Wireless Web Development, Second Edition RAY RISCHPATER APress Media, LLC Wireless Web Development, Second Edition Copyright ©2002 by Ray Rischpater Originally published by Apress in 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN 978-1-59059-028-7 ISBN 978-1-4302-1103-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4302-1103-7 Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Technical Reviewer: Charles Stearns Editorial Directors: Dan Appleman, Peter Blackburn, Gary Cornell, Jason Gilmore, Simon Hayes, Karen Watterson, John Zukowski Managing Editor: Grace Wong Project Manager: Sofia Marchant Copy Editor: Kim Wrmpsett Compositor: Impressions Book and Journal Services Indexer: Rebecca Plunkett Cover Designer: Kurt Krames Manufacturing Manager: Tom Debolski Marketing Manager: Stephanie Rodriguez The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work. This book is dedicated to the memory ofM eredith C. White and Raymond W. White, who could only imagine the possibilities ofa world with the wireless Web, and to the future ofJ arod Raymond Risch pater, who can only imagine the world without the wireless Web. Contents at a Glance Acknowledgments ....................................................x iii About the Author ...................................................x iv About the Technical Reviewer ......................................x v Introduction ........................................................x vi Chapter 1 A Wireless Data Primer ..................................1 Chapter 2 The Wireless Landscape ..................................1 1 Chapter 3 The Wireless User Interface ............................3 5 Chapter 4 The Wireless World Wide Web .......................... .49 Chapter 5 Server-Side Content Management ........................6 7 Chapter 6 Server-Side Content-Management Scripting ............9 1 Chapter 7 eXtensible Markup Language ...........................1 17 Chapter 8 HyperText Markup Language the Wireless Way ........ 135 Chapter 9 Palm Powered Web Clipping Applications .............1 69 Chapter 10 i-mode Applications ..................................1 81 Chapter 11 Wireless Application Protocol .......................1 91 Chapter 12 Wireless Markup Language ............................2 03 Chapter 13 Dynamic Content with WMLScript .....................2 47 Chapter 14 Content Deli very ......................................2 79 Chapter 15 Custom Applications: When a Browser Won't Work ..3 03 Appendix A Resources for Wireless Web Developers ..............3 19 v Appendix B Unified Modeling language for Web Developers .....3 25 Appendix C Handheld Device Markup language ....................3 35 Index ................................................................3 67 Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................x iii About the Author ...................................................x iv About the Technical Reviewer ......................................x v Introduction ........................................................x vi Chapter 1 A Wireless Data Primer .........................1 A Bit of Wireless Data History .....................................1 A Bit of Technical Talk .............................................3 Putting It All Together: How a Cellular System Works ........... 7 Summary .................. ~ .............................................9 Chapter 2 The Wireless Landscape ........................ 11 An Explosive Growth Industry ...................................... 11 Uses of the Wireless Web ...........................................1 2 The Opportunities for Wireless Development .....................1 2 The Fundamentals of Wireless Development ........................1 4 The Computing Capacity Gap: Handheld versus Desktop ...........1 7 Exploring Markup Options ...........................................1 9 Exploring Hardware Options ........................................2 5 What Makes the Wireless Market Unique? ..........................2 8 Summary ...............................................................3 4 Chapter 3 The Wireless User Interface ................. 35 Meeting User Expectations .........................................3 5 Designing the User Interface ......................................3 7 Creating User-Friendly Content ....................................3 9 Summary ...............................................................4 8 vii Contents Chapter 4 The Wireless World Wide Web ................ .49 Reviewing Web Standards ........................................... .49 Getting Presentation Tips .........................................5 9 Summary ...............................................................6 5 Chapter 5 Server-Side Content Management .............6 7 What Is Server-Side Scripting? ...................................6 7 Using Server-Side Scripting in Mobile Applications .............6 9 Managing Server-Side Content with Apache ........................ 72 Using a Transcoding Server ........................................8 6 Using XML for Content Management .................................8 8 Summary ...............................................................9 0 Chapter 6 Server-Side Content-Management Scripting ...............................9 1 Creating PHP-Powered Wireless Web Sites .........................9 1 Summary ..............................................................1 14 Chapter 7 eXtensible Markup Language .................1 17 An XML Primer .......................................................1 17 Sharing Your XML Creation .........................................1 21 Summary ..............................................................1 33 Chapter 8 HyperText Markup Language the Wireless Way ..............................................1 35 Picking a Version of HTML ........................................1 35 Marking Up the Document Heading .................................1 36 Marking Up the Document Body .....................................1 41 Creating a Form ....................................................1 60 Using Other HTML Tags ..............................................1 65 Summary ..............................................................1 66 viii Contents Chapter 9 Palm Powered Web Clipping Applications .......................................1 69 Introducing the Web Clipping Application Architecture .......1 69 learning WCA Fundamentals ........................................1 71 Creating a Sample WCA .............................................1 77 Summary ..............................................................1 80 Chapter 10 i-mode Applications .......................... 181 looking at the i-mode Architecture ..............................1 81 Creating Content for i-mode ......................................1 83 Summary ..............................................................1 89 Chapter 11 Wireless Application Protocol ...........1 91 Introducing the WAP Standard .....................................1 91 Using Tools for XHTMl Mobile Profile ...........................1 94 Understanding XHTMl Mobile Profile ..............................1 94 Summary ..............................................................2 02 Chapter 12 Wireless Markup Language ....................2 03 Why Use WMl? ........................................................2 03 Designing WMl User Interfaces ....................................2 05 Creating Your First WAP Application ............................2 08 Viewing WMl Content ...............................................2 09 learning WMl Syntax ...............................................2 10 Marking Up Documents with WMl ....................................2 13 Summary ..............................................................2 46 Chapter 13 Dynamic Content with WMLScript ..........2 47 Purposes of WMlScript .............................................2 47 Exploring the Features of WMlScript ............................2 48 Creating a Simple WMlScript Application ........................2 49 looking More Closely at WMlScript ...............................2 54 ix Contents Debugging Hints ....................................................2 74 Summary ..............................................................2 77 Chapter 14 Content Delivery .............................. 279 Pushing Web Content ...............................................2 79 Pushing with WAP ...................................................2 82 Synchronizing Web Content ........................................2 89 Developing for AvantGo ............................................2 91 Summary ..............................................................3 00 Chapter 15 Custom Applications: When a Browser Won 't Work ................................. 303 Deciding to Roll Your Own .........................................3 03 Picking a Platform .................................................3 09 Summary ..............................................................3 17 Appendix A Resources for Wireless Web Developers ................................................. 319 WAP Spedf ications .................................................3 19 Client-Side Tools ..................................................3 19 Server-Side Tools ..................................................3 22 Mobile Software Development ......................................3 23 Appendix B Unified Modeling Language for Web Developers ........................................... 325 UML for Wireless Web Developers .................................3 26 Further Reading .....................................................3 33 X