WMLScript Tutorial

WMLScript (Wireless Markup Language Script) is the partner of WML. It is a client-side scripting language that is very similar to JavaScript. Our WMLScript tutorial begins with an overview of WMLScript and its language rules. Then we will look at functions and variables. You can learn how to define functions, how to declare variables, etc. Operators, conditional and looping statements will be covered afterwards. The WMLScript standard library contains a lot of useful functions. We will go through some of the commonly used ones. At the end of the WMLScript tutorial, we will demonstrate how to write scripts to validate forms and submit data to the WAP server.

Plenty of code examples are given in the WMLScript tutorial to help you understand the concepts and techniques.


Table of Contents

1. WMLScript Introduction

1.1. What is WMLScript?

1.2. WMLScript MIME Type and File Extension

2. Hello World WMLScript Example

3. Compiling WMLScript Code

3.1. WMLScript Compilers

4. WMLScript Language Rules

4.1. Semicolons at the End of WMLScript Statements

4.2. Whitespaces in WMLScript

4.3. Case Sensitivity in WMLScript

4.4. Comments in WMLScript

4.5. String Literals in WMLScript

5. Defining WMLScript Functions

5.1. The extern Keyword

5.2. WMLScript Function Naming Conventions

5.3. WMLScript Function Arguments

5.4. The return Statement

6. Calling WMLScript Functions

6.1. Calling a Function Located in the Same WMLScript File

6.2. Calling a Function Located in a Different WMLScript File

6.3. Calling a Function from a WML Card

6.3.1. Passing Arguments to Functions

7. WMLScript Variables

7.1. Declaring WMLScript Variables Using the var Keyword

7.2. WMLScript Variable Naming Conventions

7.3. Scope and Lifetime of WMLScript Variables

8. WMLScript Data Types

9. WMLScript Variables Vs WML Variables

9.1. Using WMLScript to Set the Value of a WML Variable

9.2. Using WMLScript to Obtain the Value of a WML Variable

10. Passing Arguments to Functions By Value and By Reference

11. WMLScript Operators

11.1. WMLScript Arithmetic Operators - Performing Math Operations

11.1.1. Basic Math Operations - Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Finding Remainders

11.1.2. Pre/Post Increment and Decrement

11.1.3. Bitwise Operations - Dealing with Binary Representations of Numbers

11.2. WMLScript Assignment Operators - Assigning Values to Variables

11.3. WMLScript Logical Operators - Performing Boolean Operations

11.4. WMLScript Comparison Operators - Checking Two Values against a Certain Condition

11.5. WMLScript Conditional Operator - Choosing One Expression out of Two to Evaluate Depending on a Condition

11.6. WMLScript String Operators - Concatenating Strings

11.7. WMLScript typeof Operator - Finding Data Types of Variables

11.8. WMLScript isvalid Operator - Finding if a Variable is of the Invalid Data Type

12. WMLScript Conditional Statements

12.1. if Statement

13. WMLScript Looping Statements

13.1. while Statement

13.2. for Statement

13.3. break Statement: Quitting a Loop

13.4. continue Statement: Quitting Current Iteration of a Loop

14. WMLScript Standard Libraries Overview

14.1. How to Call a Function in the WMLScript Standard Libraries

15. WMLScript WMLBrowser Standard Library

15.1. Going Forwards / Backwards to WML Cards: go() and prev() Functions

15.2. Clearing Variables and URL History: newContext() Function

15.3. Getting the Current WML Card's URL: getCurrentCard() Function

15.4. Getting and Setting WML Variable Values: getVar() and setVar() Functions

15.5. Refreshing the Current Card on the WML Browser: refresh() Function

16. WMLScript Dialogs Standard Library

16.1. Displaying Messages on the Screen of Wireless Devices: alert() Function

16.2. Displaying Confirmation Messages on the Screen of Wireless Devices: confirm() Function

16.3. Displaying Input Fields and Getting Data from Users: prompt() Function

17. WMLScript String Standard Library

17.1. Getting the Character at a Certain Index in a String: charAt() Function

17.2. Getting the Number of Characters in a String: length() Function

17.3. Removing All Leading and Trailing Whitespaces of a String: trim() Function

17.4. Finding if a Certain Substring Exists in a String: find() function

17.5. Replacing a Substring with Another Substring: replace() Function

17.6. Manipulating Elements in Strings

17.6.1. Getting the Number of Elements in a String: elements() Function

17.6.2. Getting the Element at a Certain Index in a String: elementAt() Function

17.6.3. Inserting an Element at a Certain Position in a String: insertAt() Function

17.6.4. Removing the Element at a Certain Index in a String: removeAt() Function

17.6.5. Replacing an Element at a Certain Index with Another Element: replaceAt() Function

17.7. Arrays in WMLScript

17.7.1. Declaration of Arrays

17.7.2. Assigning Elements to an Array

17.7.3. Getting Elements of an Array

17.7.4. Changing the Value of an Array Element

18. WMLScript Float Standard Library

18.1. Rounding a Numeric Value: round() Function

18.2. Truncating the Fractional Part of a Numeric Value: int() Function

18.3. Raising a Numeric Value to the Power of Another Numeric Value: pow() Function

18.4. Calculating the Square Root of a Numeric Value: sqrt() Function

18.5. Calculating the Ceiling of a Numeric Value: ceil() Function

18.6. Calculating the Floor of a Numeric Value: floor() Function

19. WMLScript Lang Standard Library

19.1. Generating Random Numbers: seed() and random() Functions

19.2. Finding the Character Set Supported by the WMLScript Interpreter of a Mobile Device: characterSet() Function

19.3. Checking Whether Mobile Devices Support Floating-point Numbers and Operations: float() Function

19.4. Calculating the Absolute Value of a Numeric Value: abs() Function

19.5. Checking Whether the Conversion of a String into an Integer is Possible: isInt() Function

19.6. Converting a String to an Integer: parseInt() Function

19.7. Checking Whether the Conversion of a String into a Floating-point Number is Possible: isFloat() Function

19.8. Converting a String to a Floating-point Number: parseFloat() Function

20. WMLScript URL Standard Library

20.1. Getting the Current WMLScript Document's URL: getBase() Function

20.2. Escaping and Unescaping Special Characters in URLs: escapeString() and unescapeString() Functions

20.3. Extracting the Query String of an URL: getQuery() Function

20.4. Extracting Query Parameters of an URL

21. WMLScript Example: Validating Form Data

21.1. Retrieving Form Data and Removing Leading and Trailing Whitespaces

21.2. Checking Whether All Required Fields Has been Filled

21.3. Checking the Length of Password

21.4. Validating Email Address

21.5. Validating Date

21.6. Submitting Form Data to the WAP Server with WMLScript

21.7. At the Server-side