Blackberry: efficient debugging on the device?

Question

I am currently trying to debug a Blackberry application on a real device. I find tuning time to be ridiculous! Here is my workflow:

• Uninstall the app using Blackberry Desktop Manager (BBDM)
  • It takes about one minute to select options for uninstalling the application ...
    • BBDM needs to connect to the device and download the list of applications
    • you need to find and unmark the application
  • BBDM takes about 30 seconds to uninstall the application and its submodules.
  • Blackberry bold 9700 now takes 2 minutes to reboot ...
• Using eclipse to start debugging
  • eclipse installs the application
  • wait for the debugger to connect to the device
  • Launch the application manually

In general, it may take more than 10 minutes to complete one debug start. If I miss the breakpoint, I have to start all over again.

Is there a way to optimize this workflow to make debugging on my Blackberry device more efficient?

Answer 1

You do not need to uninstall the application. When redeployed, it will simply replace the previous version with the new one. Unfortunately, this will not allow you to avoid rebooting - something you just need to live with. The good news is that the reboot time improves on newer devices - just about a minute for my Torch 9800 to fully boot.

One can only hope that RIM will bring a “hot swap” of simulator capabilities to actual devices.

Answer 2

If you are not using Peristance and the application is not working, you can remove it and then restart it without rebooting.

In addition, instead of using the application manager, you can use the javaloader.exe file that comes with eclipse sdk located in the bin sdk directory to delete or download tracks

Example .bat file

cd C:\Program Files\Eclipse\plugins\net.rim.ejde.componentpack6.0.0_6.0.0.29\components\simulator java -jar "C:\Program Files\Eclipse\plugins\net.rim.ejde.componentpack6.0.0_6.0.0.29\bin\SignatureTool.jar" -a -c -p myPassword *.cod "C:\Program Files\Eclipse\plugins\net.rim.ejde.componentpack6.0.0_6.0.0.29\bin\javaloader" -u load myCodFiles.cod 

I also personally debug JDE because it is much less laggy than an eclipse, but it is a personal choice.

Answer 3

There are several ways to make debugging more efficient in eclipse.

1.You must create a fake empty project.

2. And start debugging for it instead of your real project.

3. When the debugger is connected, you can run the real application on the device and debug it without rebooting.

Answer 4

I use Debug as-> Blackberry Device to debug the application on my Blackberry Torch 9800. It works fine most of the time, although I admit that debugging on Blackberry is not as fast as on iPhone (much faster) or Android (just fine).