Developing Web Applications

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Developing Web Applications Lecture 10 Mobile,
embedded and future applications Dr. Ralph Moseley
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• In this lecture we will consider
• What constitutes a mobile or embedded device
• Mobile applications and languages
• Dangers and opportunities
• The future

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• Mobile Internet connected devices are
  proliferating because
• Parts are becoming cheaper and more reliable
• Storage has becoming larger and cheaper
• Wireless technology has matured
• Weight and size can be kept low

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• Mobile?
• A device which, due to various attributes (such
  as weight, power etc.) may be considered portable
• Embedded?
• A device which contains subsystems capable of
  processing and storing information

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• What kind of mobile devices?
• Obvious Mobile phones, PDA, Laptop, Notebook,
  GPS, Audio, TV
• Less than obvious Automotive (engine, SAT NAV),
  surveillance (bugging, tracking, camera), weapons
  systems

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• Considerations for mobile device hardware
• Weight
• Size
• Power consumption
• Communications
• Ergonomics/HCI
• How are these tackled?
• Devices are built using surface mounted chips,
  very light, very small. Hard to fix though just
  replace the entire board. Development continues
  on producing devices which consume less power (so
  has smaller battery)
• Considerations must be made to ergonomics and the
  human computer interface, that is, if a device
  becomes very small is it still usable?

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Mobile software development considerations

• Size of display limited
• Input device may be harder to manipulate
• Sound may be limited
• Storage/processing ability could be slower

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• What kind of mobile applications?
• Types Database related communications
  control sensors
• Fields Personal medical military/defence
  business
• Applications Personal communications (email,
  IRC, browser) medical diagnostic and life
  support military (battlefield, guidance
  systems) automotive commercial (business,
  banking, retail-RFID)

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• Application areas (1) Personal
• Mobile phone
• Near Future will become more like personal
  communicator (or PDA) carrying text, voice, data.
  Wireless connection to local devices and remote
  internet

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• Application areas (2) Automotive
• Car
• Vehicles are increasingly relying on embedded
  processors to run the engine and mechanical
  systems more efficiently. It does this by
  monitoring speed, wheel balance, even local
  environment (such as weather) and introducing
  changes to petrol intake, timings etc.

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• Application areas (3) Military/defence
• Battlefield management and support
• The battlefield of the future will rely on mobile
  communications and integrated systems adapting to
  unpredictable environments

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• Application areas (4) Government/Surveillance
• Biometrics, database convergence
• Security of the future will be enhanced by
  tracking individuals with a large range of mobile
  and fixed position systems. When such systems are
  coupled with converged databases a complete
  profile and the whereabouts of an individual can
  be gained
• Implications Possible restrictions on liberty

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Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
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Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

• What is WAP?
• Its a protocol set which is the standard means
  for delivery of internet content over wireless
  handheld devices
• WAP/WML is to the wireless web as HTTP/HTML is
  to the wired web
• Supported by handset manufacturers representing
  95 of the world market across all technologies
• Supported by network operators representing 100
  million subscribers
• Founded in June 1997 by industry group to
  provide industry standard to foster
  interoperability among wireless devices

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Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
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Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
WML andWMLScript
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WML vs. HTML

• Uses WAP (protocol)
• Intended for mobile devices light code
• WML document represents a deck of cards
• Strict syntax
• Many tags have required attributes

• Uses HTTP
• Intended for high-bandwidth PCs
• HTML document represents one page
• Forgiving code
• Only include the attributes you need

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WAP file extensions
Internet domain names Web site
www.google.com Wap site wap.google.com Palm
www.google.com/palm
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WAP browsers

• Mobile devices have browsers which are cut down
  versions of the real thing
• To develop, or view, WAP sites you can use
  software/portals which allow you to browse them
• http//www.wapsilon.com/

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WML basics

• Always start with
• lt?xml version"1.0"?gt lt!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC
  "-//WAPFORUM//DTD wml 1.1//EN" "http//www.wapforu
  m.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml"gt
• The WML document's root element is the ltwmlgt
  element. The ltwmlgt element contains ltcardgt
  elements that link it to other cards (WAP pages)
• ltwmlgt
• ltcard id"cardid1" title"Card1"gt ... lt/cardgt
• ltcard id"cardid2" title"Card2"gt... lt/cardgt
• lt/wmlgt

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WML tips

• Most tags have opening and closing components
• The language is case sensitive. Use all lowercase
  tags.
• All tag parameter values (or variables) must be
  enclosed in quotes (for example, ltp
  alignleftgt)
• All text must be enclosed in a tag, even if that
  tag is just a simple paragraph tag (ltpgt)
• There are some elements that must appear in a
  certain order. For example, within a element, the
  following must appear in order ltoneventgt,
  lttimergt, ltdogt

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WML language

• Tag reference available at
• http//www.w3schools.com/wap/wml_reference.asp

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WML language Ex.1

• lt?xml version1.0?gt
• lt!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC -//WAPFORUM//DTD WML
  1.1//EN
• http//www.wapforum.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml
• ltwmlgt
• ltcard idCard1 titleLearning WMLgt
• ltpgt
• Hello Wireless World!
• lt/pgt
• lt/cardgt
• lt/wmlgt

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WML language Ex.2

• lt?xml version"1.0"?gt lt!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC
  "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN" "http//www.wapforu
  m.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml"gt
• ltwmlgt
• ltcard ontimer"test.wml"gt
• lttimer value"30"/gt
• ltpgtHello World!lt/pgt
• lt/cardgt
• lt/wmlgt

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WML language Ex.3

• lt?xml version"1.0"?gt lt!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC
  "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN" "http//www.wapforu
  m.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml"gt
• ltwmlgt ltcard title"Image"gt
• ltpgt An image ltimg src"stickman.wbmp"
  alt"Stickman"/gt lt/pgt
• lt/cardgt lt/wmlgt

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WML language Ex.4

• lt?xml version"1.0"?gt lt!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC
  "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN" "http//www.wapforu
  m.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml"gt
• ltwmlgt
• lttemplategt
• ltdo name"back" type"prev" label"Back"gt
   ltprev/gt lt/dogt
• lt/templategt
• ltcard id"card1" title"Card 1"gt ltpgt Hello World!
  lt/pgt lt/cardgt
• ltcard id"card2" title"Card 2"gt ltpgt And
  again!lt/pgt lt/cardgt
• lt/wmlgt

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WML language

• Can use PHP to format output to suit specific
  micro-browsers.
• Selecting a small picture instead of large for
  example.
• Also can output WML from PHP

http//www.zend.com/zend/tut/wap.php
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The Future

• Further convergence of information
• Extension of network technology (meshes)
• New technologies Nanotechnology, biological
• Adaptive hardware/software
• Physical barriers of current technologies pushed
  back