Part V The Delivery Context Api; Overview Of The Cc/Pp Delivery Context Api - BEA WebLogic User Manual

Part V The Delivery Context API

Part V The Delivery Context API

Overview of the CC/PP Delivery Context API

The WebLogic Mobility Server transformation engine regularly checks information about the
requesting device in order to translate content into an appropriate language and format that the
device can understand. There may be times, however, that a content developer requires specific
information about a device for the purpose of fine tuning the layout or styling of their web
content. This section demonstrates how to access this device information from the Device
Repository using the JSR188 API.
About the Device Repository
Networked, mobile and wireless devices vary widely in their ability to support different aspects
of web content. Such characteristics as screen size, image and color capabilities, script support
and deck size can all affect the type of content that can be delivered to them.
WebLogic Mobility Server accommodates these differences by maintaining a Device Repository;
a datastore that contains profiles describing the properties and capabilities of a range of devices
on the market. The data, stored in attribute-value pairs, enables WebLogic Mobility Server to
identify the requesting device so that the content can be transformed appropriately before being
delivered. In this way, WebLogic Mobility Server can tailor the presentation and delivery to each
client device. Each device profile, or set of attributes defining the presentation and delivery
capabilities of a device, is known as the delivery context.
When WebLogic Mobility Server receives an end-user device request, it identifies the device
using a combination of incoming request header information (which indicates the mark-up
language of the device and often provides device model information) and stored device attributes.
Device Profiles
To facilitate the development of device independent applications, the W3C has recently defined a
standard known as Composite Capabilities/Preferences Profile (CC/PP), which is used to describe
device capabilities and user preferences (that is, the delivery context). Based on this standard, the
Open Mobile Alliance, the group that establishes open global standards for the mobile community
has defined their own standard known as User Agent Profile (UAProf). This new standard has
been adopted for the Device Repository. Currently, the database is CC/PP compliant, containing
both the UAProf attribute set and a more comprehensive set of WebLogic Mobility Server
proprietary device properties.
In the Device Repository, the CC/PP compliant attribute names begin with one of seven prefixes:
•
UAProf.BrowserUA
•
UAProf.HardwarePlatform
•
UAProg.MmsCharacteristics
•
UAProf.NetworkCharacteristics
•
UAProf.PushCharacteristics
•
UAProf.SoftwarePlatform
•
UAProf.WapCharacteristics
The proprietary device attributes have no prefix. Some examples of these attributes are:
120 - BEA WebLogic Mobility Server User Guide