In all honesty, installing a BlackBerry simulator and the Visual Studio plug-in is as simple as going to a website and downloading the necessary software and programs- which we’ll get to in a moment, but it’s important to first understand what the purpose of these things are and how they can better your BlackBerry development experience.

BlackBerry Device Simulators are used to demonstrate and test how applications work on a given device model and software version. In other words, having a simulator in your developer toolkit is absolutely necessary if you want to get the most out of your phone as possible- and who doesn’t? These simulators will also simulate behavior in various wireless network conditions. BlackBerry Device Simulators are also excellent for testing, training, and using in presentations.

When integrated with the BlackBerry Java Development Environment we discussed earlier, BlackBerry Device Simulators can run and debug applications developed in the BlackBerry JDE. It’s also important to point out that each simulator package represents a publicly available application version and contains simulators for multiple BlackBerry smartphones.

In order to get the Visual Studio plug-in, which we’ll discuss next, you must register for access to the BlackBerry Developer Community. Once you’ve completed the registration form, you will need to download the newest edition of the Bold simulator, which works in conjunction with the Visual Studio plug-in.

Visual Studio Plug-In

Now that you have become a registered user of the BlackBerry site, you will be able to access and download the Visual Studio plug-in for your BlackBerry. Aside from Windows XP, which many of us have anyhow, the other system requirement needed to download the software is Microsoft’s standard edition Visual Studio . The Visual Studio is a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help software developers create innovative, next-gen applications. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition provides a full-featured development environment for Windows and Web developers. Not only that, but it enables productivity enhancements for building data-driven client and Web applications. Individual developers looking to create connected applications with next-generation user experiences will find Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition to be a perfect fit. The software costs a whopping $299 at the Microsoft site, but can be found elsewhere for as little as $160.

The BlackBerry Microsoft Visual Studio plug-in allows ASP.Net developers to leverage existing Microsoft-based developer tools to create and debug web projects for BlackBerry smartphones. Developers working within a .NET programming environment can also maintain the benefits of their tools-of-choice in order to easily create superior web content and applications. It goes without saying that countless developers use the BlackBerry Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio, but why is this plug-in so popular? Simply put: it allows them to enjoy simplified web development, debugging, and profile all with a single tool. Very few devices on the market, if any, are so well designed and created with developers and businesses in mind. Another much-appreciated perk that developers are constantly raving about is the BlackBerry simulators capability to seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Visual Studio for optimized web development debugging and profiling.

>>> More Smartphone Development Articles          >>> More By Joe eitel