M-Commerce

 Wireless Markup Language

(WML)


 By Prof T.R. Vaidyanathan

Wireless Markup Language(WML)

Wireless Markup Language, based on XML,

is a markup language intended for devices that
implement the Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP) specification, such as mobile phones,
and preceded the use of other markup
languages now used with WAP, such as HTML /
XHTML (which are gaining in popularity as
processing power in mobile devices increases).
WML is the language used to create pages to
be displayed in a WAP browser.
Wireless Markup Language(WML)

WAP is used to create a Gateway that

serves as a two-way intermediary
connecting path between the Internet
and a mobile phone. The Gateway
fetches the WML program from the
remote server, compiles it, and sends the
compiled byte stream to the wireless
browser.
Wireless Markup Language(WML)
WML is designed to allow the static
display of text, tables, hyperlinks,
monochrome images, and input fields. The
individual page is called a card, and a
collection of these cards which are linked
together is referred to as a deck. There is
usually an upper size limit (typically 1400
bytes compiled) for a card.
Wireless Markup Language(WML)

WML is similar to HTML. However, WML

borrows heavily from the constructs of the
Extensible Markup Language (XML) – the
internet successor to HTM. The creators of WML
accounted for the limited resources of WAP
devices.
WML was formed to create the global wireless
protocol specification that works across differing
wireless network technology types, for adoption
by appropriate industry standards bodies.
Wireless Markup Language(WML)
WML is designed with the constraints of
small narrowband devices in mind. These
constraints include:
1) Small display and limited user input
facilities;
2) Narrowband network connection;
3) Limited memory and computational
resources.
Wireless Markup Language(WML)
Both WML and HTML render similarly in their
respective browsers. WAP browsers are just
much more screen size challenged.
WML as a language has the following general
features.
Support for Text – this includes presentation
hints like line breaks, formatting(bold, italic
and emphasis), and other placement clues
Support for user input – WML includes text
entry fields, choice lists, and controls that
invoke tasks. For instance, you can assign a
URL to a specific button on a device such at
when the user presses the button, a request is
sent for a new document.
.
 A variety of navigation mechanisms _ Based on the
Internet-standard URL naming scheme, WAP lets you
Wireless Markup Language(WML)
move between documents. Each WAP device may also
incorporate a history mechanism for documents
already visited, so that the user can revisit a previous
document just by pressing a Back button, much like
revisiting a previous page in a web browser.
Support for multiple languages and dialects –
WML provides support for multiple languages and
dialects by using the 16-bit Unicode character set
State and context management features – State
management
implies that variable values can be passed from
document to
document. Additional capabilities include variable
substitution
and caching of variables and documents to maximize
cache
hits on the device and minimize wireless server
requests
 WMLScript
There is a companion language called
WMLScript that can be used to create
functions for WML pages. This adds some
versatility to WML.
Again, as a first approximation,
WMLScript is to WML as JavaScript is to
HTML, and is part of the
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
 WMLScript
Just like JavaScript, WMLScript is used for the
following tasks:
User input validation-As user enter data like
their name, rupee amount, or a phone number,
WMLScript can validate the input against some
templates. For example, it can check that the
rupee amount entered is under 100 and includes
two digits after the decimal.
User Interaction. WMLScript lets an application
interact constantly needing to contact a Web
Server for more documents. Its capability lets
the program logic decide which document to
show next or display an error message of some
sort without going over the network.
It includes libraries that provide a wide range of
functionality, including math calculations, string
processing, and so on