Apache in a Wireless World

#WML/WAP types
AddType text/vnd.wap.wml .wml
AddType application/vnd.wap.wmlc .wmlc
AddType text/vnd.wap.wmlscript .wmls
AddType application/vnd.wap.wmlscriptc .wmlsc
AddType image/vnd.wap.wbmp .wbmp

The basic WML file is delivered to the browser with MIME type text/vnd.wap.wml. 
  In the statement above, we have told Apache to delivery this MIME type whenever the filename ends 
  in the extension .wml. Similarly, appropriate MIME types are passed for 
  other WML variants. The .wmlc files would be compressed WML files, while 
  .wmls and .wmlsc represent WMLScript 
  (a wireless scripting language) and compressed WMLScript, respectively. Furthermore, 
  .wbmp files represent wireless bitmap files or WBMP, the graphic format 
  that wireless devices support (as opposed to, for example, .gif or .jpg on desktop browsers).


Changes to the Apache httpd.conf file  take effect only when the server 
  is launched, so the server must be restarted to save the 
  above changes for the new MIME types to apply. Once done though, Apache is ready to 
  go, and will happily deliver WML and related files to a wireless device.




  




Development Simulation


	

		
Post a comment
		
Email Article
		
Print Article
		

			 Share Articles
			

				
					

						
 Digg
						
 DZone
						
 Reddit
						
 Slashdot
						
 StumbleUpon
						
 del.icio.us
						
 Facebook
						
 FriendFeed
						
 Furl
					
				
			
		
	

		

You might be thinking, configuring Apache to deliver WML sounds nice in theory, 
  but how can we see it in action? Without a wireless phone, aren't we flying 
  blind? 
  


  Fortunately, no. If you're doing any development at all in WML, and also 
  want to test drive your Apache configuration in delivering WML pages, check 
  out Phone.com's UP.SDK package, which includes the incredibly handy UP.Simulator. 
  The Simulator ("UP" stands for "Unwired Planet") displays 
  a virtual cell phone on your desktop, which you can use to connect to and browse 
  any WML page over the Internet (using your normal land-based Internet connection).


The Simulator even includes alternate "skins", or templates for various 
  models of phone, so you can see how WML pages will be rendered on the particular 
  screen size of a certain vendor model. The UP.Simulator is, as Martha Stewart 
  would say were she to prototype WML pages for wireless delivery,  "a good 
  thing."