Web elements allow you to capture Web content and display it in a mobile application. Captured content is updated dynamically as the source Web content changes. The New Web Element wizard steps you through creating a Web element and provides different capture strategies, which represent the different HTML objects that you can capture from Web pages.
The content of many Web sites is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States, related laws contained in Title 17 of the United Stated Code, and international treaties. Failure to comply with the provisions of such law may result in the imposition of fines and/or damages. Each developer and user is responsible for compliance with applicable law in the use and reproduction of copyrighted content.
Capture formats The capture strategies listed in the Format drop-down of the Web Element wizard represent the different HTML objects that Unwired Accelerator can capture. These include:
One-click – allows you to navigate to one page and click through the navigation links on that page to capture the desired content.
DOM – allows programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure, and style of documents.
Applet – returns a list of all applets on the page.
Area – allows you to capture a selection of areas such as table, cell content, or form content, plus similar miscellaneous areas.
Button – specifies a combination of text and img within <a> and </a> tags. Selecting buttons shows a list of these combinations.
Grid – defines table content formed into a grid for grid rules processing.
Image – HTML img element.
Image Map – defines an image with clickable regions.
List – specifies sections within the <OL> or <UL> tags. List is for portal use only, not for mobile device applications.
Form – specifies that the contained controls take part in a form.
OP Tag – specifies HTML enclosed inside <optag> sections.
Visible Text – defines any section of text in any location.
Page – the default capture mode, represents the page.
PB Data Win – specifies sections of code inside PBDatawindow HTML output (Power Builder).
Custom – specifies a custom parser approach that uses a JSP file to extract the desired HTML feature and transform the content.
Crystal – a Custom implementation that provides special tools for handling Crystal Reports. A sample JSP file is provided.
Custom XSL – specifies a custom parser approach that uses an XSL file to transform HTML from the target Website to XML using jTidy.
The capture option window displays all the instances of the particular HTML object found on a Web page.
One-click
Unwired Accelerator uses a one-click content capture technology that allows users to create mobile applications from Web-accessible sources.
Using this technology, you use links to navigate to the page that has the information from which you want to create a mobile application.
The content capture technology allows you to select only those pieces of information that you want to use in a mobile application. Because of the numerous technologies that are used, you cannot always navigate to every possible page and successfully create mobile applications from all Web-accessible sources. You may not be able to navigate to some sites or pages within sites. You may also not be able to create a mobile application using the exact piece of information that is viewable to the user on a Web page. Especially challenging are Web sites that use JavaScript to generate some or all of an HTML page, and sites that use frame-based solutions.
Once you create a mobile application using a Web-accessible source, the mobile application retrieves the current information from the source. If the layout of the information on the original page changes, the underlying technology attempts to locate the correct piece of information that represents the mobile application's content. However, the mobile application can lose its content or obtain an incorrect piece of information due to changes in the source site. In such a case, the mobile application is broken and must be re-created.
The one-click capture strategy allows you to target a specific area on a Web page from which to capture content. Click the left mouse button in a suitable area, indicated by a shadow-box that trails the mouse arrow. The capture option window displays the "best guess" capture from the specified area.
Web elements do not store static HTML, but instead are defined by a Content Capture Language (CCL) statement that dynamically retrieves the content from its source. The CCL statement consists of:
The location of the Web page, and
The feature tag of the captured content. This feature tag is an electronic signature of the content, and consists of a feature list that describes the content.
When Unwired Accelerator executes the CCL statement, the capture technology parses the Web page and returns the piece of content that matches the feature tag. If an exact match cannot be determined, the content with the closest matching feature tag is returned. This allows Unwired Accelerator to render the correct Web element even though the content, location, or formatting of the source may have changed.
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