10.1. The iPhone Simulator

The iPhone simulator (see Figure 10-1) is an application that Apple provides as part of its development toolset. The iPhone Simulator provides a means of accessing and testing core features or options on the devices. However, the usefulness is limited to testing web sites in Safari and basic troubleshooting. You cannot configure mail clients, calendars, or install software that you don't have the uncompiled Xcode project for. While the iPhone Simulator is often used as a troubleshooting tool, it's important to keep in mind that it was released as a development tool, and any features that it has (or doesn't have) are meant to aid developers, not to be a replacement for having an actual device.

While limited as a support tool, the iPhone Simulator is a great tool to use for application testing during the development process of an application. While writing an application, you can use the iPhone Simulator for testing the appearance and functionality. You can also check whether or not your organization's site and web-based applications appear and function appropriately on an iPhone or iPod touch.

To obtain the iPhone Simulator, download the iPhone SDK from http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/development_tools/iphonesdk.html. Once downloaded, install the SDK and then browse to the /Developer/Library/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/ Applications directory and open the iPhone Simulator.

Figure 10.1. The iPhone Simulator