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This page outlines WAP / WML hosting on our servers. Please remember that our support is limited to ensuring these technologies work on our servers. Building your WAP site is your responsibility. If you have difficulty building your WAP site, we can recommend a web / WAP developer that can build your WAP site for you.
About WAP / WML
WAP sites are created in WML in much the same way that web sites are created in HTML. Just as HTML standards are defined by http://www.w3c.org, the WAP / WML standards are defined by http://www.openmobilealliance.org.
WAP can be used in much the same ways as the Web can. WAP pages (known as decks / cards) can include images, links and form elements such as text boxes and buttons. All WML pages must have the correct header information, such as
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN" "http://www.wapforum.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml">
WAP Hosting on our servers
Our Windows and Linux servers have all the correct MIME types to allow you to place WAP / WML files on your web hosting account.
WAP domains
You may choose to purchase a subdomain of the form http://wap.yourdomain.com purely for your WAP site. You may also choose to place your WAP site in a subdirectory of your ordinary web space, such as www.yourdomain.com/wap/. The choice is entirely yours, but the WAP domain can give a better impression.
Scripting
You can use server side scripting such as Perl, PHP or ASP with WAP / WML in much the same way as you can with web / HTML pages. Perl, PHP and ASP can also be used to dynamically generate WML code. WML code can also use ASP or PHP to connect to databases in much the same way as HTML code can. You can also send email from your WAP site using ASP, PHP or Perl.
The example scripts provided elsewhere in the support area can all be used with WAP / WML code. You will need to ensure that you replace the HTML output code with WML output code. You must ensure that whenever you use server side scripting to generate WML code, you always return the correct content-type information of text/vnd.wap.wml and the header information as above.
Please note that WMLScript is a client-side scripting language, not server side. WMLScript problems are your responsiblity.
Development and Compatibility Issues
Just as the major Web browsers handle HTML code differently, the major WAP phones also handle WML code differently. It may well be the case that none of the current WAP phones are fully compatible with the full WAP / WML standards. This means that your WAP site may not display or work correctly on all mobile phones.
When developing your WAP site, you should try to develop for all major WAP phones. You can test that your WAP site works using various WAP browsers and WAP phone emulators on your computer. A range of WAP emulators can be found at http://www.gelon.net. This is especially important if you are developing using one of the Software Development Kits (SDKs) from one of the major WAP phone manufacturers.
You can also use the Opera web browser to test your WAP site as this is fully WAP compatible. This is often a quicker and easier method of checking your WAP site than connecting with WAP phones and emulators.
Limitations
You should also bear in mind that there are currently some limitations with WAP / WML, such as file size. If your site does not display on a WAP phone / emulator, you should try other WAP phones and emulators, and carefully check existing limitations.
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