Channels, Containers and Providers

Mobile Access software uses providers, channels, and containers to present content to the mobile Portal Desktop.

This section provides information on:

• Channels

• Container Channels

• Providers

Channels

Channels display content in the mobile Portal Desktop. A channel consists of the provider object, configuration settings, and data files (such as templates) required to support the channel.

Container Channels

A container, or container channel, is a channel that displays content in the mobile Portal Desktop by aggregating the content of other channels. Mobile Access software adds the following default container channels to those included with Portal Server software:

• JSPNativeContainer

• WirelessDesktopDispatcher

Providers

Providers are the underlying implementation that present channel content to users on the mobile Portal Desktop. They adapt the interfaces of generic resources.

Provider content sources can include:

• Content in a file

• Output from an application

• Output from a service

Providers, which are Java class files, deliver content in the proper format for each type of mobile device. As a mobile Portal Desktop is created, each provider is queried for the content of its associated channel.

The following new providers are added to the default containers:

• WirelessDesktopDispatcherProvider

• WirelessJSPDesktopProvider

For details on using channels, containers, and providers to configure the mobile Portal Desktop, see Managing the Mobile Portal Desktop.