porting in j2me

Hi,

I would like to know how to test whether j2me applications are compatible for different handsets, or porting any tutorials/links regarding porting would be of great help to me.

Thanks in advance

In theory, it's "Write once, run anywhere". In practice, portability has been more of a problem than it is with desktop Java apps. Part of this is because most mobile devices contain not only one of the Java mobile profiles, but also a number of the JSR-defined extensions and the exact mix varies from device to device.

I guess when it comes to J2ME testing you still have to rely on manual tests on the real hardware.

Hi Deep,

As a first step -- you need to check the API usage. If you have used APIs from Sun'sMIDP/CLDC specification ONLY, you can have a piece of mind that it will work for all Java supported phones.

Next thing to check whether you are using Canvas or is it a complete non-canvas based application. In the latter case, you can be absolutely sure that it will work on all Java supported phones and all sizes as well.

However, if you are using Canvas, then you should analyse each displayable screen as it will require customisation for different phone sizes.

This might get more complex, if you are already using phone specific APIs. You will either need to identify alternative ones for other phone models (may not be available) or remove them (which in turn might mean removing the functionality).

Hope this might give you a direction to plan your porting effort.

Arnab