Java Development

[randstr1]

Hello evereyone, 

I'm wondering if we could share our thoughts to increase productivity on Blackberry Java Developpement and Debugging. :-)

The moment which annoys me most is the testing on actual devices.  Very often after a session of debug,  the connection between the device and the computer disappears and I have to reboot to have Eclipse find the device. (Error: there is no connected Blackberry device) .

I am using  Eclipse in a Windows Environment under VirtualBox, thus I can reboot easily but I am afraid the use of VirtualBox might add some usb troubles. What do you think? What do you use?

How do you compile or backport apps to OS4.2 OS4.3? How do you do your testing? (on simulator or on devices? ) 

I use mainly Simulator 8520, I think it takes less time to "boot'.  

[sergiotapia]

I'm currently using Eclipse on Windows with the 9550 simulator. It really REALLY sucks, because I'm only working on UI yet I have to continously relaunch the simulator to see changes.

Compared to working on Windows Phone 7 where I just change a value in XAML and the renderer shows me what changes instantly. 

The Blackberry Dev tools are severely lacking imho and could use with a visual UI editor.

[dnepr]

I personally use the JDE for debugging on device.  It works a lot more consistently than the Eclipse plugin.

Re visual editor, it's coming, but still a while again.  They run into some issues that it had to be postponed.

[simon_hain]

the 5.0ff simulators are a big help with the shift+F9 restart instead of rebooting the whole simulator.

i test networking classes in JUnit (design them that the main parts can be used in desktop java), this helps a lot when working with webservices.

as far as UI is concerned: re-using helps a lot. design your code to be re-used in libraries (special fields, special layouts...)

[randstr1]

How can you import projects from the Eclipse environment to eclipse? ( Big projects )

I've noticed that the JDE always recognizes the devices and only takes ten seconds to connect the debugger to the device, it looks promising but if I cant follow code during execution, it's less useful :/

[rzr]

I am also using virtualbox + win7 guest and cant debug on target :

"There is no connected BlackBerry device."

Do i need special drivers ?