MobileApp Testing: mobility domain

	Programming language	Debuggers available	Emulator available	Integrated development environment available	Cross-platform deployment	Installer packaging options	Development tool cost
Adobe AIR	Action Script, HTML, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Flash Builder, Flash Professional	iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Android, BlackBerry	The native distribution format of each platform	Flash Builder, Flash Professional - Commercial licenses available Adobe AIR SDK (command line tool) - Free
Airplay SDK (Now Marmalade)	C, C++	Yes	Yes	Visual Studio, XCode	All native: Android, BlackBerry, BREW, iOS (iPhone), Maemo, Palm/webOS, Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile 6.x and desktop, OSX	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
alcheMo	Java	Debugger integrated in Visual Studio, Eclipse or XCode	Emulator is available in corresponding IDE	Visual Studio, Eclipse, XCode	Android, BREW, iOS (iPhone), Windows Mobile	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
Android	Java but portions of code can be in C, C++	Debugger integrated in Eclipse, standalone debugging monitor available	Yes	Eclipse, Project Kenai Android plugin for NetBeans	Android only, because of Dalvik VM, March 2009	apk	Free
Application Craft	JavaScript, HTML5, CSS	Yes	Yes, Emulator used is Ripple	Cloud Based IDE	All platforms: Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Bada, WebOS, Symbian. Mobile, Desktop and Tablet	Cloud/ browser based	Free and Open Source
Appcelerator	JavaScript	Yes, in Titanium Studio, currently in beta.	Emulator is available using 3rd party tools	Internal SDK	Android, iPhone; BlackBerry planned	The native distribution format of each platform	Apache 2.0 license, commercial licenses available
Appception	HTML5, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Cloud-based IDE	Android	The native distribution format of each platform	Free and Commercial licenses available
appMobi	HTML5 (JavaScript,CSS3,HTML5)	Yes, XDK (Google Chrome App Store)	Yes, In XDK	Integrates with developer's preferred tool (VS, Notepad ++, VI)	iOs, Android, HTML5 Web Apps, HTML5 Hybrid Apps	The native distribution format of each platform	No Charge
Aqua	C, C++, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Visual Studio, XCode, Eclipse	Android, BlackBerry Playbook, iOS, Palm/webOS, Samsung bada, Windows Mobile 6.x, Windows Desktop	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Basic4android	Visual Basic	Yes	Yes	Yes	Android	apk	Commercial licenses available
BatteryTech	C, C++	Yes	Native Platform Emulators (iOS, Android...)	Eclipse, Visual Studio, XCode	Android, iOS (iPhone), Windows, OSX	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
Bedrock now webMethods Mobile Designer	Java	Yes	Yes	Eclipse	Java ME, Android, BREW, BlackBerry, Nintendo DS, iOS (iPhone/iPad), Palm/webOS, Sony PSP, Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Windows Desktop, OSX	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
BlackBerry	Java	Debugger integrated in IDE	Yes	Eclipse	BlackBerry only, because of RIM API	alx, cod	Free
Blueprint	XML routed through Yahoo Mobile servers and displayed in native browsers	None beyond a schema check	N/A, translates to web or mobile as needed	N/A, any XML editor	N/A, translates to web or mobile as needed	Combined config upload at Yahoo with self-hosted dynamic XML	Any XML editor
BREW	C; the APIs are provided in C with a C++ style interface	Debugger support for the native ARM target code.Can use Visual Studio to debug the x86 testing code	No Emulator for the target ARM code, has a simulator for the x86 testing code	Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio 2003 .NET, Visual Studio 2005	Compile for the specific BREW version available on the handset	OTA	Related dev fees typically needed for Brew App Certification - VeriSign annual fee for becoming a certified developer. Realview ARM compiler for BREW (the free GNU C/C++ is available, but with limited function and support). TRUE BREW testing fee for distributing the application.
Canappi	mdsl, easy to learn programming language dedicated to mobile solutions, from which iOS, Android, ... code is generated	Native Platform Debuggers (iOS, Android...)	Native Platform Emulators (iOS, Android...)	Eclipse, with mdsl plugin, Apple Interface Builder and Balsamiq for graphical UI design	iOS, Android. Design tools like Interface Builder can be used in a cross-platform way. You create your GUI once in Interface Builder you generate code for all platform, all resolutions from a single file.	Native deployment for each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Celsius	Java	Yes	Yes	Eclipse	Java ME, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile	The native distribution format of each platform of a Java binary	Commercial licenses available
CloudPact	HTML, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Web based IDE both on Cloud and as downloadable version	Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile	OTA deployment or the native distribution format of each platform	Free limited trial and Enterprise plans available
CoStore	Web-based drag-and-drop	N/A	Yes	Web-based app builder	iOS, Android, HTML5	Native deployment for each platform or web-based	Free unlimited trial; commercial licenses available for deployment
Corona SDK	Lua	Yes	Yes	Xcode	iOS, Android, NOOK Color	Native deployment for each platform	Free unlimited trial; commercial licenses available for deployment
DragonRAD	Visual drag & drop tiles	Yes	Uses 3rd party emulators	Proprietary IDE	Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile	OTA deployment	Free & commercial licenses available
FeedHenry	HTML, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Studio includes full IDE and Eclipse Plug-in	Apple iPhone & iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry, Nokia WRT.	The native distribution format of each platform	Free, Professional and Enterprise Plans available
