DevGuru WMLScript Introduction

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			This Quick Reference is now available for purchase in PDF format for easy off-line viewing and printing. Fully indexed for ease of navigation, this is an invaluable resource for all web developers. Click the icon above to purchase this Quick Reference. Welcome to the DevGuru WMLScript Quick Reference Guide. This is an informational 151-page reference source for all of the library functions, operators, and statements that compose the WMLScript language version 1.2. This Quick Reference also includes real working code examples that were tested on the "Nokia WAP Toolkit version 2.0" Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) web browser simulator. (There are several such simulators available for free on the Internet.) Wireless is a new and hot technology that made the transition from "pipe dream" to reality in 1999. For an introduction to WAP and WML (Wireless Markup Language) we refer you to the DevGuru WML Quick Reference guide. As a first approximation, you could say that WMLScript is to WML, as JavaScript is to HTML. Another approximation is that WMLScript is a highly simplified version of JavaScript. However, it is best both to treat and think of WMLScript as its own unique language. WMLScript has a core group of six standard libraries. Each of the various libraries contains from three to seventeen functions that perform useful tasks related in concept to the library name. For example, the URL Standard Library contains fourteen functions that allow you to manipulate URL addresses. Also of particular interest is the WMLBrowser Standard Library which offers functions that provide an interface between WMLScript code and the associated WML code. The six standard libraries are: Dialogs Library Float Library Lang Library String Library URL Library WMLBrowser Library The language is also composed of several statements, such as for, if, and while, and an extensive suite of operators. The language is case sensitive. It is important to understand that both the WML and WMLScript languages are rather restricted in term of coding possibilities. Both languages are small in scope and diversity. This is required by the current technological limitations of the wireless protocol (constraints include memory size, processing power, and download time). Programmers accustomed to the unlimited possibilities allowed by ASP, HTML, Visual Basic, and various other technologies commonly used by developers on the wired web may find that programming in WML and WMLScript for wireless application will require a bit more forethought. Surely, time will see the eradication of many of these limitations. In the meantime, The Guru urges you to browse through this Quick Reference and become familiar with the future.