Preface


The iPlanet Portal Server: Mobile Access Pack 3.0 software extends the broad services and content aggregation platform provided by the iPlanet Portal Server 3.0 SP3 to mobile devices.

The Programmer's Guide discusses the various components of the Mobile Access Pack server used to authenticate and service the client.

This preface contains the following sections:

• Audience for This Guide

• What's in This Guide

• How to Use This Guide

• Other Resources

• Typographic Conventions

Audience for This Guide

This guide is for the iPlanet Portal Server: Mobile Access Pack 3.0 software administrators and developers. It assumes that you already know the basics of:

• The iPlanet Portal Server components, how to build providers and deploy channels, and the portal administration and programming tasks

• One or more of the following programming languages: HTML, cHTML, WML, Javascript, XML, and Java

What's in This Guide

The following table provides a quick overview of what is in this guide:

See this chapter	For information on this
Chapter 1 "Overview"	This chapter provides an overview of the various topics discussed in this book.
Chapter 2 "Authentication Template Files"	This chapter discusses the template files used by the Mobile Access Pack Authentication Service.
Chapter 3 "Desktop Template Files"	This chapter discusses the template files used by the Mobile Access Pack Desktop Service.
Chapter 4 "Content Provider Template Files"	This chapter discusses the template files used by the Mobile Access Pack Content Providers.
Chapter 5 "Application JSPs"	This chapter discusses the JSP files used by the Mobile Access Pack Wireless Applications.
Chapter 6 "JSP Tag Libraries"	This chapter discusses the JSP Tag Libraries used by the Mobile Access Pack Wireless Applications.
Chapter 7 "Tag Swapper Tags"	This chapter discusses the tag swapper tags used in the Mobile Access Pack template files.
Chapter 8 "Attributes and Schemas"	This chapter discusses the Mobile Access Pack component attributes.
Appendix A "API Descriptions"	This appendix discusses the Mobile Access Pack public APIs.
Appendix B "Sample Tasks"	This appendix provides some sample tasks on customizing the Mobile Access Pack server.

How to Use This Guide

Before you begin working with this guide, check the iPlanet Technical Publications web site, http://docs.iplanet.com/, to make sure that you have the latest version of this guide. Also check there for any supplementary information, such as Release Notes, for late breaking information on the product.

Use this guide:

• To customize the look and feel of the graphical user interface of the Desktop and Desktop components on the user's mobile device.

• To extend the software's capability to support and deliver content to clients besides genericHTML, WML, and cHTML

• To extend your current portal framework to WML and cHTML clients

Use this guide, which includes information for customizing the server, in conjunction with the Mobile Access Pack Administration Guide, which provides instructions for configuring the server from the administration console.

Other Resources

Documentation Resources

The centralized source of information on all iPlanet software documentation is the iPlanet publications web site. The URL is http://docs.iplanet.com/. On this page, all available documentation are listed and linked to files you can view or download.

The following is the documentation set for the Mobile Access Pack software:

• Mobile Access Pack Installation Guide - Includes instructions for installing the Mobile Access Pack server.

• Mobile Access Pack Administration Guide - Includes instructions for configuring the server from the administration console.

• Mobile Access Pack Programmer's Guide (this book) - Includes information for customizing and extending the Mobile Access Pack software.

• Release Notes, in HTML and PDF formats - Includes late breaking information about the software.

• Administration Console online help - It is available in HTML format only and is bundled with the Mobile Access Pack software. It contains information on the administration console graphical user interface.

• Desktop online help - It is available in HTML format only and is bundled with the Mobile Access Pack software. It contains information on the Desktop graphical user interface and instructions for configuring the user's mobile device from the Desktop.

Also consult the following books which contains information related to the subject matter discussed in this book:

• iPlanet Portal Server 3.0 Administration Guide, in HTML and PDF formats, is available on the iPlanet Documentation web site. It includes instructions for configuring and administering the iPlanet Portal Server.

• iPlanet Portal Server 3.0 Programmer's Reference Guide, in HTML and PDF formats, is available on the iPlanet Documentation web site. It explains how to use the iPlanet Portal Server application programming interfaces (APIs), including the Java APIs and the over-the-wire (non-Java) APIs.

• iPlanet Portal Server 3.0 Service Pack 3a Release Notes, in HTML and PDF formats, is available on the iPlanet Documentation web site. It includes important information about the iPlanet Portal Server 3.0 SP3 software, which is used to build the Mobile Access Pack software.

Typographic Conventions

The text in this book uses the following typographic styles:

Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
AaBbCc123	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your .login file. Use ls -a to list all files.
AaBbCc123	On-screen computer input	Type exit at the command prompt.