Experiment No 5

DESIGN A WEB PAGE USING WML

1. Aim/Overview of the practical : The Study Of WEB PAGE USING WML

2. Task to be done :
1. The study of Wireless Markup Language in Mobile Computing and related terminologies.

2. Study the different features of WML related to mobile computing.

3. Theme/Interests definition :

WML(WIRELESS MARKUP LANGUAGE)

WML stands for Wireless Markup Language (WML) which is based on HTML and HDML. It is specified
as an XML document type. It is a markup language used to develop websites for mobile phones.
While designing with WML, constraints of wireless devices such as small display screens, limited
memory, low bandwidth of transmission and small resources have to be considered. WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol) sites are different from normal HTML sites in the fact that they are
monochromatic (only black and white), concise and has very small screen space, due to which
content in the WAP sites will be only the significant matter, much like how telegraph used to work in
the olden days. The concept WML follows is that of a deck and card metaphor. A WML document is
thought of as made up of many cards. Just like how cards can be grouped to form a deck, a WAP
site has many cards. One card will be displayed at a time on the screen, just like how one page is
displayed at a time in an HTML website. Many cards can be inserted into a WML document, and the
WML deck is identified by a URL. To access the deck, the user can navigate using the WML browser,
which fetches the deck as required.

Features of WML:
 Text and Images: WML gives a clue about how the text and images can be presented to
the user. The final presentation depends upon the user. Pictures need to be in WBMP
format and will be monochrome.
 User Interaction: WML supports different elements for input like password entry, option
selector and text entry control. The user is free to choose inputs such as keys or voice.
 Navigation: WML offers hyperlink navigation and browsing history.
 Context Management: The state can be shared across different decks and can also be
saved between different decks.

Problems Faced by a Web Application When Used With a Mobile and Wireless Environment:
1. HTTP:
 Bandwidth and delay: HTTP is not made for low bandwidth and high delay connections in
mind. HTTP protocol headers are large and redundant as HTTP is uncompressed and
stateless.
 Caching: Caching is disabled by content providers as client companies cannot get
feedback if a cache is placed between a server and a client. Users suffer from downloading
the same content repeatedly from the server as HTTP is stateless.
 Posting: Sending some content from a client to a server will create additional problems if
the said client is disconnected at that moment.
2. HTML: HTML was designed for use in creating content for webpages of the World Wide Web
(www). It was meant only for desktop initially. Thus, when used in hand-held devices, some problems
arise:
 Small display and low-resolution.
 Limited User Interfaces.
 Low-Performance CPU.
Enhancements needed for use of HTML in wireless environments:
 Image scaling
 Content Transformation: Documents in PDF or PPS should be transformed into the plain
text as PDF occupies more memory.
 Content Extraction: To avoid longer duration waits, some content like headlines can be
extracted from the document and presented to the user. This lets the user decide which
information alone needs to be downloaded.
Enhancements needed for use of HTTP in wireless environments:
 Connection Re-use: Client and server can be used the same TCP (Transmission Control
Protocol) connection for several requests and responses. Pipelining can be used to
improve performance.
 Caching Enhancements: A cache could store cacheable response to reduce response time
and bandwidth for further responses. Caching can be done in the mobile client’s web
browser itself by using a client proxy. A network proxy can also be used on the network
side.
 Bandwidth Optimization: HTTP supports compression and also negotiates the compression
parameters and compression styles. This will allow partial transmissions.
 WML - Environment

To develop WAP applications, you will need the following:

 A WAP enabled Web Server: You can enable your Apache or Microsoft IIS to serve all the
WAP client request.
 A WAP Gateway Simulator: This is required to interact to your WAP server.
 A WAP Phone Simulator: This is required to test your WAP Pages and to show all the
WAP pages.

You can write your WAP pages using the following languages:

 Wireless Markup Language(WML) to develop WAP application.

 WML Script to enhance the functionality of WAP application.

Configuring Web Server:

In normal web applications, MIME type is set to text/html, designating normal HTML code. Images, on
the other hand, could be specified as image/gif or image/jpeg, for instance. With this content type
specification, the web browser knows the data type that the web server returns.

To make your Apache WAP compatible, you have nothing to do very much. You simply need to add
support for the MIME types and extensions listed below.

File Extension MIME type

WML (.wml) text/vnd.wap.wml

WMLScript (.wmls) text/vmd.wap.wmlscript

WMLScriptc(.wmlsx) application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc

WMLC (.wmlc) application/vnd.wap.wmlc

WBMP (.wbmp) image/vnd.wap.wbmp

Configure Apache Web Server for WAP:

Assuming you have Apache Web server installed on your machine. So now we will tell you how to
enable WAP functionality in your Apache web server.

So locate Apache's file httpd.conf which is usually in /etc/httpd/conf, and add the following lines to the
file and restart the server:

AddType text/vnd.wap.wml .wml

AddTypetext/vnd.wap.wmlscript .wmls
AddTypeapplication/vnd.wap.wmlc .wmlc
AddTypeapplication/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc .wmlsc
AddTypeimage/vnd.wap.wbmp .wbmp

In dynamic applications, the MIME type must be set on the fly, whereas in static WAP applications the
web server must be configured appropriately.

Configure Microsoft IIS for WAP:

To configure a Microsoft IIS server to deliver WAP content, you need to perform the following:

1. Open the Internet Service Manager console and expand the tree to view your Web site entry.
You can add the WAP MIME types to a whole server or individual directories.
2. Open the Properties dialog box by right-clicking the appropriate server or directory, then
choose Properties from the menu.
3. From the Properties dialog, choose the HTTP Headers tab, then select the File Types button at
the bottom right.
4. For each MIME type listed earlier in the above table, supply the extension with or without the
dot (it will be automatically added for you), then click OK in the Properties dialog box to accept
your changes.

Installing WAP Gateway Simulator:

There are many WAP Gateway Simulator available on the Internet so download any of them and install
on your PC. You would need to run this gateway before starting WAP Mobile simulator.
WAP Gateway will take your request and will pass it to the Web Server and whatever response will be
received from the Web server that will be passed to the Mobile Simulator.

You can download it from Nokia web site:

 Nokia WAP Gateway simulator - Download Nokia WAP Gateway simulator.

Installing WAP Phone Simulator:

There are many WAP Simulator available on the Internet so download any of them and install on your
PC which you will use as a WAP client. Here are popular links to download simulator:

 Nokia WAP simulator - Download Nokia WAP simulator.

 WinWAP simulator - Download WinWAP browser from their official website.

NOTE: If you have WAP enabled phone then you do not need to install this simulator. But while doing
development it is more convenient and economic to use a simulator.

The WAP Model:

I am giving this section just for your reference, if you are not interested then you can skip this section.

The figure below shows the WAP programming model. Note the similarities with the Internet model.
Without the WAP Gateway/Proxy the two models would have been practically identical.

Learning outcomes (What I have learnt) :

1. Learned about WEB PAGE USING WML

2. Learned about basic concepts ofWEB PAGE USING WML
3. Learned about applications, advantages and disadvantages of WEB PAGE USING WML
4. Related terminologies.
 Evaluation Grid

(To be created as per the SOP and Assessment guidelines by the faculty)

Sr. No. Parameters Marks Obtained Maximum

Marks

1. Worksheet

2. Demonstration/Performance/Pre-
Lab Quiz

3. Post Lab Quiz