An Introduction to WAP/WML

1
An Introduction to WAP/WML
2
What is WAP?

• WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol.
• WAP is for handheld devices such as mobile
  phones.
• WAP is designed for micro browsers.
• WAP is based on the Internet standards (HTML, XML
  and TCP/IP).
• WAP consists of WML (Wireless Markup Language),
  WMLScript and WTAI (Wireless Telephone
  Application Interface) .

3
WAP Forum

• WAP is being developed under the guidance of the
  WAP Forum, founded in 1997 by Ericsson, Motorola,
  Nokia, and Unwired Planet.
• WAP Forum website http//www.wapforum.org

4
Wireless Environment

• Small screen size
• Limited processing power
• Lack of a full keyboard
• Slow connection speed
• Costly access

5
A Different Design

• For the above reasons, WAP applications are
  typically made up of screenfuls of minimal text
  and lists of options, no graphic design.
• Success is measured by how quickly the user can
  find information or make a transaction and get
  out, not how long a user will hang on the site.

6
Micro Browser, WML, WMLScript

• WAP uses a Micro Browser (eg. Openwave Mobile
  Browser) that makes minimal demands on hardware,
  memory and CPU.
• Micro Browser displays info written in a
  restricted markup language, called WML.
• Micro Browser also uses a reduced version of
  JavaScript, called WMLScript.

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How WAP Works

• WAP-enabled devices communicate with web server
  through a WAP gateway.
• The gateway converts WAP requests into HTTP
  requests to the web server.
• The gateway compiles the documents from the
  server into WAP Binary XML (WBXML) and send it to
  the phone.

8
What is WML?

• WML stands for Wireless Markup Language.
• WML is an application of XML, thus needs to be
  both valid (using WML elements according to the
  DTD) and well-formed (abiding by the stringent
  XML syntax rules).
• WML documents have extension .wml

9
WML Decks and Cards

• A WML application has one or more decks.
• A WML document is a deck.
• The max compiled deck size is 1.4 KB.
• A deck contains some cards (pages).
• A card contains a few screens.
• A screen holds three to six lines of text.

10
WML tags

• WML is mostly about text.
• WMLs tags are similar to HTMLs, but tags that
  slow down communication with handheld devices are
  not a part of the WML standard.
• The use of tables and images is strongly
  restricted.
• See textbook for a summary of WML tags.

11
A Simple WML Document
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Result Mobile Phone Display
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Validate WML Documents

• You may download an emulator program such as
  Openwave Simulator onto your computer.
  (http//developer.phone.com/download/)
• Or you can view WML pages using web-based
  emulators. (http//www.wapemulator.com)