Create your first wireless application and test it on real devices!

This tutorial will take you through building your first wireless application and testing it on a real device - with voice access and any mobile browser. This is a simple tutorial and does not require development experience or any installation of any products. At the end of this tutorial, you will view your "hello world" application on your mobile device and you will be able to call a phone number and access your application via voice. You will use an online developer tool for testing applications - called the Mobile Studio.

What is the Mobile Studio and How Does it Work

The Mobile Studio is an online developer testing environment. The Mobile Studio allows you to register your application and test it on real devices: Pocket PC, SMS devices, voice access, mobile phones etc. There are two URLs for the Mobile Studio:

1. Developer portal for registering your application: http://studio.oraclemobile.com
2. The wireless portal to test your applications on your mobile device (there is also an associated phone number for voice and SMS access): http://studio.oraclemobile.com/ptg/rm

You basically enter the URL of your application on the developer portal, and then use the Mobile Studio wireless portal to view your application. You can view a couple samples right now by going to the wireless testing portal http://studio.oraclemobile.com/ptg/rm - you can use any mobile phone or even your PC browser.

1. Create the Wireless Application

Enter the following XML source in any text editor, and save it as hello.xml:

 <SimpleResult>
    <SimpleContainer>
      <SimpleText>
        <SimpleTextItem>Hello, World!</SimpleTextItem>

      </SimpleText>
    </SimpleContainer>
 </SimpleResult>

This XML uses a schema defined by Oracle. When this XML is passed through the Mobile Studio, the device is automatically detected and the proper language is sent to the device. This allows you to create an application once for all devices - a way to future-proof your application!

2. Upload the Wireless Application to a Web Server

The Mobile Studio does not "host" your application. It just links to it with a URL. You can think of the Mobile Studio and a multi-channel proxy. So, it is necessary to host your application on any web server. You can use Oracle9iAS, WebSphere, iPlanet, etc. Upload the hello.xml file to a web server accessible from the Studio (e.g. Yahoo! GeoCities). Verify that the XML page has been successfully uploaded by entering its URL in Internet Explorer; you should see the XML source.

Note: If you use a web server like Geocities, you will be limited to static applications since geocities does not support dynamic pages like JSPs, ASPs, etc.

3. Log In to the Mobile Studio

Log in to the Oracle 9iAS Wireless Mobile Studio using your Studio username and password. If you don't already have a username and password, register for an account.

4. Register the Hello World Application with the Mobile Studio

Click the New Application button on the My Studio page to bring up the New Application form. Enter a name (e.g. Hello) for your application, its URL, an optional description, and comments for your own reference. Click the Save button to register your new application with the Studio.

5. Test the Application

Access the Studio server from any mobile device or simulator. The access numbers and URL to view your application are on the home page of the Mobile Studio - http://studio.oraclemobile.com/.

Now with your mobile device (or phone if using voice access), click Setup and select Log In. If you do not have a phone and would like to use a device simulator, download a popular simulator from tools and SDKs download page. Log in using your Studio username and password. If you have not registered, go to http://studio.oraclemobile.com/ to register. Locate and launch the application you just created. If you entered the text exactly as shown above, you should see "Hello, World!" displayed on your screen. If an error message is displayed instead, go back to the Developer Portal page, and click on the "View Log" icon to bring up the debug log for your application. Use the information shown in the debug log to troubleshoot any issues. This will allow you to view real-time application error logs.

Congratulations! You have successfully created your first Oracle9iAS Wireless XML application. You may want to experiment with different devices and simulators, and write more complex XML pages using JSPs or some other dynamic page generation technology. Go to the Mobile Tech Center for more tutorials and samples.