Hope for Wireless Developers
WAP toolkits from Nokia and Openwave
by Richard Weeks
The last three years or so have been a rather giddy ride for WAP developers. Although it has been a messy process, WAP has not only survived, but morphed into a set of rich, useful technologies. Still, support in the form of SDKs and dedicated authoring tools has been frustratingly lacking. As WAP enters a new stage in its development, however, the various tools that are available have followed suit with update after update.
Two of the most popular development kits are Openwave's Software Development Kit and the Nokia Mobile Internet Toolkit 3.0. Both are freely available to developers, and between them they support the majority of the WAP-enabled handsets sold today.
Openwave SDK 5.1 Preview
Openwave offers two SDKs for download (versions 5.0 and 5.1). The SDK version 5.0 helps you create WML 1.3-compliant applications (but with Openwave extensions), plus WMLScript 1.2 services for the Openwave Mobile Browser WAP Edition 5.0. The SDK version 5.1 Preview helps you create XHTML Mobile Profile 1.0 services with Cascading Style Sheets (CSSs) for the Openwave Mobile Browser Universal Edition. I reviewed version 5.1.
The SDK 5.1 Preview illustrates just how much the GSM industry is riding on the success of the GSMA M-Services Initiative, an industry commitment to mobile architecture. A lot of thought has clearly gone into this excellent, intuitive software.
The SDK includes several features to aid developers in targeting their applications towards Openwave's proprietary browser, called Mobile Browser:
- a text editor with syntax highlighting that supports XHTML, WML, and WMLScript content creation;
- a debugger, and testing tools with trace output (supported by Siemens S45 and the Generic 5.0 device);
- various device simulators with embedded Mobile Browser;
- Openwave Mobile Access Gateway server simulator;
- support for Download Fun (Openwave's implementation of the GSMA M-Services Initiative);
- all of the usual sample code, help files, and supporting documentation.
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Two WAP Tookits At a Glance |
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| Openwave SDK 5.1 Preview | Nokia Mobile Internet Toolkit 3.0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Openwave | Nokia |
| Price | free | free |
| URL | www.openwave.com | www.forum.nokia.com |
| Pros | Access to an Openwave gateway for live application testing. Well designed, intuitive IDE, and excellent supporting documentation. | Built-in gateway. New phones are available as plugins. |
| Con | Limited to handsets containing the Openwave Mobile Browser. WML editor isn't of much use. | Java-based IDE can be slow. Limited to Nokia handsets. Messaging functionality not directly supported, so you'll need to download another toolkit. |
The SDK installation was straightforward, but the setup program required a restart, which was mildly annoying. You may have to change your firewall settings to give the SDK access to the Internet.
Upon launching the SDK, your default browser opens and connects to an Openwave site that has demo content. The examples are simple, and won't be informative for anyone but a novice user. The integrated editor is useful for minor work and the syntax coloring is always a welcome addition, but as editors go, it's limited. There are no project, source control, or workflow features—all key elements of enterprise packages. It depends on your personal preference, but I think many users may find an external editor easier to use when constructing WML documents, and the SDK editor better for syntax checking and device emulation.
The SDK really comes into its own (as an SDK should) when you need to resolve errors. You can watch the handshake output between device and server, view errors, and trace the output. You can view source for hints about the composition. You can also monitor cookies and history to get your applications working smoothly.
Switching between various SDKs and their programming tool of choice may be annoying for some. It's especially difficult for people who are used to creating dynamic content with Microsoft's Active Server Pages for .Net. Visual Studio .Net is an astounding application and is pretty much de rigueur for creating ASP.Net applications. However, Microsoft's vision of mobile services—and thus, the tools it offers for their creation—differs considerably from that of Openwave. It remains to be seen whether the two will compliment or hinder each other.
A major benefit of the SDK is that, subject to free developer registration through the Openwave developer Web site, you can access a live provisioning gateway—very useful for testing.
As a standalone application, the SDK is competent, and the developer resources available through Openwave's developer relationship program are extensive.
