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optiPoint application module Programming WML applications

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The target group for this guide to program WML applications are developers creating WML applications for the optiPoint application module.

The guide covers all elements/tags that are part of the WML 1.3 specification. It describes the individual WML elements, their attributes and their interpretation by the WAP browser application as far as it is relevant for the WAP developer.

Of course, this guide does not supersede a WML training manual.

Technical Browser Properties

This chapter specifies the relevant physical properties of the optiPoint application module.

Maximum Data Volume

The following restrictions have to be taken into account when developing WAP pages for the optiPoint application module:

  • The individual cards should not exceed 15 kilobytes (including graphics).
  • A deck should not exceed 80 kilobytes (including graphics).

The optiPoint application module was developed for a wired LAN environment and the HTTP transfer protocol. If the browser is connected via a WAP gateway, WSP can be used instead of HTTP. In this case please consider that some gateways restrict the data volume transferred via WSP. Please also note that WAP gateways usually compile WML pages (i.e. compress them to a binary format). This format considerably reduces the data volume.

Display

wap-browser-apm.png

If the browser is used, the display is divided into a system bar, a URL entry field, the browser window for the WAP content and the application bar with symbols to open the context menu an exit the browser.

The display has a total size of 320 (height) by 240 (width) pixels. If the content is bigger, please take into account that the two scroll bars take a certain part of the available display size. As soon as a vertical scroll bar is shown, the visible width of the browser window is reduced so much that a horizontal scroll bar is also displayed at the bottom of the screen.

If you want to fill the display with a maximum size graphic without triggering the display of scroll bars, rectangles of 230 (width) by 221 (height) pixels or 234 (width) by 192 (height) pixels are available. The difference is due to different threshold values that trigger the generation of scroll bars. In detail, the scroll bar behaviour is as follows: If the maximum height is exceeded, both vertical and horizontal scroll bars are displayed; if only the maximum width is exceeded and the height is smaller than or equals 192 pixels, only a horizontal scroll bar is generated.

The maximum scope for text content is 9 lines (normal font and size). Starting with the 10th line, both a vertical and a horizontal scroll bar are displayed. If a string of characters that cannot be syllabicated exceeds the display width, two things happen: The display is expanded by generating a horizontal scroll bar, and the string of characters is wrapped right in front of the character that exceeds the maximum length.

Using the Browser

The following explains how to use the browser. For detailed information refer to the Operating Manual.

Keyboard and Touchscreen

An alphanumeric keyboard and a touchscreen keypad are available for navigation and data entry. Before you can enter e.g. a URL into the address bar or data into an entry field, the field has to be activated using the touchscreen. Also, task or form elements can only be selected via the context menu, i.e. through the touchscreen.

Certain characters have to be entered via the touchscreen keypad which contains the complete character set. Some special characters (e.g. the * and #) are only available within a submenu of the touchscreen keypad.

Touchscreen Keypad

Starting and Closing the Browser

In the initial state, the optiPoint application module displays the start menu.

Step by Step Description
symbol-browser.png
Select the browser symbol using the touchscreen or the navi key. Once the browser symbol is selected, a second click on the symbol using the touchscreen or the confirmation using the navi key starts the browser, displaying the pre-defined start page.
symbol-cross.png
You can close the browser by clicking on the cross symbol.

By activating the home symbol you return to the start menu and can change to another application. In this case, the browser is not closed, i.e. the browser retains its current status.

Context Menu

Using the context menu (symbol in the application bar) you can:

  • access the browser’s homepage
  • manage the favorites or add the current page to the favorites
  • reload the page, i.e. the deck
  • set user name/password combinations for access to the gateway or proxy
  • use Options to access the softkeys generated via WML

Data Formats / MIME Types

To WAP-enable a web server, the following MIME types have to be defined:

Filename extension MIME Type File Contents
.wml text/vnd.wap.wml WML document in plain text format
.wmlc application/vnd.wap.wmlc WML document in binary format
.wbxml application/vnd.wap.wbxml WML document in binary format
.wbmp image/vnd.wap.wbmp Image in WBMP format (Wireless Bitmap)
.wmlsc application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc WMLScript in compiled format

Data Formats

Due to its compression, the binary format allows for faster transfer of XML files.

One of the reasons for the considerably smaller file size is that WML elements are represented by defined byte values; in plain text files these are represented as strings, resulting in increased redundancy. The compilation from plain text to binary format can be done in the WAP Gateway or in a separate application. A useful tool is e.g. the WBXML Library.

The filename extensions .wmlc and .wbxml can be used alternatively for the same binary format.

Server Configuration

You can use one of the standard web servers, e.g. Apache or Microsoft IIS to provide WML pages. In addition, dynamic WAP pages can be generated using the same tools as dynamic HTML pages: ASP, CGI/Perl, PHP, JSP, etc.

HTTP

HTTP Header

If you want to adapt a WAP application for the optiPoint application module’s browser, it is useful to know the information sent from the client to the server.

The following table shows the data sent to the server in the HTTP header. To show a typical scenario, the header data display the corresponding CGI environment variable.

