Native Development

[donturner]

I have 2 LCD screens which I use for development, both have a resolution of 1280x1024. My problem is that the BB10 Dev Alpha simulator (running inside VMWare Player) does not fit on the screen so I constantly have to switch out of VMware to scroll the window. It makes testing a painful process!

Is there any way to change the simulator size or screen resolution? 

[smacmartin]

The simulator uses VMWare Player, which does not scale the content to fit the monitor.

Depending on your situation, the following solutions may be appropriate:

1. If you are running on a Mac OS X, use VMWare Fusion.
   
   
2. If space permits, add a monitor that can be rotated to portrait.
   In Windows 7:
   
   
1. On the desktop, right-click and select Screen resolution.
2. In the dropdown Multiple displays, select Extend these displays.
3. Set the order of the monitors so that the cursor moves from the left monitor to the right monitor.
4. Select the second monitor, then In the Orientation dropdown, select Portrait.
5. Click OK.
   
   Now you can place the simulator on the portrait screen while you debug your application in the landscape screen. If you have never used two screens before, you will be hooked!
3. Use ctrl-G to set focus to the simulator, and ctrl-ALT to return to your host operating system. If you use the keyboard shortcuts instead of clicking with the mouse, you will have a smoother experience.

Stuart

[derekpapworth]

Hi there,

I just posted a similar query on screen size of dev 10 simulator.

The solutions posted don't cover the situation fully as for instance in my case I have a large 17inch powerful laptop that I do all work on and it happens to have a 1600 x 900 screen which has been fine for all other development work on BlackBerry's up until now but not being able to resize the new simualtor makes it extremely awkward to work on with half off the screen and even with keyboard shortcuts switching between the two is a real pain.

Apart from anything else, the size of the simulator is totally out of propotion to real world devices anyway and there needs to be a resolution that's more suitable for both viewing the simulator (all of it) at the same time as other windows and simulating real life.

Both all other BlackBerry simulators up until now and VM itself which I use extensively for last 10 years have ability to change resolution etc., so we really need the new simulator to be able to do the same please so we can start developing for this platform.

I for onw won't be able to realisitically develop for this platform until the tools are there in a usable way to do so.

Hope this gets fixed soon!

Best regards,

Derek

[donturner]

Thanks for the novel approach Stuart, if I had a spare monitor knocking around I'd do that

Have to say I agree with Derek though. It is unrealistic to expect developers to shell out on an extra monitor just to accomodate the BB10 Dev Alpha simulator.

It worries me that this basic constraint may stop many people getting involved with BlackBerry 10 development at this crucial time for RIM. Is there no way of distributing a simulator which can be resized?

[smacmartin]

Please "vote" for https://www.blackberry.com/jira/browse/BBTEN-34

Stuart

[donturner]

I get the following screen when I try to view that issue: 

[derekpapworth]

Hi there,

I get the same permission violation screen as Don when I try that link.

Best regards,

Derek

[smacmartin]

Ok, I'm checking into this.

[smacmartin]

Issue with accessing it should be resolved.  Please try again.  (That particular JIRA was accidentally marked private instead of public.)

Let me know if you still can't vote for it.

Stuart

[MSohm]

I've made that issue in Issue Tracker public so anyone can view it.

Support for re-sizing the simulator has already been built internally.  Look for it in the next simulator release.