Before launching any app, it is important to test the app from each aspect, whether it is compatibility, performance, design, or any other type of testing. Developers work hard to ensure that apps should be bug-free and each piece of code should be error-free. Developers use virtual devices or emulators to test the app for any code or feature change.

Tizen Studio provides off-the-shelf emulators for different profiles such as Wearable, Smart TV, and mobile, and these emulators are customizable according to the different device hardware requirements. Developers can tweak the emulator configuration to test and verify the app for different hardware configurations.

Tizen emulators give an edge to the developers because these:

• Are based on the open-source QEMU project and consists of a virtual CPU, memory, and various peripherals.
• Are x86 architecture based virtual machines.
• Use Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM), a type of inbuilt hypervisor on CPU for quick emulation.
• Are fully supported on Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu (as KVM) operating systems.

How to use Tizen Emulator

Tizen emulators are easy to set up and run within a few clicks. While installing packages for selected profile, click Install on Emulator option.

Installing emulator with Tizen Studio

To run an app in the emulator for the first time in Tizen Studio, create an emulator instance using Emulator Manager in Tizen Studio:

Emulator Manager in Tizen Studio

While creating emulator instance, ensure that:

• Host processor supports virtualization.
• CPU VT is enabled on the host.
• Virtualization utility should be installed with emulator packages.
  • Ubuntu (as KVM)
  • Windows and macOS (as HAXM)
    Note:
    HAXM utility is automatically installed as part of Tizen Studio. If required, you can install the HAXM separately on both Windows and macOS. No installation required for Ubuntu.

Before launching the emulator, if configuration changes are required, you can do it by clicking Edit in Emulator Manager. Once changes are done, select the profile required in Emulator Manager and click Launch to run the emulator:

Emulator Manager Launch and Edit buttons

After that, a new emulator instance window will open, looking the same as the skin of the profile you selected. Tizen OS will boot in the emulator instance then you’re ready to run or test your application in the Tizen emulator.

Tizen Wearable emulator booting up

Now in Tizen Studio, select and right-click the application project and then navigate to Run As > Tizen Native Application (if it is a native application) in Project Explorer to run the app in the emulator. The emulator will run the application project inside it.

App launched in Tizen Wearable emulator

Note:

By default, Tizen Studio attaches the Tizen certificate to the application while running the application in the emulator. Whereas, based on profile, ensure that your application has the Tizen certificate or Samsung certificate attached to it to publish the application in the marketplace.

There are plenty of advanced features supported by the Tizen emulators such as multi-point touch, share a directory, using the camera, customized skins, and many more to test the application for different features. Whereas, using such features depends on the scope of the application.

What goes behind

While application runs automatically in the emulator, it routes through Smart Development Bridge (SDB), a command-line tool that communicates with a target device or an emulator. So once the developer clicks on Run As > Tizen Native Application, a communication bridge establishes between host and the emulator, using the SDB services.

Now developers can easily run applications using Tizen emulator, and test cases can be performed. Moreover, if developers still face some issues while running applications or using Tizen emulators, the Tizen community provides extensive support on dev forums and documentation.