Member Avatar for nelly_1005

Hey there people

basically i am currently doing my final year project,about decreasing the time taken to locate functions within mobile phones. therefore i am required to create a menu for a mobile phone which will solve the issue. I am looking to create a search faciltated menu which is connected to a SQL databse which holds the names of fucntions...what programming language can i use to actaully create the menu though??

Thank you

Nelly xx

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by gearscout

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raised the right design question: pick the delivery model first, then the language. The thread already points to two common routes — browser-based (WAP/WML or XHTML) and on-device apps (Java ME / native). correctly described the browser route and / were right that Java is a practical on-device option. The best choice depends on two factors: (1) whether the menu must call phone-internal functions (call, SMS, contacts) and (2) which handsets must be supported.

For a project backed by a SQL database and a search-led UI, the simplest, most portable architecture is a thin on-phone client + server API. Put search logic and the SQL queries on a server (ASP.NET, PHP, Python, etc.), expose a tiny HTTP API that returns compact results, and render those results on the handset. This avoids direct DB connections from the phone, lets the server handle indexing/paging, and keeps the client lightweight for slow networks and small screens.

If the menu must run as a native app on classic feature phones, Java ME (MIDP) was the mainstream choice for many Nokia handsets and gives more control than a browser. For deep, device-specific hooks (where supported) a platform SDK (Symbian C++ or the device vendor SDK) may be required. Emulators (Java Wireless Toolkit or vendor SDKs) should be used early and real-device tests done before final submission.

A minimal server-side pattern (Python/Flask + ODBC to SQL Server) used with a tiny handset client is quick to prototype:

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
import pyodbc

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/search')
def search():
    q = request.args.get('q','')
    conn = pyodbc.connect("DRIVER={ODBC Driver};SERVER=...;DATABASE=...")
    cur = conn.cursor()
    cur.execute("SELECT name FROM functions WHERE name LIKE ?", ('%'+q+'%',))
    return jsonify([r[0] for r in cur.fetchall()])

Practical tips: paginate results, keep payloads tiny, cache frequent queries on-device if possible, measure latency on real networks, and prefer numeric shortcuts for keypad entry on older phones.

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Member Avatar for mikeandike22

you should probably use whatever language you feel most comfortable with. I dont really know what phones run what applications but i have seen java games on cell phones so maybe that would be a good choice. it might be hard to find a compiler that compiles languages like c or c++ so you can run it on a mobile phones os.

Member Avatar for nelly_1005

i was considering using wml but some peole have told em that is impossiable to do, also i reequire the menu inetarfce to be simluated on a simlated mobile phone such as nokia 6210i...java i have never used and would take too long a time to learn...thanks anyway x

Member Avatar for ultimate_drag

uctually learning java won't take long if u have programing backround in c or c++. Useing menus in java is pretty easy and u can find examples which may help u with time issue.
for a fast hint if u intend to learn java focuse on GUI applecations :)

Member Avatar for Iron_Cross

Java, vb (/me shivers), or maybe .net

It also depends on what the target phone is.

Member Avatar for gearscout

Nelly,

WML is the only language that is universal to mobile phones using the internet.

Unless you're being asked to create a menu system to access the functions of the phone itself, you'll have to write it in WML.

The "access key" feature in WML is very useful for assigning a number key to a menu item. You can use that instead of actual links, or in addition to actual links.

Here's an example:

<p>
<table columns="3">
<tr>
<td>
<a accesskey="1" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/index.wml"></a>
</td>
<td>
<a accesskey="2" href="http://mobile.yahoo.com/news"></a>
</td>
<td>
<a accesskey="3" href="http://mobile.yahoo.com/weather"></a>
</td>
</tr></table></p>

---------------------------------

In the above example, a gif file is displayed on the phone (you don't see that link) and the menu choices are laid out in the shape of the phone keypad. By pressing the number "1" the mobile phone user is taken to the BBC website.

Similarly, "2" takes them Yahoo News and "3" takes them to yahoo weather.

The above script could be altered to also allow users to access the keys by using the scroll button on their phone...

-------------------------------

<a accesskey="1" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/index.wml">[ BBC ]</a>

------------------------------

WML will also allow you to take advantage of cached content as in this simple script to access any URL via the mobile phone:

------------------------------

<wml>
<card id="card2" TITLE="Go to URL">
<p align="center">Go to URL...</p>
<p>Enter URL: <input name="url" value="http://" format="*m"/></p>
<p align="center"><anchor>Request $(url:n)<go href="$(url:n)"/></anchor></p>
</card>
</wml>

------------------------------

That script could be similarly called with the main menu:

<a accesskey="5" href="url.wml">[ URL ]</a>

You can use WML to access PHP scripts as well. MySQL can manage things like photos sent from the phone and arrange them on a page. Check out the view.php script in MMS_Diary for an example.

http://www.hellkvist.org/software/#MMS%20Diary

Photos taken by the new camera phones can be directly uploaded to a website and then accessed by a mobile phone. It is important that the settings be changed so the thumbnails are smaller than the default and don't consume lots of memory or the phone will run out!

Good luck...this would appear to be a little late in arrival for a finals project in '05!!!!

:o

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