GeneXus for Mobile and Smart Devices	Knowledge Representation and Declarative Modeling for easy development, then code is automatically generated for each platform	No	Publish in the Cloud, test native in the device (No emulator required)	Proprietary IDE	Android, Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad), BlackBerry and even HTML5 if desired	The native distribution format of each platform and also Cloud/browser based	Free to try, Commercial and Enterprise licenses available
Gideros Mobile	Lua	No	Yes	Proprietary IDE	iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
iOS SDK	Objective-C	Debugger integrated in Xcode IDE	Bundled with iPhone SDK, integrated with Xcode IDE	Xcode	iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch	Only via App Store, needs review and approval by Apple Inc.	Tools are free for an Intel-based Mac. Simulator testing is free, but installing on a device needs a fee for a developer signing key
iOS SDK	Object Pascal	Debugger integrated in Xcode IDE	Included in Delphi XE2 professional or higher	Embarcadero Delphi XE2	iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch	Only via App Store, needs review and approval by Apple Inc.	Development requires Intel-based Mac besides the IDE on Windows. Design is on Windows, Compilation and deployment has to be done on Mac. Simulator testing is free, but installing on a device needs a fee for a developer signing key
IwGame Engine	C/C++	Visual Studio / XCode debuggers	Yes, via the Marmalade SDK simulator	Visual Studio / XCode	[iPhone, iPod and iPad, Android, Bada, Blackberry BBX (Playbook), Symbian, WebOS, Windows Mobile, Mobile Linux, LG-TV, Windows Desktop, Mac OSX]	The native distribution format of each platform	Engine is free and open source, uses the Marmalade SDK - [1]
Java ME	Java	Yes	Free emulator, Sun Java Wireless Toolkit, mpowerplayer	Eclipse, LMA NetBeans Mobility Pack	Yes although many VM implementations have device specific bugs necessitating separate builds	Jad/Jar packaging; PRC files under Palm OS	Free
JMango	JMango	N/A	N/A	JMango Flash IDE	Java ME, Android, Bada, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7	The native distribution format of each platform	Free
July Systems Mi™ Platform	Java, HTML, Groovy, FreeMarker, Java Script	Yes	Yes	IDE – Eclipse with GUI Editor	iOS, Android, Blackberry, WP7, Mobile Web, HTML5, QT	Native distribution format for each platform	Commercial licenses available
Kony	Graphical Drag and Drop	Yes	Yes, utilizes Native Platform Emulators( iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7)	Eclipse-based	Yes. Support for full OS-native, hybrid, and wrapper applications. Includes Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Java ME, Palm/webOS, Symbian, Windows Phone 7. Mobile web browser support (WML through to device-optimized HTML5)	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
Lazarus	Object Pascal	Yes, can debug in IDE via ActiveSync for Windows CE	Uses the emulators of the platforms	Lazarus IDE, including integrated GUI designer and debugger	Compiled language available for Windows CE, Linux-based devices, SymbianOS port in development	The native distribution format of each platform	Free
Macromedia Flash Lite	ActionScript	Yes	Bundled with IDE	Macromedia Flash MX2004/8, Eclipse	Yes	SIS / CAB deployment or OTA/IR/Bluetooth SWF files	Varies, free but limited with MTASC
Microbrowser based	XHTML (WAP 2.0), WML (WAP 1.2)	Yes	Many	Many	Basic page rendering with per page customizations for different browsers	N/A	Free
Meme IDE	Memescript easy to learn programming language	Validation is provided in the problems view	Yes, Android emulator can be integrated	Eclipse RCP	Android, Windows Mobile	The native distribution format if each platform	Free for development
MobiFlex	Visual drag & drop tiles	N/A	N/A, runs on phone in seconds	Web Portal, comes with data management add-ins	Android, iPhone	N/A	Free for development only
MobileNationHQ	Visual paradigm/javascript	N/A	N/A instant cloud-based deployment	Integrated SaaS environment	Android, iPhone	N/A	Free and Commercial licenses available
Moscrif	JavaScript	N/A	Bundled with Moscrif SDK	Internal SDK (Mono based)	All native: Android, iOS (iPhone), Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Mono for Android	C#	Yes	Yes	Visual Studio 2005 and MonoDevelop	Android	The native distribution format of the platform
MonoTouch	C#	Yes	Yes	Visual Studio 2005 and MonoDevelop	iOS	The native distribution format of the platform
MoSync	C, C++, Lua, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	Yes	Eclipse, Visual Studio 2005 and later, MoBuild w/ text editors	Android, Java ME, Moblin, iOS (iPhone), Smartphone 2003, Symbian, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC), Blackberry (experimental)	SIS, CAB, JAD, JAR, APK, OTA deployment	Free, GPL 2.0, Free Indie Subscription; commercial subscription available
NeoMAD	Java	Yes	Uses 3rd party emulators	Eclipse and Netbeans plugin	Java ME, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, iOS (iPhone) and Samsung bada coming soon	The native distribution format of each platform	Commercial licenses available
.NET Compact Framework	C#, VB.NET, Basic4ppc	Yes	Free emulator, source code available, also bundled with IDE	Visual Studio 2008, 2005, 2003, Basic4ppc IDE	Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Symbian-based devices via third party tools	OTA deployment, CAB files, ActiveSync	Most tools free, but commercial editions of Visual Studio needed for visual designers
NS BASIC/App Studio	Visual Basic	Yes	No, Test in Chrome or Safari Browser	Proprietary IDE	iPhone, iPad, iPad Touch, Android 2.1+	Java Web App or native deployment using Phonegap	Evaluation Version & Commercial Licenses available
