Overview

C H A P T E R 1

Overview

This chapter describes architecture of the Titan Toolkit and major features in this prototype release.

1.1 Architecture

The Titan Toolkit is a software development kit (SDK) consisting of:

An emulator of the Titan platform that utilizes exactly the same Java ME stack that runs on real devices

A Device Manager utility that manages emulators and devices

A UEI proxy component that allows for IDE integration

Additional command-line tools, such as the JadTool, MEKeyTool and others

An OSGi Browser (a NetBeans plugin) that allows for OSGi bundles manipulation

The central component of the whole system is the Device Manager that communicates with the emulator as well as with real devices connected to the host computer. As shown in FIGURE 1-1, from a development standpoint it is transparent whether you are working with the emulator or with a real device. The Device Manager is tightly coupled with the UEI Proxy component that provides seamless integration with IDEs (e.g. NetBeans). Please see the Installation Guide for the NetBeans integration procedure.

FIGURE 1-1 Titan Toolkit Component Interaction

Titan Toolkit Architecture

This architecture simplifies integration in many ways.

The SDK includes support for WinMobile emulator. The SDK can be simply extended to support 3rd party emulators and devices. Integration of new devices or emulators is done through an implementation of its adapter for the Device Manager.

Integration of the SDK into existing IDEs that support the Unified Emulator Interface (not just NetBeans) is simple. Through the SDK, the IDE gains the ability to deploy, run and debug applications on the emulators and devices.

Tools provided by the SDK can be used for development on all emulators and devices registered to the SDK, including third-party emulators and devices.

On-device debugging is enabled for all devices connected to SDK.

The SDK implementation makes it possible to run several emulators at once with minimal impact on performance. This feature is useful for any kind of peer to peer software or communications clients.

1.2 Features

This section describes important features in this prototype release.

New concepts were implemented especially for the Titan Platform SDK. First, the SDK makes it possible to work with both the device Emulator and the real device connected to host system. The development environment is plug and play - there is no need for complicated setup and configuration. The emulator and the real device are running the same platform. All the tools available for emulator should be working with your device.

1.2.1 Automatic Device Detection

Automatic device detection allows the SDK to recognize when a Windows CE device is connected to (or disconnected from) the computer running the SDK (the device manager). After successfully detecting the device, its name is added to the list of devices and emulators known to SDK and from that point will be available to SDK tools and external IDEs (Netbeans). The current implementation uses ActiveSync APIs for this detection. ActiveSync also hides the transport details from SDK. So the device can be connected to the desktop computer by any means supported by ActiveSync (Bluetooth, RS-232, USB). Support for a new class of devices can be added into SDK by implementing a device adapter for the class.

1.2.2 Deploy and Start a MIDP Application on a Device

After the connected device is recognized by SDK it can be chosen in a Netbeans project as a target. After this when the project is run, the application JAR file is deployed directly to the device and can be run there. Depending on the execution mode, the application is either left on the device after its execution or is removed automatically.

1.2.3 Deploy and Start a MIDP Application on the Emulator without Emulator Restart

You can simply deploy your mobile application while the emulator is running. There is no need to restart the emulator to deploy a new mobile application.

1.2.4 Output Redirection

When an application is running on a device or an emulator its output is redirected to the Netbeans output window. By adding debugging messages into the application code its execution can be monitored. This provides very basic debugging support.

1.2.5 On-Device Debugging

A mobile project developed in Netbeans can be debugged as easily on the device as on the emulator. Two modes of debugging are supported. The debugger can be attached to a device that has an application installed and running (Attach Debugger) or the debugger can be started when the project is executed from Netbeans (Debug Main Project).

1.2.6 OSGi Browser

The OSGi browser is a Netbeans plugin that displays OSGi bundles installed on SDK devices and emulators. This feature is discussed in Chapter 3.