Environment Variable Value Comment
HTTP_ACCEPT text/vnd.wap.wml, application/vnd.wap.wmlc, application/vnd.wap.wbxml, application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc List of the MIME types accepted by the browser.
HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET utf-8, utf-16, iso-8859-1 List of the character codes accepted by the browser.
HTTP_USER_AGENT SIE-OP410 Browser type
REMOTE_ADDR IP Address IP address of the terminal device the application module is connected to.
REMOTE_PORT Port of the client through which the CGI script was called The port number usually lies in a range from 1.024 upwards and is selected at random by the calling web browser.
REQUEST_METHOD post or get The method used to transfer data from the browser to the server.
REQUEST_URI Path of the script, starting with the document root of the server Also contains data transferred to the server via get.
QUERY_STRING Query string Data sent to the server as a character string, starting with a ?.

HTTP Error Messages

The following table shows the names and error codes of the browser’s HTTP error messages as well as the corresponding HTTP error codes (see HTTP 1.1).

Name Code Description
ERR_HTTP_CONTINUE 0x50A Equivalent to HTTP Code 100.
ERR_HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS 0x50B Equivalent to HTTP Code 101.
ERR_HTTP_REQUEST_OK 0x514 Equivalent to HTTP Code 200.
ERR_HTTP_CREATED 0x515 Equivalent to HTTP Code 201.
ERR_HTTP_ACCEPTED 0x516 Equivalent to HTTP Code 202.
ERR_HTTP_NON_AUTHORITATIVE_INFORM ATION 0x517 Equivalent to HTTP Code 203.
ERR_HTTP_NO_CONTENT_OCTET 0x518 Equivalent to HTTP Code 204.
ERR_HTTP_RESET_CONTENT 0x519 Equivalent to HTTP Code 205.
ERR_HTTP_PARTIAL_CONTENT 0x51A Equivalent to HTTP Code 206.
ERR_HTTP_MULTIPLE_CHOICES 0x51E Equivalent to HTTP Code 300.
ERR_HTTP_MOVED_PERMANENTLY 0x51F Equivalent to HTTP Code 301.
ERR_HTTP_MOVED_TEMPORARILY 0x520 Equivalent to HTTP Code 302.
ERR_HTTP_SEE_OTHER 0x521 Equivalent to HTTP Code 303.
ERR_HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED 0x522 Equivalent to HTTP Code 304.
ERR_HTTP_USE_PROXY 0x523 Equivalent to HTTP Code 305.
ERR_HTTP_BAD_REQUEST 0x528 Equivalent to HTTP Code 400.
ERR_HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED 0x529 Equivalent to HTTP Code 401.
ERR_HTTP_PAYMENT_REQUIRED 0x52A Equivalent to HTTP Code 402.
ERR_HTTP_FORBIDDEN 0x52B Equivalent to HTTP Code 403.
ERR_HTTP_NOT_FOUND 0x52C Equivalent to HTTP Code 404.
ERR_HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED 0x52D Equivalent to HTTP Code 405.
ERR_HTTP_NOT_ACCEPTABLE 0x52E Equivalent to HTTP Code 406.
ERR_HTTP_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_RE QUIRED 0x52F Equivalent to HTTP Code 407.
ERR_HTTP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT 0x530 Equivalent to HTTP Code 408.
ERR_HTTP_CONFLICT 0x531 Equivalent to HTTP Code 409.
ERR_HTTP_GONE 0x532 Equivalent to HTTP Code 410.
ERR_HTTP_LENGTH_REQUIRED 0x533 Equivalent to HTTP Code 411.
ERR_HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED 0x534 Equivalent to HTTP Code 412.
ERR_HTTP_REQUESTED_ENTITY_TOO_LA RGE 0x535 Equivalent to HTTP Code 413.
ERR_HTTP_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE 0x536 Equivalent to HTTP Code 414.
ERR_HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE 0x537 Equivalent to HTTP Code 415.
ERR_HTTP_REQUESTED_RANGE_NOT_SA TISFIABLE 0x538 Equivalent to HTTP Code 416.
ERR_HTTP_EXPECTATION_FAILED 0x539 Equivalent to HTTP Code 417.
ERR_HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR 0x53C Equivalent to HTTP Code 500.
ERR_HTTP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED 0x53D Equivalent to HTTP Code 501.
ERR_HTTP_BAD_GATEWAY 0x53E Equivalent to HTTP Code 502.
ERR_HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE 0x53F Equivalent to HTTP Code 503.
ERR_HTTP_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT 0x540 Equivalent to HTTP Code 504.
ERR_HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED 0x541 Equivalent to HTTP Code 505.
TBD

WML

This chapter describes the elements available in WML Version 1.3 and how these are interpreted by the browser. Please note that - apart from the attribute title - only those elements are described that have an impact in the browser. General attributes such as id, class or xml:lang would only be functional in case of using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). An exception is the id attribute of the <card> element used for navigation between individual cards. WMLScript does not provide access to individual WML elements.


7.1 Supported Version

The browser supports WML Version 1.3. The corresponding DTD is available - among other technical materials - from the Open Mobile Alliance (see Section 11.2, “Reference Documents”).

Internationalization and Special Characters

WTAI (Wireless Telephony Applications Interface)

WMLScript

Browser Error Messages

References

Reference documents

<dirlist dir="opapm"></dirlist>

External links