Opera TV Emulator: Tools for content developers

• Settings
• Additional functionality
• Debugging with Opera Dragonfly

Settings

The Opera TV Emulator may be configured via the Settings button on the web remote control. You can set the desired options using the tabs and settings listed below:

General

TV Emulator version: There may be a number of different TV Emulator browser versions installed on the Virtual Box image. You can set the appropriate version with this drop-down menu.

Default URL: This webpage URL will always be automatically loaded.

Screen resolution: This can be used to set the resolution for the TV Emulator screen in pixels.

Debugging

Default IP: For the purposes of Opera Dragonfly debugging, it is possible to set a different IP and port from the default. Both the Opera Dragonfly listening IP and listening port can be changed.

If you are using Linux or OS X, you will need to change the IP as Opera Dragonfly cannot listen on the IPv4 localhost interface on these operating systems.

Memory

Alloc limit/Heap limit: These are advanced options that let you control the memory available for the TV Emulator. These options may be useful when you want to emulate a device with limited memory. For more information, please see the information on Out of Memory System in Opera.

Browsing Data

Browser cache and history: It is possible to clear the cache and history from your current browsing session by clicking the Clear cache and Clear history buttons in the TV Emulator settings. Note that clicking these buttons clears the cache or history immediately, and does not require you to save or apply the settings.

These buttons can be found in the Browsing data tab of the remote control settings.

Other

XMLHttpRequests: For security reasons, most browsers block XMLHttpRequests to external domains and local files by default. However, XMLHttpRequests can be enabled by clicking the checkbox for Allow file and cross-domain XMLHttpRequests.

Browser performance: It may sometimes be necessary to decrease browser performance in order to imitate the speed of a particular device. It is possible to do this in the remote control settings by setting the value as a percentage of the normal speed. For example, 100% setting means that the emulator is working at peak performance, whereas a setting of 50% works at half power.

Saving and applying new settings

To immediately apply changes to settings, click the Apply button, which will store the settings and restart the emulator. To save changes to settings, but not apply them immediately, click the Save button. The changes will be take effect from the next time the emulator is restarted.

Additional functionality

Below is a list of functionalities and modifications that are particular to the Opera TV emulator and web remote control.

Emulator browser

URL/Navigation bar: The URL/navigation bar can be shown or hidden by pressing the F1 key.

Spatial navigation: The directional buttons both on the remote control, and on the keyboard, control spatial navigation rather than scrolling. This allows you to navigate between input elements without needing to capture the mouse.

To toggle between navigating the address bar and the Web page, use the show/hide function by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard, or click with your mouse.

Web remote control

User key presses: The web remote control only has a numeric keypad, making it impossible to type alphabetic characters. Instead, the computer keyboard can be used for both alphabetic and numeric characters. To do this, make sure that the browser window is in focus and that the cursor is where you want your text to appear by using the spatial navigation functions of the directional keys, or by capturing the mouse.

Debugging with Opera Dragonfly

Opera Dragonfly is a comprehensive set of developer tools, designed to give developers a lightweight-but-powerful application that provides effective mechanisms for web standards debugging and problem solving.

See the Opera Dragonfly product pages for more information and documentation.

The Opera TV Emulator can be connected to Opera Dragonfly in order to debug your web page.

Open the Opera browser on your host machine, and then press Shift + Ctrl + i on Linux and Windows, or Shift + ⌘ + ⌥ + i on Mac OS X.

Opera Dragonfly will open at the bottom of the browser window.

If you are using Linux or Mac OS X, you will need to change the default IP. See the remote control settings for how to do this.

Choose the Remote Debugging icon:

Select port 7001 and click Apply; Opera Dragonfly will enter into listening mode.

Next, from the web remote control, press the Connect to Dragonfly button.

When the connection is established, change the debugging context in Opera Dragonfly to the page with which you would like to work. You can do that with the Debugging Context icon:

Further detailed information about how to use Opera Dragonfly can be found in the Opera Dragonfly field guide.