Learning WML, and WMLScript

Chapter 21. Complete Examples

The earlier chapters in this book described all the components that make up WML and WMLScript. This chapter includes several examples of how these can all be combined to create complete WAP applications with both WML and WMLScript.

One thing not covered by this chapter (or, indeed, by by this book) is the creation of dynamic WML content. This is because the techniques for doing this depend very much on the server and the language in use. Most information in any book on creating dynamic web pages is also applicable to creating dynamic WML pages, so you should simply buy a book describing whichever system you prefer, and read that in conjunction with this book. You might try CGI Programming with Perl, Second Edition, by Scott Guelich, Shishir Gundavaram, and Gunter Birznieks or PHP Pocket Reference by Rasmus Lerdorf (both published by O’Reilly & Associates).

Compatibility

Unfortunately, not all WAP browsers are equivalent. In particular, WMLScript support is often broken or limited. Complicated examples, such as those in this chapter, are particularly prone to incompatibilities.

The examples in this chapter have been tested on the Nokia 7110 and Ericsson R320 cell phones, on the official WAP browser for Psion PDAs, and on the WAP Developer Toolkit from Dynamical Systems Research. The examples work fine on the latter two browsers but have some problems on the two cell phones.

In particular, while both cell phones support WMLScript, there are some problems in ...