Testing and Deployment

[Boydski]

Please provide the link so I can be certain. Thank you!

[MSohm]

The download link can be found on this page:  http://us.blackberry.com/developers/javaappdev/devtools.jsp

[Boydski]

Mark,

Thanks for confirming the link. That is indeed where I downloaded v4.1.4.

However, I'm at my wits end with this. There's no documentation. All avenues point toward the deprecated MDS v4.1.3 (that isn't even available for download any longer). The v4.1.4 installer states the latest JDK has to be v1.5 or higher, but refuses to recognize v5 that I have installed. At the same time the MDS "appears" to run (command-line comes up upon start). But per my original message in this thread, the proxy settings I have stored in the rimpublic.property INI file are ignored.

Also per a previous reference in this thread, I've found no documentation on a "deviceside" setting anywhere. I've seen it here and there in the wild on the web, but there's no definitive docs on what it is, where it's located or how to use it.

Is there a number I can call to get some hand holding here? I need step-by-step to completely audit everything I've attempted to be sure nothing's missing. If there's anyone else out there who actually has v4.1.4 working with their proxy settings via the INI, I've neither been been able to find them nor found docs on how to do so.

[MSohm]

Can you give an example of the documentation you are referring to?

The deviceside parameter is used in a Java application to specify what transport route you wish to use.  There are multiple transport routes, but only one of them would use a MDS-CS Simulator.  You can read about them here:

Different ways to make an HTTP or socket connection

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Java-Development/Different-ways-to-make-an-HTTP-or-socket-con...

Do you see any activity in the MDS-CS Simulator window when you attempt your network connection?

We don't have phone support for development support.

[Boydski]

Concerning my statements about documentation, there is none I've found regarding v4.1.4 proxy setup & use. Nothing turnkey or step-by-step. IE: There's no robust completely thorough documentation explaining how to setup a proxy via MDS for use with BlackBerry simulators. I've been through countless amounts of the docs that are available. They're either a) for MDS Suite v4.1.3 that has been deprecated and isn't even available for download anymore, or b) they don't have proxy setup detail for v4.1.4. The majority of info I've found has been on forums. But even that has been scarce and incomplete at best.

Thanks for explaining "deviceside" as well (another feature I couldn't find a reference for anywhere that would tell me what it was or how to use it). However, my understanding is I shouldn't have to be writing Java apps to get a proxy working with the simulators. So since that's a programming feature (and also used as a querystring argument from within a BB app to force connection specifics), I'll not be able to utilize it.

After starting MDS, the command window comes up. Once it finishes its initialization (no more text chunking to the output), I start the BB emulator. When I navigate to any site via the simulator's browser, there's no activity of any kind in the MDS command window. My proxy code is also not seeing any activity. But the simulator's browser still navigates the web fine.

I've been through all virtual settings in the simulator and no experiments have worked. I've been through all of the Advanced Settings on the simulator. The ones that specifically looked to pertain to MDS are the Browser Push" settings. I've tested through all permutations of those settings, though at the moment everything is set at "Auto" or "Allow All". No response from MDS and my proxy sees nothing.

Also, I've been through every single one of the Fledge IT Policy settings experimenting do various degrees to get some level of activity, starting with the MDS settings. Still no go.

After everything I've attempted to no avail, I believe the following two questions are the crux of the matter:

1) It is possible to run a simulator's browser and app activity through a proxy without any Java apps. IE: Only MDS v4.1.4 and the simulators themselves? Everything I've read tells me yes, I should be able to. And yet the circumstantial evidence I've been able to piece together specifically for v4.1.4 doesn't work. (I'd love at this point to find out it's something very simple that I missed )

2) If #1 is possible, why is MDS not responding according to the settings in the rimpublic.property INI file (found in forums, not thoroughly documented)?

[MSohm]

I know some of this information was already posted, but I'm going to put everything here in one post.

This document has step by step instructions on how to set up the MDS-CS Simulator to use a proxy server.

Configure the BlackBerry MDS Simulator to work behind a proxy

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Testing-and-Deployment/Configure-the-BlackBerry-MDS-Simulator...

These steps are identical for all versions of MDS-CS Simulator.

The BlackBerry smartphone simulator itself does not support connecting through a proxy server.  That means if you need to use a proxy, you need to ensure that the traffic from the BlackBerry smartphone simulator is being routed through the MDS-CS Simulator.  The deviceside parameter is used for this when making a connection from a Java application.

When using the BlackBerry Browser, it chooses the network path automatically based on the following logic.  This varies slightly between versions of BlackBerry Device Software, but generally applies for 5.0+.  Since you aren't seeing any activity in the MDS-CS Simulator window it indicates that the BlackBerry smartphone simulator is not using it for your connection.

1.  If WiFi is available, the BlackBerry Browser connects directly to the web server over WiFi (meaning no MDS-CS Simulator use).

2.  If the URL contains a machine name only (example http://myserver/index.html instead of http://www.mysever.com/index.html) the BlackBerry Browser assumes it is an intranet URL and will use the BlackBerry Enterprise Server connection (MDS-CS Simulator in the simulator world).

3.  If no WiFi is available the browser uses the BlackBerry Internet Service or BlackBerry Enterprise Server (MDS-CS Simulator in the simulator world).

That means to ensure that the MDS-CS Simulator is used by the browser you'll need to ensure that you turn off the WiFi radio in the BlackBerry smartphone simulator.  WiFi in the simulator is not configured by default, so if you didn't set it up you shouldn't need to turn it off.

Also note that you are unable to use 127.0.0.1 or localhost in the BlackBerry smartphone simulator to connect to your local PC (remember that the simulator isn't your PC, localhost would mean the device itself).

What BlackBerry smartphone simulator model and BlackBerry device software version are you testing on?  You can find this under Options, About on the BlackBerry Smartphone.

[stevehn]

Hi Mark,

I do have MDS-simulator with proxy setup.  It is running great with BB Curve 5.0.0.977 simulator but not with the newer sofware.  I downloaded 6.0.0.534 simulator for the Curve 9300 and that I can't not use the browser to go out of the firewall.  All intranet connections are fine but sites like http://mobile.blackberry.com will give me an error of "Unable to find the requested server."

Is there anything I can do to configure the simulator to force it to go through the proxy?  Any help in this is greatly appreciated.

Steve

[MSohm]

Turn the WiFi radio off in the BlackBerry smartphone simulator.  In 6.0, the browser will atempt to connect using WiFi if it has been enabled.  If WiFi is turned off, it should fall back to using the MDS-CS Simulator.

[stevehn]

Still no luck on calling external sites. Wi-Fi radio is off and only thing that is on is the Mobile Network Edge Simulated Network. http://www.yahoo.com is not working but interestingly enough BB App World is working.

[MSohm]

Do you see activity in the MDS-CS Simulator window?  Are you testing HTTP or HTTPS connections?