OpenPlug	ActionScript, XML	Yes	Yes	OpenPlug ELIPS plugin for Adobe Flash Builder	Android, iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), Symbian, Windows Mobile	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Palm OS	C, C++, Pascal	Yes	OS 1.0 - 4.1: Free Emulator provided by PalmSource (Access); OS 5.0: - 5.4 Device-specific Simulators provided by Palm (palmOne)	Palm OS Development System (Eclipse), CodeWarrior, PocketStudio, HB++, Satellite Forms	Palm OS handhelds, or Windows Mobile with StyleTap emulator	PRC files, PalmSource Installer (.psi)	Free (POSE or GCC for Palm OS), or commercial (CodeWarrior), or various commercial rapid-development frameworks
Particle SDK	Java, ActionScript	Yes	Yes	Eclipse plugin with GUI editor	Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Phone 7 mobile devices plus Flash, HTML5 web apps	The native distribution format of each platform	Currently in free beta. Commercial license will be available.
PhoneGap	HTML, CSS, JavaScript	Yes	No, 3rd party tools	No, 3rd party tools	iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Palm	The native distribution format of each platform	MIT license
Python	Python	Yes	Add-on to Nokia Emulator	Several, including plugins for Eclipse	Interpreted language available natively only on Nokia Series60 (and desktops) though ports exist to other mobile platforms, including PalmOS	Sis deployment with py2sis or can use Python Runtime	Free
Qt SDK	C++, QML	Yes	Yes	Qt Creator	Symbian platform, Maemo, MeeGo, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Resco MobileForms Toolkit	C#	Yes	Yes	Visual Studio	Windows Mobile (Pocket PC), Windows CE, Android, iOS, Smartphone	The native distribution format of each platform	Free & commercial licenses available
Rhomobile	Ruby with HTML interface features compiled through an interpreter into native applications.	Yes	N/A, applications can run in Win32 runner, or in device emulators for supported platforms.	xCode or Eclipse, on-demand RhoHub version includes full IDE	Yes, supports iOS (incl. 3.0) on iPhone and iPad, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Mobile Windows 6.0 Standard, BlackBerry 4.6, 4.7, 5.0, 6.0 (BlackBerry 4.2 and 4.5 supported but database access is very slow on these devices), Symbian and Android 1.6 and higher	OTA deployment, iOS through App store, .SIS, .CAB, .APK, .COD	Rhodes is free and open source under the MIT License, RhoSync is under GPL or commercial, Commercial support available. Subscription for RhoHub
Smartface Platform	Drag-and-drop tools and action editing	No, not needed	Yes	Smartface Designer	Yes: Android, BlackBerry, J2ME, Symbian S60	The native distribution format of each platform	Community licenses available
Symbian	C++	Yes	Free Emulator	Many choices	Compile per target	SIS deployment	Commercial and free tools available
TotalCross	Java	Yes	Yes	Eclipse, TKN Mobile Studio for TotalCross	Android, BlackBerry, iOS (iPhone, iPad), Palm OS, Windows Mobile. Windows Phone 7, Symbian planned	The native distribution format of each platform (cab, jad, apk, pdb/prc, deb)	SDK is open source and free for desktop development. VM for target devices must be licensed
Unity	C#, JavaScript, Boo, other .NET based languages	Yes	Remote used to simulate device interaction before app is uploaded to the device.	Unity Editor, also works with Visual Studios and MonoDevelop.	Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad), PC, Mac, desktop browser, XBOX360, PS3, Wii. BlackBerry Playbook, Nokia Symbian, Roku 2 and others available through company's Union program.	The native distribution format of each platform.	Free and commercial development licenses.
WebORB Integration Server	C#,VB.NET, Java, PHP, ActionScript, JavaScript, Objective-C, XML	Yes	Uses emulator for corresponding mobile SDKs	Works with Eclipse, Visual Studio, intelliJ IDEA and Amethyst IDE	Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad), BlackBerry Playbook, Windows Phone7	The native distribution format of each platform	Free development licenses; Free and Commercial deployment licenses
webOS	JavaScript, CSS, HTML, C and C++ through the PDK	Yes	Free emulator	Eclipse	webOS, Palm only	OTA deployment, webOS through App store, Web URL, Precentral, .ipk	Free
WinDev Mobile	WLanguage	Yes	Yes	WinDev Mobile, Android DSK	Android, Windows Mobile	OTA deployment, apk, CAB files, ActiveSync	Commercial licenses available
Windows Mobile	C, C++	Yes	Free emulator (source code available), also bundled with IDE	Visual Studio 2010, 2008, 2005, eMbedded VC++ (free), Satellite Forms	Windows Mobile, Windows FU, Windows CE	OTA deployment, CAB files, ActiveSync	Free command-line tools or eMbedded VC++, or Visual Studio (Standard edition or better)
Windows Phone	C#	Yes	Free emulator, also bundled with IDE	Visual Studio 2010	Windows Phone	OTA deployment, XAP files
Worklight	Choice of standard HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, native languages or a combination of both	Yes	Bundled with the IDE as well as device SDK integration	Eclipse-based plug-in	Yes, supports Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone 7, as well as modern mobile browsers for web apps	The native distribution format of each platform	Free evaluation version, commercial licenses available
Fivespark	Web-based point and click	N/A	Preview in desktop browser	Web-based app builder	Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone 7 plus other modern mobile browsers	HTML5 OTA	Free for development
Tiggr - Mobile Apps Builder	Web-based, visual editor, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap	Yes, in special debug window	No need, test right in browser or device	Web-based, can also export to Eclipse or Maven project	Mobile Web (HTML/JS/CSS), iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7	The native distribution format of each platform or mobile Web (HTML/JS/CSS)	In free beta, subscription will be available in the future

