages the screen, keyboard and pointer on behalf of client applications.

See also: control environment

window server buffer

A client-side buffer maintained by window server clients, containing requests to the window server. The

buffer is only flushed when necessary. This greatly speeds the operation of the system.


2 of 4 13/10/09 14:20

See also: window server, flush

window server session

Session between client and window server.

See also: window server, client, server

window-owning control

A control that directly owns a window.

See also: control, window, non-window-owning control

Windows bitmap

Bitmap in the Microsoft Windows file format (extension .bmp).

See also: bmp file

WINS

Windows-based emulator

wireless information device (WID)

A small, portable computer-telephone with wireless access to both voice and information services. Devices

such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smart phones and communicators.

WLAN

A wireless LAN or WLAN is a wireless local area network, which is the linking of two or more computers

without using wires. WLAN utilizes spread-spectrum or OFDM (802.11a) modulation technology based on

radio waves to enable communication between devices in a limited area, also known as the basic service

set (source: Wikipedia).

WML

An XML language used to specify content and user interface for WAP devices; the WAP forum provides a

DTD for WML.

word

A sequence of characters delimited by one or more word delimiter characters. A word delimiter is a

paragraph delimiter or a whitespace character, but not a punctuation mark.

See also: character, paragraph, whitespace character

word delimiter

A character that separates words. All whitespace characters are word delimiters.

See also: word, paragraph delimiter, whitespace character

word justification

Full justification of text by adjusting the gaps between words.

See also: character justification

WSP - wireless session protocol


3 of 4 13/10/09 14:20

Provides lightweight WAP client/server transactions, with improved reliability over basic datagram services.

*WTP*Provides lightweight WAP client/server transactions, with improved reliability over basic datagram

services.

WYSIWYG

What You See (on the screen) Is What You Get (printed on paper).

See also: justification



4 of 4 13/10/09 14:20

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : XThis page last changed on Jul 11, 2008 by mbarn.

X

X.509

A standard format for digital certificates, defined by the International Telecommunication Union.

XML - extensible markup language

XML is a pared-down version of SGML, which is designed especially for Web documents. Symbian OS

provides a framework for parsing XML.

XML style sheets

The CS Help compiler provides XML style sheets that allows a representation of the help file to be viewed

in an XML enabled browser.

XOFF

Flow control character used to signal to a transmitter that it should suspend data transmission. The

character is configurable, with the industry standard being decimal 19.

See also: high water mark

XON

Flow control character used to signal to a transmitter that it should resume data transmission. The

character is configurable, with the industry standard being decimal 17.

See also: low water mark


Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : X file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 1 13/10/09 14:20

Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : ZThis page last changed on Jul 15, 2008 by mbarn.

Z

z-order

The back-to-front order of windows on a device.

zoom factor

The zoom factor for a graphics device map.



Symbian Developer Network Public Wiki : Z file:///Volumes/VERBATIM/SDN%20Wiki%20Archive%...

1 of 1 13/10/09 14:20

old symbian glossary

Documents