Mobile Application Development 1

UNIT-1

Different editions of JAVA Platforms:

 J2SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition):

 J 2SE also known as Core Java, this is the most basic

and standard version of J ava and a basic foundation for all
other editions.
 It consists of a wide variety of general purpose API’s
(like java.lang, java.util) as well as many special purpose
APIs.
 J 2SE is mainly used to create applications for Desktop
environment.

 J2EE ( Java Platform, Enterprise Edition )

 J 2EE stands for J ava 2 Enterprise Edition for applications

which run on servers.
 J 2EE uses many components of J 2SE, as well as, has many
new features like Servlets, J avaBeans, J ava Message Servi
ces to support distributed/Web development.
 J 2EE uses HTML, CSS, J avaScript etc., so as to create web
pages and web services. It is also one of the most
widely accepted web development standard.

 J2ME ( Java Platform, Micro Edition )

 J2ME stands for Java 2 Micro Edition which is mainly

concentrated for the applications running on embedded
systems, mobiles and small devices.(which was a
constraint before it’s development)
 Constraints included limited processing power, battery
limitation, small display etc.
 The basic aim of this edition was to work on mobiles,
wireless devices, set top boxes etc.

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 J 2ME apps help in using web compression technologies,

which in turn, reduce network usage, and hence cheap
internet accessibility.
 J 2ME uses many libraries and API’s o f J 2SE, as well as,
many of its own.

INSIDE J2ME:

 J 2ME is targeted to developers of intelligent wireless devices and

small computing devices that need to incorporate cross -platform
functionality in their products.
 Consumers of mobile and small computing devices expect for
quick response time, compatibility with companion services, and
full - featured applications in a small computing device.
 Developers need to harness the power of existing front -end
and back-end software found on business computers and tran
sfer this power onto small, mobile, and wireless computing devices. J
2ME enables this transformation to occur with minimal
modifications, assuming that applications are scalable in design
so that an application can be custom -fitted to resources
available o n a small computing device.
 To build applications that run on cell phones, personal digital
assistants, and various consumer and industrial appliances, we
have to balance between a thick client and a thin client.
 A thick client is front -end software that contains the logic to
handle a sizable amount of data processing for the system.

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Thick client applications handle most processing locally

 A thin client is front -end software that depends on back -end
software for much of the system processing.

Thin client applications rely on server -side software for nearly all
processing

 Example: Consider a wireless small computing device is used to

transact orders on the floor of a stock exchange. The wireless
device has software to handle user interactions s uch as
displaying an electronic form on the screen, collecting user input,
processing the input, and displaying results of the processing on
the screen. The order form is displayed on the screen, and the
user enters information into the order form using va rious input
conventions commonly found in small wireless devices. The
device collects the order information and then processes the
order using a combination of software on the wireless device and
software running on a back -end system that receives the orde r
through a wireless connection.
 Processing on the wireless device might involve two steps:
 First the software performs a simple validation process to
assure that all fields on the form contain information. Next
the order is transmitted to the back -end system.
 The back-end system handles adjusting account balances
and other steps involved in processing the order. A
confirmation notice is returned by the back -end system to
the wireless device, which displays the confirmation
notice on the screen.

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 Mobile Application Development 4

 A key benefit of using J 2ME is that J 2ME is compatible with

all J ava -enabled devices. A J ava -enabled device is any
computer that runs the J ava Virtual Machine.

A J2ME application is a balance between local and server -side

processing.

How J2ME is organized:

The lack of uniform hardware configuration among the small computing devices poses
a formidable challenge for the J ava Community Process Program, which is charged
with developing standards for the J VM and the J 2ME for small computing devices.

J2ME must service many different kinds of small computing devices, including
screen phones, digital set-top boxes used for cable television, cell phones, and
personal digital assistants.

The challenge for the J ava Community Process Program is to develop a J a va standard
that can be implemented on small computing devices that have nonstandard hardware
configurations.

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J2ME Configurations: The configuration defines the basic run -time

environment as a set of core classes and a specific J VM that run on
specific types of devices. Currently, two configurations exist for J 2ME,
though others may be defined in the future:

Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC):

 The CLDC is designed for 16 -bit or 32-bit small computing

devices with limited amounts of memory.
 CLDC devices usually have between 160KB and 512KB of
available memory and are battery powered.
 They also use an inconsistent, small -bandwidth network wireless
connection and may not have a user interface.

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 Mobile Application Development 6

 CLDC devices use the KJ ava Virtual Machin e (KVM)

implementation, which is a stripped -down version of the J VM.
 CLDC devices include pagers, personal digital assistants, cell
phones, dedicated terminals, and handheld consumer devices
with between 128KB and 512KB of memory.

Connected Device C onfiguration (CDC):

 CDC devices use a 32 -bit architecture, have at least two

megabytes of memory available, and implement a complete
functional J VM.
 CDC devices include digital set -top boxes, home appliances,
navigation systems, point -of-sale terminals, and smart phones.

J2ME Profiles:

The profile defines the type of devices supported by your application. Specifically, it
adds domain -specific classes to the J 2ME configuration to define certain uses for
devices. Profiles are built on top of configurations.