Performance monitoring:

DDMS provides Threads, VMHeap, Allocation Tracker, Emulator control and other tabs to monitor application performance. The following sections describe how to use DDMS and the various tabs and panes that are part of the DDMS GUI

Examining thread information

The Threads tab in DDMS shows you the currently running threads for a selected process.

Select the process that you want to examine the threads for.
Click the Update Threads button.
In the Threads tab, you can view the thread information for the selected process.
“main” (see name column) thread is your applications process
Click on refresh button to view class and method information.
If Native = false, method/class is from application, else method/class is from Android OS.

Heap and non-Heap memory

The device JVM memory consists of the following segments:

Heap Memory, which is the storage for Java objects
Non-Heap Memory, which is used by Java to store loaded classes and other meta-data
JVM code itself, JVM internal structures, loaded profiler agent code and data, etc.

Viewing heap usage for a process

DDMS allows you to view how much heap memory process is using. This information is useful in tracking heap usage at a certain point of time during the execution of your application.

The Dalvik virtual machine can produce a complete dump of the contents of the virtual heap. This is very useful for debugging memory usage and looking for memory leaks.

To view heap usage for a process:

Select the process that you want to see the heap information for.
Click the Show Heap Updates button to enable heap information for the process.
In the VM Heap tab, click Cause GC to invoke garbage collection, which enables the collection of heap data. When the operation completes, you will see a group of object types and the memory that has been allocated for each type. You can click Cause GC again to refresh the data.
Click on an object type in the list to see a bar graph that shows the number of objects allocated for a particular memory size in bytes.

