Software
One of the most popular development tools
is Nokia
Wap Toolkit. It is free to download after the registration in the
Nokia Developer Forum. It offers also a simulation of real mobile
phones (e.g. Nokia 7110) except tools for the creation of source codes.
The most important technological detail in the actual version 2.0 is the
Push technology. It enables displaying of pages without any
user's intervention (e.g. notification about new e-mail in a box and
displaying of a menu with necessary functions. These pages must be
developed by a developer at first.
One of the biggest world players in WAP
area is also Phone.com which engages in the implementation of WAP
browsers in mobile phones and in complete supplies for operators. It
offers the professional product for developers - UP.SDK.
It contains wide documentation and examples too.
Telecommunication gigant Motorola is not of
course out of "WAP game". It offers also its own development
tool Mobile
ADK. It makes possible the creation of applications based on WAP
and VoxML. VoxML is the platform for the development of application
enriched by voice and voice-control. The structure of this language is
constructed just for development of voice applications. Applications
based on VoxML enable user to raise a query through the voice.
We mustn't forgot neither next big player
Ericsson and its Ericsson
WAP IDE. It is free to download after the registration in the
developer forum.
The tool for very easy and intuitive
development of WAP pages is WAPtor.
It is also free of charge but in spite this it offers very useful
functions like creation of tables in WAP pages, preview of WBMP picture
or wide help just in case of problems.
WML
Tools is the very happy kit of utilities not only for development
of WAP pages.. In addition all this is available in source code !!!
In this kit you can find compilator of WML source codes as well as
decompilator of binary codes (WMLC). Very useful is also group of tools
for the conversion to WBMP format etc.
WapObjects
is the editor based on popular system WebObjects by Apple. Trial
version is free to download. It supports WML language in 1.1 version and
enables also parallel development of pages for both HTML and WML
browsers.
WML
Express is the editor provided by Astro Solutions. On its
website you can find also a brief introduction to the world of WML.
CardOne
is the next editor which is available in two versions - free of
charge and commercial. The authors are promising next new features -
mainly for commercial version.
Visual development of WAP pages without
knowledge about WML language is provided by the editor WAPPage.
If offer also tree-view of tags used in a given page.
A very popular simulator of a WAP phone is
the product M3gate. It is
technologically advanced (supports also e.g. WMLScript) and it tries to
simulate a design of WAP pages on the real WAP enabled phone. It is free
to download.
To the specific category belongs the
product WinWap. Its popularity it
obtained by its low hardware requirements and high similarity
with common web-browsers. It is only trial version free to download.
An analogy to the last product is Klondike.
It supports WML language in version 1.2 and is also technologically
advanced. It has only problems with displaying of the czech characters.
JBrowser
is the browser available for Windows and Linux platform. It has a very
small size for downloading. We are afraid that the size is equal to its
quality. It is not able to display more complicated pages and also has
problems with displaying of the czech characters.
Very popular are on-line emulators of
WAP enabled phones. The highest comfort in this area offers the
server gelon.net. It offers the
simulation of a wide range of WAP enabled phones - Nokia 7110, Siemens
C35/S35, Ericsson R320/R380 and Motorola A6188.
Just a little different character has the
browser Opera. It is the first
browser which is able to display pages in both HTML and WML format.
But - its skills in HTML language are very limited. It is the right
solution for user who doesn't like to use two different browsers (the
first for HTML and the second for WML).
The best known browser for PalmOS
platform is WapMan which is
the product of EdgeMatrix. The newest version is also able to display
color pages. The number of downloads of the last version is 100 000. So
it is unambigouesly the most popular WAP browser for PalmOS.
MobileID
is the next WAP browser for PalmOS platform which is able to use
bigger size of a display in comparison with common mobile phones. It is
compatible with all products based on Palm OS (Palm III, V, Handspring
Visor IBM c3 etc.) using a modem or a mobile phone through the IR port.
For the fans of Java platform is
determined the product Wapsody
by IBM.
Users of Linux can try WMLBrowser.
They can obtain also its source codes. This possibility is a good
opportunity not only for developers but also for producers of mobiles
phones or PDAs who can adapt it according to their own requirements.
One of the comfort utilities for
conversion of grafic pictures to the WBMP format is Pic2Wbmp.
It enables also changes of a size of a picture and settings of its
contrast except the conversion. For its using you need Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) installed.
Wapdraw
is the utility for very easy painting of your own pictures in
WBMP (Wireless Bitmap) format. Maximal size of a picture is 96x80 and
its using is very similar to a common icon editor.
If you don't want to break away your
favourite grafic tool you can use the plug-in enabling export to WBMP.
One of the examples can be the plug-in
for Photoshop and Paintshop Pro.
Creation
Flux is the Photoshop plug-in for Apple Mac platform for
viewing and creation of WBMP files.
Very interesting alternative is a creation
of WBMP files by the on-line conversion. It is offered for
example by Applepie
Solutions. Thanks to their on-line convertor you needn't to install
any product but you can only input the URL address of a picture and
download the converted file (WBMP).
Similar services are offered also by WapTiger.
But - you can also download its off-line version (both for Windows and
Linux).
When you are looking for a utility for
PBM conversion to WBMP you can try PbmWbmp.
Its available for Linux platform including its source codes.
One of the most popular products in the
area of WAP gateways is RealGewi.
It was in a point of beta testing for a long time but now the final
version was unveiled too. Only time-limited versions are free to
download. Its prices are defined according to a number of users who will
use it.
For Linux platform is very popular the
project Kannel which gives access
also to source codes of its gateway. Documentation and other
informations for developers and users are available there too.
The next product in this area is WAPLite
which is available in several versions. It can offer professional
Enterprise version as well as more simple ISP WAP Server version. Here
you can obtain also detailed informations about its technological
aspects and supported types of WAP enabled phones.
If you are not going to use a gateway
commercially and 30-day version is enough for you then you should try
the product AudiCode WAP
Server. But it doesn't support secured communication (WTLS).
Nokia
WAP Server is one of the professional solutions. It is free
to download (time-limited version). For its running you must have Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) installed.
Complete solutions in WAP area are
offered by the most of big telecommunications producers. So there cannot
miss neither Motorola. Its
product is not available for free. But it comprises also functions
for billing and remote administration over SNMP protocol as well as
secure communication (WTLS).
Just a little specific solution
is Melody WAP
Gateway. It is adapted for companies whose would like to access data
from its information systems by the mobile phone and WAP anytime and
anywhere.
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