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Unit 3: WAP Development Tools and Software

applications, including those based on the eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language Notes
(XHTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

 Mobile Internet Toolkit 3.1 supports Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) Application
Development. The Toolkit comes with the Nokia Mobile Browser 3.0.1 simulator, which
supports WAP 2.0 technologies including Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (xHTML)
and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
 Openwave Mobile SDK allows you to develop world-class mobile applications and services
quickly and easily.
 XMenu - Free J2ME software is J2ME software that can let you build a simple wireless
portal in 15 minutes without programming knowledge. No WML or cHTML is needed.

 WAP homepages are not very different from HTML homepages. WML uses tags but the
syntax is stricter and conforms to the XML 1.0 standard. WML pages have the extension
*.WML.
 Tools for development of WAP homepages are Software Development Kit (SDKs), Device
emulators, Gateway/Server emulators, Actual networks and devices, Web servers,
databases.
 WML documents are plain-text files and can be developed and edited with a simple text
editor such as Notepad, the value of high-end development environments is in the
programming aids such as color coding and debugging references, Software Development
Kits (SDKs) are available as well as WYSIWYG tools are expected.
 HTML was developed for use with World Wide Web. SGML, modeled particularly for use
on the World Wide Web, comprises many elements and tags that are of little use to the
wireless world and would serve only to cut down wireless applications.
 XML is the core language or rule-set for WML.
 In order for an image to be displayed in a WAP application, it must be in the specially
optimized Wireless Bitmap (WBMP) format. WBMP files are 1-bit graphics capable of
displaying only black and white pixels. Images are added to the document with the <img/
> element
 UnWired plug-in from RCP Distributed Systems enables creation of WBMP files in Adobe
Photoshop 5 and higher and JASC Paint Shop. A Java utility called pic_2_wbmp converts
existing BMP files to WBMP format.
 Some of the WAP software are Gelon.net, an online WAP browser, Teraflops an online
WBMP converter.
 MobileDev is the first Wireless Development Environment (WDE) specifically for WAP
Internet applications. It supports WAP technologies like WML, HDML, Microsoft Active
Server Pages (ASP), Perl and Java Server Pages (JSP).

3.6 Keywords

Emulator: It is a program that runs on the computer that shows how documents will appear and
function on a wireless device.
HDML: It is a subset of SGML. HDML was modeled for use with handheld devices (HHDs) in
particular, not all wireless devices.
HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language.

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