There are many types of objects that are identified by DVM which are categorized as below.

Class Objects are instances of Class, e.g. what you'd get from java.lang.String.class or myObject.getClass().
The arrays are binned by size. For example, 2-byte arrays could be short[] or char[]. 4-byte arrays include float[], int[], and all Object[].
A non-Java Object is a piece of memory that isn't actually accessible from code written in Java. Essentially it's a blob of stuff that got stuck on the virtual heap but has no meaning to interpreted code. Shouldn't be much of that.
Data Objects are objects that don't fall into one of the special categories. ArrayList, HashMap, whatever.

Allocation Tracker

In a performance-sensitive code path, such as the layout or drawing method of a view or the logic code of a game, any allocation comes at a price. After too many allocations, the garbage collector will kick in and stop your application to let it free some memory. Most of the time, garbage collections happen fast enough for you not to notice. However, if a collection happens while you are scrolling through a list of items or while you are trying to defeat a foe in a game, you may suddenly see a drop in performance/responsiveness of the application. It's not unusual for a garbage collection to take 100 to 200 ms. For comparison, a smooth animation needs to draw each frame in 16 to 33 ms. If the animation is suddenly interrupted for 10 frames, you can be certain that your users will notice.

Most of the time, garbage collection occurs because of tons of small, short-lived objects and some garbage collectors, like generational garbage collectors, can optimize the collection of these objects so that the application does not get interrupted too often. The Android garbage collector is unfortunately not able to perform such optimizations and the creation of short-lived objects in performance critical code paths is thus very costly for your application.

To help you avoid frequent garbage collections, the Android SDK ships with a very useful tool called allocation tracker. This tool is part of DDMS, which you must have already used for debugging purposes. To start using the allocation tracker, you must first launch the standalone version of DDMS, which can be found in the tools/ directory of the SDK. The version of DDMS included in the Eclipse plugin does not offer you ability to use the allocation tracker yet. Once DDMS is running, simply select your application process and then click the Allocation Tracker tab. In the new view, click Start Tracking and then use your application to make it execute the code paths you want to analyze. When you are ready, click Get Allocations. A list of allocated objects will be shown in the first table. By clicking on a line you can see, in the second table, the stack trace that led to the allocation. Not only you will know what type of object was allocated, but also in which thread, in which class, in which file and at which line.

File System

DDMS provides a File Explorer tab that allows you to view, copy, and delete files on the device. You can view this tab by going to the ‘Device’ menu and clicking on the ‘File Explorer’ tab. Using this feature the user can examine files that are created by your application or if you want to transfer files to and from the emulator/device to the local machine.

To work with an emulator or device's file system:

In the File explorer tab, select the file that you want ot view.
To copy a file from the device/emulator, locate the file in the File Explorer and click the Pull file button.
To copy a file to the device/emulator, click the Push file button on the File Explorer tab.

Browser	Key Features	Operating System	Price
Opera Mobile	Multiple tabs, Zoom-in	Windows Mobile, Symbian	Not Free
Opera Mini	Compressed downloads for fast browsing, Zoom-in	Java	Free
Skyfire	Display rich websites with Flash or widgets like YouTube, customizable zoom feature	Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile	Free
Safari	Display rich websites like YouTube, zoom feature, excellent touch-based user interface	iPhone	Free with iPhone
Google Android	Display rich websites like YouTube, zoom feature, touch screen interface	Google Android	Free with Android
Microsoft IE for Mobile	Standard browser features	Windows Mobile	Free with Windows Mobile
Firefox Mobile	Multiple tabs, Awesomebar, password manager, Add-on support, PC-syncing	Nokia Maemo, Windows Mobile 6.0 (alpha)	Free
Bolt	Split screen mode, Widgets	Java MIDP 2.0	Free
Teashark	Compressed downloads, Multiple tabs	Java MIDP 2.0	Free
Blazer	Standard browser features	Palm OS	Free with Palm OS
Mozilla's Minimo	Multiple tabs, social bookmarking	Windows Mobile	Free (open source)
Bitstream's Thunderhawk	Compressed downloads for fast browsing, Zoom-in	Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Java	Not Free
S60 Web Browser	Standard browser features	S60	Free with S60

MobileApp Testing

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

whitepapers by Perfecto mobile

Good read: about mobile emulators

Don't put all your trust in mobile emulators

Steve Souders on how he reduces the development risks of mobile emulators.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mobile web browsers

Mobile application development Environment

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Monitor performance using DDMS (Android)