FAQ Wednesday: Your Simulator Questions

It’s Wednesday and time for another FAQ session. Here are five frequently asked questions (FAQ).

1. Is CoronSDK 840 (Release) compatible with Mountain Lion?

Yes, the 2012.840 Release build does work with OSX 10.8 (Mountain Lion). Since the Mac Simulator is unsigned, you will get a message saying that the program is not trusted and will not run. You need to set the security settings (in Gatekeeper) to allow running the app. Go to System Preferences/Security & Privacy/General. Click on the “Anywhere” option.

Once you set the permission and run CoronaSDK once, you can go back and reset the permission to protect your system.

This is only an issue with the Release build. The current daily builds are now signed and don’t require the permission change.

2. Does CoronaSDK work with the new MacBook Retina?

CoronaSDK does work with the new retina display but only in “low resolution” mode. This mode is set on the current daily builds (2012.865 and later) but you will need to set this mode on the release build (2012.840.)

If you run the release build without setting the low resolution mode, you will see a number of display problems including black blocks where text would be.

To set this mode on CoronaSDK, use the Finder app and select the CoronaSDK folder. Right click on “Corona Simulator.app” (not “Corona Terminal”), and select “Get Info.” Select the “Open in Low Resolution” option.

3. What build can I use to build for an older iOS (e.g, iOS 3.1.3)?

Our current release (840) only supports iOS builds starting with 4.3 because Apple has dropped support for other versions of iOS. If you have an app that doesn’t need the newer CoronaSDK features, you can download build 2012.704b from the Daily Builds page (you must be a subscriber). This is an iOS 5.1 build that supports iOS 3.1 through 5.1, including the iPad Retina display. Note: The 2012.704a release build does not support iPad Retina.

4. Why don’t I see any errors when I run the Mac Simulator?

Errors, warnings and print messages are displayed on the terminal when running the Simulator. For Windows, the terminal is automatically opened when you start the simulator. For Mac, you need to open “Corona Terminal” and not the “Corona Simulator.app”. Both these programs are located in the CoronaSDK folder that is moved into the Applications folder when you install CoronaSDK.

When you start the Corona Terminal, it opens a Terminal window and then starts the Corona Simulator. Running only the Corona Simulator app is useful if you want to demonstrate a working application and don’t need the information displayed in the terminal.

One quick tip about the Mac CoronaSDK. You can have multiple copies of the CoronaSDK installed and even running on your system. You may want to have both the release build (840) and the currently daily build installed on your machine. This allows you to build and test with a daily build but go back to the release build in case you find a problem that may be related to the daily build.

Whenever I download and install a new Mac CoronaSDK, I rename the CoronaSDK folder by adding the build number. So for the release build, I change “CoronaSDK” to “CoronaSDK-840.” All CoronSDKs running on your system share the same preference files so your “recent” history and any preferences set in one version will apply to all versions.

5. What are the keyboard shortcuts for the Simulator?

Both the Mac and Windows Simulators have a number of useful keyboard shortcuts. Here are some that I find useful. Use “control” key for Windows and “command” key for Mac along with the following keys:

R               Relaunch the simulator with the current project
O               Open an existing project
B               iOS Build window
Shift B         Android Build window
+               Zoom In (makes the "skin" larger)
-               Zoom Out (makes the "skin" smaller)
Left arrow      Rotate the "skin" left
Right arrow     Rotate the "skin" right
Up arrow        Simulate device "shake"
Down arrow      Suspend/Resume simulator

That’s it for today’s questions. I hope you enjoyed it and even learned a few things.