This chapter provides a description of the user interface for Palm OS Emulator, including descriptions of the menus and keyboard usage.
- "Palm OS Emulator Display"
- "Using the Menus"
- "Using the Hardware Buttons"
- "Entering Data"
- "Using Control Keys"
Palm OS Emulator Display
The Palm OS Emulator display looks very much like a real Palm Powered™ handheld. You can use your mouse to perform actions that you perform with the stylus on handhelds, and you can use the menus to access Palm OS Emulator functionality.
Using the Menus
You can also access features that are specific to Palm OS Emulator by choosing menu items:
- If you are using Windows, right-click on the Palm OS Emulator screen display to access the menu items, or press Shift-F10. The Palm OS Emulator menu displays, as shown in Figure 4.1.
Figure 4.1 Windows Version of the Palm OS Emulator Menus

NOTE: Note that the Windows shortcut keys use Alt rather than Ctrl because Ctrl combinations are already used to enter other Emulator commands. See "Using Control Keys" for more information.
- If you are using a Macintosh, you can either select menu items from the menu bar or use Ctrl-click to display the pop-up contextual menu. The Macintosh pop-up menu is shown in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2 Macintosh Version of the Palm OS Emulator Menus

The Macintosh version is only slightly different when compared to the Windows version: The Macintosh version uses Quit instead of Exit.
- If you are using Unix, use Shift-F10 to display the pop-up menu. Palm OS Emulator provides a pop-up menu similar to the Macintosh version.
Table 4.1 provides a brief description of the Palm OS Emulator menu items.
Table 4.1 The Palm OS Emulator Menu Items
Exits Palm OS Emulator. Palm OS Emulator prompts you to save the session to an emulator |
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Displays the New Session dialog box. The New Session dialog box lets you select the session's ROM file, handheld, skin, and RAM size. Because only one session can be active, this command also closes the current emulation session. |
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Displays the open file dialog box for opening a saved emulator session file. Because only one session can be active, this command also closes the current emulation session. Note that the Open menu is for opening saved session files (PSF files), not for opening ROM files. To change the ROM file for your emulator session, you need to use the New menu. |
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Saves the current emulator session as an executable, which can be used for demonstration purposes. For more information, see "Creating Demonstration Versions of Palm OS Emulator". This description includes important information about the legal use of a bound emulation session. |
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Opens the Session Info dialog, displaying information about the handheld name, RAM size, and ROM being emulated, and about the current Emulator |
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Lets you install an application into the emulator session, in the same way that a user would install it on the handheld with the Palm Install tool. For more information, see "Installing Applications." |
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Exports a database to your desktop computer as a |
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Lets you synchronize the emulator session environment with the desktop computer. See "Using the HotSync Application" for more information about the cabling requirements and other considerations for this menu item. |
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Resets the current emulation session. For more information see "Emulating a Handheld Reset". |
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Lets you download a ROM image from a handheld, and save the ROM image to disk. You can then initiate a new session based on that ROM image. For more information, see "Transferring a ROM Image from a Handheld". |
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Create a new Gremlin horde and start running it. For more information about Gremlins, see "Using Gremlins to Automate Testing". |
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Resumes running of Gremlins from data that was previously saved in a Palm event file ( |
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Takes Gremlin events stored in a Palm event file ( |
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Start profiling your application. This option is only available with the profiling version of Emulator. For more information, see "Profiling Your Code". |
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Stop profiling your application. This option is only available with the profiling version of Emulator. For more information, see "Profiling Your Code". |
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Save the profiling information to a file. This option is only available with the profiling version of Emulator. For more information, see "Profiling Your Code". |
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Opens the properties dialog box, as described in "Palm OS Emulator Properties". |
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Opens the logging options dialog box, as described in "Logging Options". |
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Opens the debug options dialog box, as described in "Debug Options". |
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Opens the error handling options dialog box, as described in "Detecting an Error Condition". |
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Opens the tracing options dialog box, as described in "Tracing Your Code". |
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Opens the skins dialog box, as described in "Changing Emulator's Appearance". |
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Opens the HostFS options dialog box, as described in "Emulating Expansion Memory". |
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Opens the breakpoints dialog box, as described in "Setting Breakpoints". |
Using the Hardware Buttons
Palm OS Emulator emulates each of the hardware buttons on Palm Powered handhelds. You can click on a button to activate it, and you can press and hold down a button just as you would on a handheld. As an example, you can click the on/off button to turn a handheld off and on. Depending on the handheld you are emulating, you can also press and hold the on/off button to turn the backlighting off and on.
Palm OS Emulator also lets you activate the hardware buttons with keyboard equivalents, as shown in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2 Keyboard equivalents for the hardware buttons
Entering Data
Palm OS Emulator lets you use your desktop computer pointing device to tap and to draw Graffiti® 2 characters, just as you do with the stylus on the handheld.
Emulator also lets you enter text from the desktop computer keyboard. For example, you can type the text for a note by tapping in the note text entry area and then using the keyboard.
In addition, Emulator supports copying text to and from the desktop computer's clipboard.
Copying text from a desktop computer to Emulator:
- Copy the text to the desktop computer's clipboard (for example, on Windows, use Ctrl-C).
- Switch to the Emulator window.
- In the Emulator window, open an application that has an active field that can accept text data. Click on the active field.
- Use Ctrl-C, then type the letter P. Ctrl-C causes Emulator to enter the command stroke character (
"/"
), and the letter P enters the Paste command.
Copying text from Emulator to a desktop computer:
- In the Emulator window, open an application that has an active field containing text data. Click on the active field.
- Use Ctrl-C, then type the letter C. Ctrl-C causes Emulator to enter the command stroke character (
"/"
), and the letter C enters the Copy command. - Switch to the desktop computer application where you want to paste the text data.
- Paste the text into the desktop computer application (for example, on Windows, use Ctrl-V).
Using Control Keys
Palm OS Emulator also supports a set of control keys that you can use for input. These keys, which are shown in Table 4.3, are the same control keys that you can use with the Palm OS Simulator program.
Table 4.3 Palm OS Emulator Control Keys