WURFL = Wireless Universal Resource FileWhat's the WURFL?
WURFL = Wireless Universal Resource File
The WURFL is an XML configuration file which contains information about capabilities and features of several wireless devices.The WURFL is an "ambitious" configuration file that contains info about all known Wireless devices on earth. Of course, new devices are created and released at all times. While this configuration file is bound to be out of date one day after each update, chances are that the WURFL lists all of the WAP devices you can purchase in the nearest shops.
The main scope of the file is to collect as much information as we can about all the existing wireless devices that access WAP pages so that developers will be able to build better applications and better services for the users.
This project is open-source and is intended for developers working with the WAP and Wireless. All the information listed here has been collected by many different people from many different countries. You are allowed to use WURFL in any of your applications, free or commercial. The only thing required is to make any modification to this file public, following the original spirit and idea of the creators of this project. This will help WURFL to grow better and better every day.
Problems WURFL
- Why do WAP developers need a resource file like the WURFL?
- Why isn't someone providing WURFL like functionality for money?
- How do I use the WURFL?
- Which features of which phone are listed in the WURFL?
- Who endorses and supports the WURFL?
- ...and probably more.
WAP and the Need for Resource Files
The WAP standard was a great idea. All the major players in the mobile telephony industry got together in 98 and created a consortium (WAP Forum, now OMA) to establish a worldwide standard called WAP, Wireless Application Protocol.
While the protocol is supported by all device manufacturers and network operators, in practice phone and browser manufacturer have been eager to differentiate while abiding by the letter of the specs.
The consequence of this is a plethora of devices which makes it real hard for developers to build WAP and Wireless services which work acceptably well for the owners of those devices.
The message from the WAP Forum is to wait for implementations to converge and deliver developers from the problem.
Thank you, honey...but we can't wait. As developers, we need solutions, we need them quick, we need them good and, sometimes, we need them cheap too!
What developers need are means to:
- programmatically abstract away devices differences
- avoid that we need to modify applications whenever a new device ships
- avoid that we need to track new devices that ship (particularly those in uninteresting markets)
the WURFL is the starting point to fix all of that. You can think of the WURFL as a global database of all devices and their capabilities.Of course, the wurfl is not all that there is to it. What you also need is a way to efficiently read the info from the database and use it in your applications to dynamically customize your apps for families of devices.For this reason, this project is on the lookout for programmers who can provide new smart utilities that exploit the WURFL and for porting existing utilities to different platforms.
