The Wireless Web: Ready for Primetime?

1. Introducing WAP

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP): Facilitates communication between a wireless device and a gateway, which in turn allows communication with Internet- or intranet-based resources

Wireless Markup Language (WML): Derivative of XML used to create pages for wireless devices

2. The Role of the WAP Gateway

3. Server Options

Use a WAP Server

• Nokia WAP Server - http://www.nokia.com/wap/

• EdgeMatrix - http://www.edgematrix.com

• Infinite WAP Servers - http://www.waplite.com

– Features include HTML->WML translation, GIF/JPEG->WBMP translation

Configure Your Current Server

• Configure your current server to serve the proper MIME headers for WAP content

MIME type	Extension
text/vnd.wap.wml	.wml
text/vnd.wap.wmlscript	.wmls
image/vnd.wap.wbmp	.wbmp
application/vnd.wap.wmlc	.wmlc
application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc	.wmlsc

4. Features of WML

Features of WML

• Optimized for low bandwidth (current max bandwidth is 19.2 Kbps)

• Source files end in .wml, WMLScript files in .wmls

• WAP server compiles file "on the fly" prior to transmission

5. WAP Browsers

Phone.com browser

• Used in most non-Nokia phones

• Emulator available with UP.SDK from http://updev.phone.com

Nokia browser

• Used in recent Nokia phones

• Emulator available with Nokia WAP toolkit from http://www.nokia.com/wap/

6. WML Tag Structure

Each WML "page" is called a deck, which consists of cards

• Minimizes # of transmissions between phone and server

Phone displays cards one at a time

Developer cannot count on Back, Forward, Home buttons

7. A Basic Card

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
		<!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN"
		  "http://www.wapforum.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml"> 
		<wml> 
		 <card id="main" title="An Example"> 
		 <p> 
		 Hello World! 
		 </p> 
		 </card> 
		</wml>

8. Text Styles

Tag	Style
<b></b>	Bold
<i></i>	Italics
<u></u>	Underline
<em></em>	Emphasis
<strong></strong>	Strong
<big></big>	Big
<small></small>	Small

9. Special Characters

Character	Entity Name
Quote	"
Apostrophe	'
Ampersand	&
Less than	<
Greater than	>
Soft hyphen	­
Non-breaking space	 

10. WML Tagging Rules

Tags are case sensitive

Tags must be nested

Tags must always be closed

• e.g., <br> by itself is not acceptable

• <br></br> or <br /> is acceptable

Attribute values must be in quotes

• e.g., <go href="phonedir.xml" />

11. Links

May show up on screen or under one of the soft buttons

Linking to another page:

<a href="phonedir.wml">Phone Directory</a>

Linking to another card:

<a href="#djia">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a>

Providing a Back button

<do type="prev" label="Go Back"><prev /></do>

Code above typically results in one of the function keys having the label Go Back.

12. Other WML Features

Tables

• Same as HTML tables, but no <th></th> tag - all data inside <td></td>

Images

• Uses same HTML <img> tag, but only displays WBMP (wireless bitmaps)

• ALT attribute important for phones that don't display images

13. Other WML Features

Templates

• Allow you to add features to every card in a deck. e.g., to add a Go Back button to every page:

		<template> 
		<do type="prev" label="Go Back">
		<prev /> 
		</do> 
		</template>

Forms

• Coded very differently than HTML forms

• <input> tags (for text and password fields) and <select> lists are the only form elements supported

• Input formats allow you to specify basic patterns that entered data must conform to

• Submit data to programs running on the server, which in turn can query databases, generate emails, etc.

• Server-side programs typically written as CGI scripts, ASPs, JSPs, or ColdFusion templates

Variables

• Allow values to be stored and passed to other cards and decks and to WMLScript

• <setvar /> tag sets variable values

• Variable values are retrieved via $(varname)

Event handling

• Can handle onenterforward, onenterbackward, onpick, and ontimer events

• Responses can include loading a new URL, setting variable values, or executing WMLScript

14. Introducing WMLScript

WMLScript is used for:

• Form validations

• Basic calculations in forms

• Generating alerts, prompts, confirms

• Controlling navigation

• Controlling timers

WMLScript's syntax is very similar to JavaScript

15. Finding WAP Resources

2thumbsWAP.com - http://www.2thumbswap.com/wap/

Google - http://wap.google.com

Yahoo! (via WAP) - http://wap.yahoo.com

Yahoo! (via Web) - http://mobile.yahoo.com/wireless/dir

16. Compelling WAP applications

• Brief data that users want available while mobile

• Flight and traffic information

• Movie listings

• News

• Weather

• Eventually: location-based services

17. Why WAP is Not Quite Ready for Primetime

• Low bandwidth (19.2 Kbps max)

• Tiny, monochrome screen

• Inconsistent browser implementation across phones

• Content displayed differently

• Different levels of WML and WMLScript support

• Phone keypad = poor input device

18. Future of Wireless Web

• Location-based services

• Higher bandwidth

• Better screens

• Voice control

• Probable that XHTML over HTTP to PDAs and other larger-screen devices will be more popular than WML over WAP to today's mobile phone

• WAP/WML likely to fade away over the next few years

• Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) applications may also be successful

19. WAP Tools and Resources

Development tools

• DotWAP (http://www.inetis.com)

• WAPPage (http://www.wapmine.com)

Recommend book

• Learning WML and WMLScript (http://www.ora.com), ISBN 1-56592-947-0

20. Conclusion

Thank you for joining me today!

It will be exciting to see what the future holds in store

Please email questions to me at mailto:sheckler@westlake.com

Please check complete an evaluation and check around you for personal belongings prior to departing

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