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Palm OS Emulator

The Palm OS Emulator is an invaluable tool when designing web clipping applications. By using the emulator instead of a production unit, you can enjoy increased productivity and rapid turnaround time when designing and debugging your applications. You save time by using POSE in that you don't spend time constantly HotSyncing your device to your computer just to download the application. By using your desktop computer's TCP/IP connection, you save time and money since you won't be using up your monthly quota and battery life of your real production unit.

Using POSE

Redirecting NetLib Requests To TCP/IP


Figure 9.x: Make sure the checkbox to redirect NetLib calls is checked. Otherwise, none of the hyperlinks will work in your web clipping applications.

Taking Screenshots With POSE


Figure 9.x: The Preferences dialog box lets users modify many emulator display options, such as screen size and color.

When designing web-based help and documentation for your query applications, you'll want to display screenshots of your app in action. To do this, we will use our ever-useful and ever-present Palm OS Emulator (POSE).

POSE not only can emulate your Palm VII wireless organizer on your laptop or desktop computer, but it can also take screenshots of your creative handiwork! In designing collateral or your web clipping application's web page on the Internet, use the emulator and a graphics-editing application such as Adobe Photoshop to take images from your app and post them onto the Web.

If you haven't already downloaded the emulator, you can obtain it from Palm Development Zone web site at: http://www.palm.com/devzone/pose/pose.html. Advanced seeding versions of the emulator are available at: http://www.palm.com/devzone/pose/seed.html. Versions of the emulator on the seeding page may have additional features and bug fixes but have not been tested as thoroughly as the version posted on the main POSE page. Emulator resources, such as documentation, mailing lists, and source code, can also be found on the main emulator page.


White or LCD Gray Background?

In POSE, you can define whether or not the emulator display mimics an LCD background or has a white background. Depending on your choice, your screenshot will either have an LCD gray tint (a shade like olive-green) or a white background.

Windows

  1. Create a new or open a saved emulator session.
  2. Right-click anywhere in the emulator.
  3. In the list that appears, select Properties...
  4. Choose your display preference, an LCD Gray or a White Background.
  5. Click Save.

Macintosh

  1. Create a new or open a saved emulator session.
  2. From the Edit menu, select Preferences...
  3. Choose your display preference, an LCD Gray or a White Background.
  4. Click OK.

The Palm OS Emulator also emulates the backlight on the Palm VII. If you click and hold your mouse on the green power button, your emulated screen will light up with the teal color that we've all grown to love (or is it loathe?). Any screenshots you take will also have the emulated backlight displayed. Note that the backlight will only activate if you have the emulator set to display with the LCD Gray Background.


Figure 9.x: Your screenshots come in three flavors: White, LCD Gray, or backlit!

Pixel-doubling your pleasure
In the Preferences (Mac) or Properties (PC) dialog box, there are options for adjusting the size of the emulator window from a small window and a double-sized one. On large monitors, your eyes will thank you for having the Double Size option checked. Screenshots taken with either setting will produce a 160x160 pixel image.

Now that you've decided on which color to use as the background in the emulator, you're ready to start snapping some screenshots. We've provided you with instructions for both the Windows and Mac OS versions of the emulator.

Note: TIP: You can use the keyboard shortcut, Command-M, to take a screenshot from the Mac version of the Emulator. On Windows, press the F10 key on your keyboard, followed by 'v' to take a screenshot.

Windows

  1. Create a new or open a saved emulator session.
  2. Navigate to the screen that you want a screenshot of.
  3. Right-click anywhere in the emulator.
  4. In the list that appears, select Save Screen.
  5. Enter the filename for your screenshot.
  6. Click Save.

Figure 9.x: The save screen dialog box on Windows.

The screenshots you take will be stored as either BMP files which you can later convert to either GIF or JPEG format for use on the web, or TIFF or EPS for use in printed documentation.

Macintosh

  1. Create a new or open a saved emulator session.
  2. Navigate to the screen that you want a screenshot of.
  3. From the File menu, select Save Screen...
  4. Enter the filename for your screenshot.
  5. Click Save.

Figure 9.x: The save screen dialog box on Mac OS.

The screenshots you take will be stored as either PICT files which you can later convert to either GIF or JPEG format for use on the web, or TIFF or EPS for use in printed documentation.