Remote control on Airplay

Airplay SDK keeps development on the desktop

Airplay SDK has always focused on keeping the majority of development and testing on the desktop, where developers are most efficient – take for example the super-fast Airplay Simulator start-up time, and the ability to run and debug ARM code on the desktop.

Remote Control - control the Airplay Simulator from real connected devices

Controls need testing on real devices

However, there comes a point where you need to test using real device control surfaces, for example to get a tactile feel for your touchscreen, keypad or accelerometer controls. Airplay’s unique Remote Control feature now allows you to do this without compromising the efficiency of desktop-development. So how does it work?

How does Remote Control work?

Any WiFi-enabled device can now be connected to the Airplay Simulator, by means of the “Remote Control” menu. The Airplay Simulator then receives selected types of input event from the device (e.g. keypad, touchscreen, accelerometer), rather than from the desktop peripherals (e.g. keyboard, mouse). The Airplay Simulator display is sent back to the device as a JPEG stream. So effectively the device is generating inputs, and receiving visual output… yet the entire application is running on the desktop machine, in either x86 or ARM simulation!

The best of both worlds

This means you can test device-specific controls such as multi-touch or accelerometer without needing to continually go through the process of repackaging and redeploying device builds. Yet another great development saving from Airplay SDK!