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Software Development Kits

To Emulate or Not to Emulate

Technically the EPOC emulators are not emulators! They are the actual EPOC environment running under Win32, but for simplicity sake Psion/Symbian called them Emulators, so that is what I shall call them too

What are the SDKs?

This section is taken from the EPOC SDK Help file.

"EPOC supports an unparalleled range of software development options for wireless information devices. Development of applications for EPOC devices is supported in three languages: C++, OPL and Java™. PC-based applications for data conversion, synchronisation and remote control of EPOC machines may be written in Windows C++ or Visual Basic."

Win32 PC to EPOC device development diagram

"Symbian’s SDK product range is designed for both corporate developers and independent software vendors. SDK products for OEMs are also available.

A key aspect of EPOC software development is the EPOC Emulator, which runs under Microsoft Windows. The emulator uses the Win32 API to emulate the underlying hardware services required by EPOC devices. It implements all user-side EPOC APIs exactly as on an EPOC machine.

C++ software is built and debugged on the emulator using Microsoft Visual C++, and then rebuilt for target machines using a customised GNU C++ Compiler (GCC) implementation to generate optimised ARM machine code.

OPL and Java are interpreted languages. Programs may be developed and debugged under the emulator, and then transferred to an EPOC target machine without rebuilding."

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Which SDK do I chose?

There are 3 main SDKs available: OPL, C++ and Java™, and another, the Connectivity SDK, that is used for developing enhancements and vendor-specific extensions to EPOC Connect (PsiWin). There is also a Revo SDK that installs on top of either the regular OPL or C++ SDK.

Each of the regular SDKs (OPL, C++ and Java™) contains an 'emulator' that runs the EPOC operating system under Windows. When run this presents you with a representation of a Symbian EPOC device, in one of three sizes:

1/2 VGA, VGA or Large VGA.

OPL SDK screenshot - 19 KB

Which SDK you choose depends on what you want to use the software for.

Only for accessing your backup

If you simply want to use the emulator to access your PsiWin backup, or evaluate software on your PC, then it doesn't matter which version you download and install, choose from OPL (25.8 MB), C++ (57.2 MB) or Java™ (16.1 MB).

If you want to have simple access your S5(mx), S7 or Revo back-up files on your PC there is a neat trick to make the emulator automatically locate the backups as a separate drive. You can find out about this at the bottom of this page, or click here.

For developing software

For software development you must make a choice between OPL (Organiser Programming Language: a BASIC-like structured programming language), C++, Java™ or Connectivity (for developing enhancements and vendor-specific extensions to EPOC Connect, badged by Psion as PsiWin).

I cannot make this decision for you. I program in OPL, which is a very simple language to pick up, so I have the OPL SDK installed. Find out more on the Programming EPOC computers page.

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Where do I get the SDKs?

Details on where to acquire the Software Development Kits for C++, Java, OPL and Connectivity, as well as for Revo and NetPad can be found on the following pages:

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Contact us

e-mail: +

GJ5 forum



Symbian links

Psion.com -- Home Page

Symbian Developer Network -- Support and SDK Downloads

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