Before using Virtual Phone, you need to create a profile for your Virtual Phone session. You also need to configure the Simulator to work with Virtual Phone. This chapter describes how to get started.

Creating a Virtual Phone Profile ^TOP^

When you run Virtual Phone the first time, Virtual Phone starts by opening the New Profile wizard. The Virtual Phone profile defines the Phone plug-in and the Communication plug-in that are used for this Virtual Phone session.

The first page of the New Profile wizard is the Phone Plugin Selection page, shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1  Phone Plugin Selection page

This page lets you select a phone plug-in from the list of available plug-ins. Virtual Phone comes with two options.

For now, select the StandardGSM phone plug-in, and click Next.

The next page of the wizard is the Com Plugin Selection page, shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2  Com Plugin Selection page

This page lets you choose a Low Link communication option of Serial, TCP v4, or DPRAM.

For now, select the Serial for the Low Link communication plug-in and ETSI 07.10 Mux for the High Link communication plug-in.

If you intend to use the NowMMS/SMS gateway to simulate MMS message reception, select NowMMS. This activates Virtual Phone as an SMSC connection for NowMMS so that Virtual Phone will emulate a GSM modem for the NowMMS gateway.

Click Next.

The next page of the wizard is the Low link Configuration page, shown in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3  Low Link Configuration page

This page lets you specify configuration information for the port. Adjust these values if needed, and click Finish.

Next, you need to configure the Simulator to communicate with Virtual Phone.

Configuring the Simulator ^TOP^

The Simulator is a tool that you can use to test your applications. The Simulator includes all of the ALP Linux Platform system code, compiled to run on Linux.

The Simulator main window looks like the display that runs on an ACCESS Linux Powered™ device. However, as a Linux-based application, Simulator supports many standard Linux-based user interaction techniques. You can use your mouse to perform actions that you perform with the stylus on handheld devices, and you can use menus to access Simulator functions.

See Chapter 2, "Installing Virtual Phone," for instructions on connecting Virtual Phone to the Simulator. The Simulator displays as shown in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.4  ACCESS Linux Platform Simulator

When you launch the Simulator, you might see that the Phone Off message. If this occurs, you can turn the phone on by completing the following steps:

1. Click the Phone icon (second icon from the right).

   The Phone Off dialog displays, as shown in Figure 3.5.

Figure 3.5  Phone Off Dialog

2. Click the Phone On option.

   This displays a message box, as shown in Figure 3.6, that asks if you want to turn the phone on.

Figure 3.6  Phone Status Message

3. Click Turn Phone On.

   The Phone Off message changes to display the name of the carrier you specified for Virtual Phone, as shown in Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7  Simulator with Phone On

Fixing Connection Problems ^TOP^

If a connection cannot be established, the Simulator displays a confirmation message that states "Unable to connect to phone module." The connection problem might be caused by one of the following issues:

• The Virtual Phone profile, which defines the Phone plug-in and the Communication plug-in, does not match the telephony profile as specified in the simulator.cnc file under the UML file tree. Make sure that the profiles match, and then retry the connection.
• If you changed the telephony profile under UML, you must relaunch the Simulator with the factory-reset option:

  alp-simulator --nat --serial --factory-reset

  This is mandatory if a phone connection has already been established before this change.

• Virtual Phone or the Simulator might not be able to establish a connection because the specified communications port is already in use. Close the application that is preventing the connection and then retry the connection. As an alternative, you can go back to the Connection Setup (simulator.cnc for the Simulator or profile setup dialog for Virtual Phone) and change the connection settings.