Migrating to iPhone and iPad for .NET Developers by Mark Mamone

Author:Mark Mamone
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Apress®
Published: 2011-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Using Simulators to Test Your Application

Given that we are now starting to develop our application in earnest, we'll be using the simulator much more. We could start looking at deployment and testing on a real device, but we'll leave that complication for the moment, partly because it's not yet necessary.

Targeting the simulator during the early stages of application development can save you a great deal of time. You don't need to wait for applications to be installed on your physical device before seeing the effects of changes in your code. It also is not necessary to buy and install a developer certificate to run code in the simulator.

Don't get me wrong—using the simulator is not perfect and has its own challenges. For example, it can't display OpenGL graphics, simulate multitouch events, or provide readings from some of the iPhone sensors such as the GPS. That said, for most apps, it has enough features to be a valuable part of your development process.

One gotcha to be aware of is that you can't guarantee that your simulated app performance will resemble your real application performance. The simulator tends to run silky smooth, helped by the power of your Mac on which it runs. Real applications will almost certainly have more limited resources, affecting the user experience. Be sure to test your app on all the physical devices it targets, so that you know your expectations are in line with reality.

The following are some of the simulator's features:

User input: The mouse can be used to simulate a fingertip. Holding down the option key ()will display two circles, which then can be used to simulate multitouch events.

Rotation: This can be achieved using the hardware menu.

iOS versions: You can choose different iOS versions to test your application.

Low memory: This can be simulated, so you can send this status to your application to see how it behaves.

Hardware keyboard: The simulator allows you to use your Mac's keyboard to provide keyboard input.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.