Request for 'any tip/tricks' on porting J2ME games across many phone models.

[lgmcben]

Hi. I only started working on J2ME for 2 months so I'm quite new here. >_<

I'm currently working on a project where I'm given the full source code of J2ME games. My duty is to port these games to various mobile phone models. That is, the game must be able to run smoothly on various screen sizes, heap memory and etc.

My usual tasks involve editing the code, test it on the emulator, bug fixing and etc.

I use Ant build script to provide multiple-device support. Which mean there are preprocessors in the .java sourcecode, so using an IDE to debug the code(set break points, stepping through the code), from what I heard, is not possible.

I need to use System.out.println() to print something on the emulator's console window when finding/fixing bugs.

That's my story.

On to the questions:

Actually what I want to ask in this thread is -> is this really the best method possible to find/fix the bugs ? (I mean using the System.out.println()) Is it really impossible to debug using an IDE? Or if not IDE, are there any better way?

And I'd love to hear ANY tips from experts about porting a game. =)

Thank you very much.

[Jason Glass]

Not sure on the porting of games aspect, other than to just "Keep it Simple"

Sys.Outs are okay, but if you dont remove them from code, you unneccessarily chew CPU cycles writing to nowhere(on most devices), you might incorporate a logger class, which you could then enable/disable, but would still bloat size of code

Havent tried the IDE debugging with breakpoints with other preproccessor configs, but if you just HEARD it doesnt work, I would try it for yourself, as In netbeans, when you click run (to launch emulator) the emulator should be tied to your currentlly set configuration, but again, unsure...

Good Luck

[peterblazejewicz]

hi,

first install as many SDK/emulators as you can obtain and use them,
as noted using NetBeans/MobilityPack with ant-based sources you can use multiple configurations to:
- test/debug in different emulator (which works and is based on currenlty choosen configuration)
- deploy the same project into different platforms (devices),

Sun just put new article about tips on working with defragmentation:
Java ME: De-fragmentation Technical Overview and Design Guidelines Index
and there are also other articles about that problem,
NetBeans centered article:
J2ME MIDP Device Fragmentation Tutorial with Marv The Miner

regars,
Peter

[Jason Glass]

nice peter,

thanks for those links!

[balagopalks]

Just to add: There are a set of docs in the Porting section of Forum Nokia.
Porting
http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/reso...ing/index.html

Also J2ME polish would be of some interest to you
http://www.j2mepolish.org/

Regards
Gopal