S60 Open to new features

One of the known problems when debugging programs on a device is simply the amount of time one spends waiting for things to happen. You have to wait for a build to complete, you have to wait for the program to be downloaded to the device, then wait for it to start, then wait for it to hit a breakpoint so you can actually begin debugging. And if the program is large, whew, does it take awhile to download.

Well, we can't solve all of these issues but if you routinely download large SIS/SISX files to devices to debug, we may have a solution for you.

In Carbide 2.0M1 we've added support for the Symbian partial upgrade feature. This is a flag (PU) that tells the compiler to build an abbreviated SIS/SISX file based only upon the sources that have changed since the last build. These sources are compiled into their own little patch file and stored alongside the full SIS file. If the SIS file is stored in the project, the patch SIS file is stored along with it in the Project Explorer view. If the SIS file is stored in a directory outside the project, the patch SIS file is also stored there and a link added to the project in the Project Explorer view pointing to it.

Carbide actually builds both the full SIS file and the patch SIS file to keep both in sync, but then only downloads the patch SIS file to the device.

How do you know if you should use it or not? Well, to begin, a dialog appears that informs you of this new feature if the SIS file being downloaded exceeds 250k in size. If points you to the SIS Builder tab in the project's Properties dialog where you simply enable the Partial upgrade checkbox for the files that should have patch files created.

After you've done that, simple resume your normal debugging activities as before and enjoy the reduced download time of your project.