This article outlines the services and equipment currently available to support wireless Web access. This article discusses the missing link used to connect these portable devices with the vast resources of the Internet, focusing on connecting a cellular phone to your database-driven Web site. WAP created the XML-based WML syntax, which is what most wireless systems use. UP.Browser phones, WML, UP.Link Server, and WML services.
UP.Browser phones are handheld devices with special software that replace conventional Web browsers.
The WML language is a programming language consisting of a set of statements that defines what the UP.Browser phone displays in its window and how it interacts with the user. Instead of Web pages, the wireless world uses decks consisting of cards. It's possible to create applications based only on static WML decks, but real-time information can only be provided to users by creating dynamic WML decks. This can be achieved by using CGI, the Java language, ASP, or any scripting language that can query databases dynamically and format the output to conform to WML standards. In effect, dynamic WML programming is the key to database-driven wireless connections.