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Cover of Mobile Information Device Profile  

Mobile Information Device Profile
for Java 2 Micro Edition:
Professional Developer's Guide

The first book exclusively devoted to Java programming with the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), a Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) profile that lets you run Java applications in cellular telephones, interactive pagers, and other handheld devices. This book is written by two of the acknowledged experts in the field and serves as a comprehensive tutorial and reference to MIDP programming specifically and J2ME programming in general.

Authors:   C. Enrique Ortiz and Eric Giguere
ISBN:  0471034657
Publisher:  John Wiley & Sons
Sample Chapter:  Chapter 1 (PDF format)

Buy from Amazon.com

Summary

The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) is the first Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) profile to be defined through the Java Community Process (JCP). Defined by an expert group consisting of major industry players like Motorola, Nokia, Research in Motion, Palm, and others, the MIDP defines a Java runtime environment for devices that are very constrained in terms of resources and capabilities (memory, CPU speed, input devices, power usage). It does this by extending the basic Java runtime environment defined by the J2ME Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) to include classes for networking, user interface creation, and local data persistence.

This book discusses everything you need to know about MIDP 1.0 programming and includes numerous examples of real-world scenarios. It also serves as a general introduction to J2ME programming.

Chapter-By-Chapter Descriptions

The book is organized into 11 chapters and two appendices and serves as a complete guide to MIDP 1.0 programming.

Chapter 1, "Java 2 Micro Edition Basics", introduces you to J2ME. It discusses how J2ME evolved and presents the concepts of configurations and profiles. It finishes with an overview of the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), the configuration that determines the core capabilities of the Java runtime environment used in MIDP-enabled devices. (For more detailed information on J2ME in general, refer to Java 2 Micro Edition: Professional Developer's Guide, also published by John Wiley & Sons.) Note: this chapter is available for you to read online in Adobe PDF format.

Chapter 2, "The Mobile Information Device Profile", introduces you to the Mobile Information Device Profile, version 1.0. It includes a discussion of over-the-air provisioning.

Chapter 3, "The MIDlet Lifecycle", describes how to build and run MIDP applications, which we refer to as MIDlets for short. A MIDlet resembles a Java applet, but it has different behavior and different requirements. Included in this chapter are all the steps required to build and package MIDlets by hand or with a development tool as well as a discussion of how MIDlets behave and what kind of programming errors to avoid.

Chapter 4, "User Interface Basics", describes the MIDP user interface model and how to use the new user interface (UI) classes that the MIDP defines, which are different from the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) or Swing classes that you already know. The MIDP defines high-level and low-level UI abstractions, both of which are covered here. Each user interface component is covered in detail.

Chapter 5, "User Interface Examples", takes you step-by-step through MIDP programming examples that demonstrate how to combine the user interface classes described in Chapter 4 to build complete user interfaces.

Chapter 6, "Network Communication", describes how MIDlets can communicate with external servers by using HTTP and other protocols. It starts with a detailed explanation of the CLDC's Generic Connection Framework, first introduced in Chapter 1. It then proceeds to show you how you can use HTTP as a way to exchange data with servers on the Internet.

Chapter 7, "The Record Management System", describes the MIDP's persistence mechanism. The Record Management System (RMS) lets you store arbitrary data locally on the device without involving a server.

Chapter 8, "Security", describes how MIDlets can securely exchange data and authenticate users. Security is always important but is especially so on wireless devices. MIDP security is still in its infancy and is quite limited, but it warrants a separate discussion.

Chapter 9, "Using XML In MIDP Applications", demonstrates how XML can be used to communicate with servers to exchange data and invoke Web services. Although XML is not part of the MIDP specification, there are MIDP-compatible XML parsers available that you can include in your applications. Besides explaining what XML is and how XML documents are created and parsed, this chapter also demonstrates how to invoke Web services by using the XML-based Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

Chapter 10, "Techniques for Writing Better MIDP Applications", describes how to avoid potential pitfalls and how to make your MIDP applications more portable and more efficient.

Chapter 11, "Final Thoughts", wraps up our discussion of MIDP programming and describes alternatives and future directions.

Appendix A, "MIDP/CLDC Quick Reference", is a complete reference guide to all the classes defined by the MIDP 1.0 and CLDC 1.0 specifications.

Appendix B, "Resources", lists J2ME and MIDP programming resources.

For More Information

See my J2ME pages for more J2ME information.

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