Currently, seven Profiles exist for J 2ME, though others may be defined in the future:
Foundation Profile:
The Foundation Profile is used with the CDC configuration and is the core for nearly
all other profiles used with the CDC configuration because the Fo undation Profile
contains core J ava classes.
Game Profile:
The Game Profile is also used with the CDC configuration and contains the necessary
classes for developing game applications for any small computing device that uses
the CDC configuration.
Mobile I nformation Device Profile (MIDP):
The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) is used with the CLDC configuration
and contains classes that provide local

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storage, a user interface, and networking capabilities to

an application that runs on a mobile computing device
such as Palm OS devices. MIDP is used
with wireless J ava applications.
PDA Profile:
The PDA Profile (PDAP) is used with the CLDC configuration and contains classes that
utilize sophisticated resources found on personal digital assistants. These features
include better displays and larger memory than similar resources found on MIDP
mobile devices (such as cell phones).
Personal Profile:
The Personal Profile is used with the CDC configuration and the Foundation Profile
and contains classes t o implement a complex user interface. The Foundation Profile
provides core classes,and the Personal Profiles provide classes to implement a
sophisticated user interface, which is a user interface that is capable of displaying
multiple windows at a time.
Personal Basis Profile:
The Personal Basis Profile is similar to the Personal Profile in that it is used with
the CDC configuration and the Foundation Profile. However, the Personal Basis
Profile provides classes to implement a simple user interface, which is a user
interface that is capable of displaying one window at a time.
RMI Profile:
The RMI Profile is used with the CDC configuration and the Foundation Profile to
provide Remote Method Invocation classes to the core classes contained in the
Foundation Profile.
Packages:

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J2ME and Wireless Devices:

 The wireless devices such as cell phones keep their end users
connected to the outside world at anytime from anywhere.
 They offer great connectivity that other types of devices couldn’t
offer.
 Application development for these wireless devices is going to be
in great demand. Because mobile communication devices or
wireless devices utilize a number of different application
platforms and operating systems.
 Without changing the code, an application written for one device
cannot run on another device.
 Mobile communication devices lack a standard application
platform and operating system, which is a concern for developing
applications for these devices.

 WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)

 WAP forum became the initial group that provides
standards for wireless technology.
 The WAP forum created mobile communications
device standards referred to as the WAP standard,
 The WAP standard is an enhancement of HTML, XML,
and TCP/IP.

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 The WAP standard provides Wireless Markup Language

specification, which consists of a mix of HTML and XML
and is used by developers to create documents that can be
displayed by a micro browser .
 A micro browser is a tiny web browser that operates on a
mobile communications device.
 The WAP standard also includes wireless Telephony
Application Interface (WTAI) specification and the
WMLScript specification.
 WTAI is used to create an interface for applications
that run on a mobile communications device.
 WMLScript is a simple version of J avaScript.
 The WAP forum provided the framework for the developers
to build applications for the mobile communication
devices; they still had to overcome a problem.
 The complexity of mobile communications devices,
rapid growth of the market, and high dema nd for
industrial-strength mobile
communications applications.

 J2ME
 Many applications designed for mobile communications
devices require the device to process information beyond
the capabilities of the WAP specification .
 J 2ME provided the standard to pro cess the information
which cannot be handled by WAP standard.
 J 2ME applications referred to as a MIDlet can run on any
mobile communication device that implements a J VM and
MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile).
 This encourages the developers to build a pplications for
mobile communication devices without the risk that the
application is device independent.
 But J 2ME is not a replacement for the WAP specification
because both are opposite technologies.
 Developers whose applications are light -client based
they use WML ad WMLScript.
 Developers whose applications are heavy that
requires complicated processing on the device
they turn to J 2ME.

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What J2ME isn’t:

 Misunderstandings of J2ME
 Although J 2ME is J 2SE without some classes, developer’s
shouldn’t assume that existing J 2SE applications would run in
the J 2ME environment without requiring modification to the
code, because of the resource constraints imposed by small
computing devices.
 Some J 2SE applications require classes that are not available
in J 2ME. Lik ewise, resources required by the J 2SE application
may not be available on the small computing device.
 Another misconception of J 2ME is the J ava Virtual Machine
implementation on the small computing device.
 Small computing devices use one of two J ava Virtua l Machine
implementations.
 Devices that use the CDC configuration use the full J ava
Virtual Machine implementation.
 While devices that use the CLDC configuration use
the KJ ava Virtual Machine implementation.
 A MIDlet is not invoked the same way as a J 2SE a pplication is
invoked because many small computing devices don’t have a
command prompt.
 MIDlets are controlled by Application Management Software
(AMS).
 This AMS is provided by the manufacturer of small
computing devices or third -party vendors might also
create.
 AMS (Application Management Software) interacts with native
operations of a small computing device and controls the life
cycle of a MIDlet.

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 The life cycle consists of installation and upgrades as

well as version management and uninstalling the appli
cation. So, AMS is responsible for starting, managing
execution, and stopping the MIDlet.

Other Java Platforms for Small Computing Devices

J 2ME isn’t the only J ava platform designed for small computing devices.
Other J ava platforms for small computing devices are
 Embedded J ava,
 J ava Card,
 PersonalJ ava

Embedded Java:
 Embedded J ava is the J ava platform used for small computing
devices that are dedicated to one purpose and have a 32 -bit
processor and 512KB of ROM and RAM.
 E mbedded J ava is based on J DK 1.1 and is being replaced by
the CDLC configuration.
Java Card:
 J ava Card is the J ava platform used for smart cards, the smallest
computing device that supports J ava.
 The J ava Card VM runs on small computing devices that have
16KB of nonvolatile memory an d 512 bytes of volatile memory.
 However, unlike the Embedded J ava platform, there isn’t any
movement to replace J ava Card with J 2ME because of the resource
constraints of the current generation of smart cards.
 Future smart card generations will probably have great resources
available and be compatible with the CDLC configuration.

PersonalJava :
 PersonalJ ava is the J ava platform used for small computing devices
that have a maximum of 2MB of ROM and a minimum of 1MB of
RAM, such as large PDAs and mobile co mmunications devices.
 PersonalJ ava uses J DK 1.1.8 and the J VM and will be replaced by
the CDC configuration and the Personal Basis Profile and
Personal Profile.

IV Year – I Semester 2024-25 IT