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1    Understanding Palm OS Emulator Concepts

Using Palm OS® Emulator

Palm OS Developer Suite

This chapter describes Palm OS® Emulator and provides overview information on how you can use it to test and debug programs you have written for Palm OS.

This edition covers Palm OS Emulator 3.5.

Note: Palm OS Emulator has previously been referred to as POSE or Poser. The name Palm OS Emulator is used throughout this book and in new versions of other PalmSource documentation. In this book, Emulator is sometimes used as an abbreviated form of Palm OS Emulator.

About Palm OS Emulator ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator is a hardware emulator program for the Palm Powered platform, which means that it emulates the Palm hardware in software, providing you with the ability to test and debug Palm OS software on a Macintosh, Unix, or Windows-based desktop computer.

When you run a Palm OS application with Palm OS Emulator on your desktop computer, Palm OS Emulator fetches instructions, updates the handheld screen display, works with special registers, and handles interrupts in exactly the same manner as does the processor inside of Palm Powered handhelds. The difference is that Palm OS Emulator executes these instructions in software on your desktop computer.

Feature Overview ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator displays an on-screen image that looks exactly like a Palm Powered handheld, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1  Palm OS Emulator display

You can select which type of Palm Powered handheld you want to emulate. You can also specify whether you want Palm OS Emulator to display the screen in double size, which continues to provide an accurate representation and makes the Palm screen easier to view.

You can use the mouse on your desktop computer just as you use the stylus on a Palm Powered handheld. You can even use the Graffiti® 2 power writing software with Palm OS Emulator and your mouse. And Palm OS Emulator includes additional keyboard shortcuts that you can use on your desktop computer.

You can use Palm OS Emulator to perform some debugging of your applications, and you can use Emulator with external debug tools to perform extensive debugging of your applications. When you connect Emulator with Palm Debugger, you can debug in exactly the same manner as debugging with your application running on an actual hardware handheld. For more information about Palm Debugger, see Palm OS Programming Development Tools Guide.

Standard Handheld Features ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator accurately emulates Palm Powered hardware, and includes the following features:

  • an exact replica of the Palm Powered handheld display, including the input area and its surrounding icons
  • emulation of the Palm stylus with the desktop computer pointing device (mouse)
  • emulation of the Palm Powered handheld hardware buttons, including:
    • power on/off button
    • application buttons
    • up and down buttons
    • reset button
    • HotSync® button
  • ability to zoom the display for enhanced readability and presentation
  • screen backlighting
  • communications port emulation for modem communications and synchronizing

Extended Emulation Features ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator also provides the following capabilities on your desktop computer that extend the standard Palm Powered handheld interface.

  • ability to enter text with the desktop computer
  • configurable memory size, up to 16 MB

Debugging Features ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator provides a large number of debugging features that help you to detect coding problems and unsafe application operations. Palm OS Emulator includes the following debugging features and capabilities:

  • use of an automated test facility called Gremlins, which repeatedly generates random events
  • support for external debuggers, including Palm Debugger, the Metrowerks CodeWarrior debugger, and gdb
  • monitoring of application actions, including various memory access and memory block activities
  • logging of application activities, including events handled, functions called, and CPU opcodes executed by the application
  • profiling of application performance

Getting Help with Palm OS Emulator ^TOP^

Palm OS Emulator is constantly evolving, and PalmSource is always interested in hearing your comments and suggestions.

PalmSource provides a forum (emulator-forum@news.palmos.com) for questions and comments about Palm OS Emulator. To subscribe to the forum, see:

http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/

You can get the latest information about Palm OS Emulator in the PalmSource developer zone on the Internet:

http://www.palmos.com/dev/

Note: The source code for Palm OS Emulator is available at:

http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/emulator/

You can create your own emulator by modifying this source code.