.KEYWORD avantgo
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Using AvantGo.com 3.0
.OTHER
.SUMMARY AvantGo is back with a new version and it really is better than ever. Contributing Editor Jason Perlow takes a look at this powerful solution for offline Web browsing on your Palm device.
.AUTHOR Jason Perlow
The original promise of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) was of a ubiquitous miniature computer that would fulfill all of our personal information and organizational needs. But while PDA technology has greatly improved over the years, and units like the Palm organizer are used by just about everyone, PDAs in general have fallen short of their original promise. That’s because, although they can do much more, they’re often used as no more than glorified electronic Rolodexes.
Much of the reason why PDAs haven’t unleashed their true potential is because, back in the early 90’s, nobody really could predict the rise of client/server technology and the Internet. Yes, PDAs are great for storing our email, personal notes, and contacts, but do they actually deliver desirable information on demand to us? The answer unfortunately, is a resounding no. That’s where AvantGo.com comes in.
.H1 Web technology in the Palm of your hand
AvantGo has been one of the true pioneers in bringing Web technology to the PDA. In the January 1999 issue of PalmPower, we awarded AvantGo Web to Go Client 1.1 Software Product of the Year honors. What did we think was so cool about it? In short, the AvantGo client allows you to store and browse Web pages on the Palm organizer (which arguably isn’t an ideal platform for viewing Web pages). The way you do this is to subscribe to AvantGo Channels. Content providers (i.e., Web site operators) create these channels. These, then, you can view optimized within the AvantGo browser.
Early in May, AvantGo phased out their $99.00 Web-to-Go client in favor of AvantGo.com (which is now free of charge). AvantGo.com, shown in Figure A, is a hybrid application that combines their AvantGo browser with a Web-based content-syncing service and their enterprise Mobile Application Link technology, a desktop conduit that resides on the PC that syncs content from the AvantGo.com web site when your Palm unit HotSyncs from cradle. You can also sync channel content directly from the AvantGo browser, if you have a Palm modem attached, or via wireless modem such the Novatel Minstrel or the CDMA modem built into Qualcomm’s PDQ.
.FIGPAIR A Once you log in, this is AvantGo’s main page.
AvantGo channels differ greatly from PQF applications on the Palm VII, which are forms written in a proprietary format which "scrape" data from actual Web pages. This "scraping" methodology is used to optimize the Palm VII’s limited wireless bandwidth and improve application performance. AvantGo channels are regular Web pages which have been trimmed down to fit the HTML 3.2 specification and are optimized to display well on a Palm organizer’s screen. You can, however, sync any page you want to an AvantGo channel, provided it conforms to HTML 3.2.
.H1 Getting up and running with AvantGo.com
Getting connected with AvantGo.com is easy. Simply log into http://www.avantgo.com/frontdoor, as shown in Figure B, and click on the Download link, where you’ll read about the system requirements, and then click on the Get Started link, where you’ll be asked if you have Palm organizer or a Windows CE device.
.FIGPAIR B Now, you log into AvantGo.com. They capture names and you can now HotSync from multiple desktops.
After choosing which version of AvantGo.com you wish to install (presumably the Palm version), the Web site prompts you to download the client software–the Mobile Application Link (or MAL) conduit and the AvantGo browser–and install it on your machine. Once you’ve installed the client software, you will need to sync your Palm organizer in its cradle to automatically install the AvantGo browser, which takes up about 200K of memory.
.H1 Syncing and creating AvantGo channels
AvantGo channels are simply Web sites that are cached into the AvantGo.com server’s database. They can be static Web pages, or they can even be dynamic, forms-based applications. When a new channel is created, the Web site data can be refreshed every time you HotSync your mobile device.
After you install the MAL software and the AvantGo browser, you return to the AvantGo.com web site, create your account name and log in. At this point, you can choose to HotSync a wide variety of content services, as well as create your own custom channels, as shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C I’ve signed up for a number of interesting channels.
Once those channels have been sent down to your Palm device, you’ve got a similar menu, shown in Figure D, that you can use on your Palm device.
.FIG D When you’re on the road and bored, choose from any interesting topic you want.
There is a wide variety of premium content topics available, including world news, technology news, financial news and stock tracking services, only to name a few. You can see some of the business channels in Figure E.
.FIGPAIR E If you’re into business topics, there’s loads you can download.
Likewise, there are a bunch of available channels on other topics, like sports news (shown in Figure F) that you can download daily.
.FIGPAIR F There are loads of sports options as well.
Keep in mind that the standard-issue Palm Pilot Professional and the Palm III have only 1MB and 2MB of RAM avaliable, so you may want to be conservative as to how many channels you want to HotSync right away.
.H1 Types of Web sites
While the AvantGo browser on the mobile device is capable of displaying any HTML 3.2 compliant Web page (without frames), AvantGo has published a set of guidelines on their Web site for authoring pages so they display well on a small form factor. In our February 1999 issue of PalmPower, Marty Kacin, Director of Professional Services at AvantGo, wrote an excellent summary of these guidelines. While this piece was written with the Palm Organizer version of the AvantGo browser in mind, any Web site designed according to these guidelines should display equally well on both the Windows CE and Palm versions of AvantGo, should you care about Windows CE AvantGo users viewing your channel.
.H1 Web application integration
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the AvantGo.com service is its ability to integrate with existing Web applications running on Microsoft Active Server pages, CGI and remote databases using ODBC. For example, you could have a form-based application on a Web server that requires users to key in information to update or query a database (good examples of this are Slashdot.com, FedEx, and ZD Interactive Investor). By using a Palm organizer with an optimized version of the form for an AvantGo channel, you can submit data into the form and later update the server by syncing the device into a cradle or initiating a wireless network connection with a cellular modem. The StockSmart and Bloomberg channels, for example, use this method when users track their stock portfolios, as shown in Figure G.
.FIG G Here’s a snapshot of the portfolio I’m tracking on my Palm device.
If you intend to deploy an internal enterprise application in this way, you’ll want to consider shelling out $30,000 for AvantGo Server 2.11, which is AvantGo’s commercial offering for corporate use that runs on Windows NT.
.H1 Better than PQF?
Personally, I think that AvantGo.com’s open HTML 3.2 technology is the real "killer app" for Palm devices, not the PQF technology in Palm VII. Hopefully we’ll see less clunky wireless TCP/IP options for the Palm IIIx and Palm V (as well of the debut of the Qualcomm PDQ 800) that will be competitive in service price. Sorry 3Com, 150 kilobytes a month for $25.00 doesn’t cut it. If so, we’ll see a real explosion in wireless PDA usage.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
To get connected to AvantGo, visit http://www.avantgo.com/frontdoor.
Then, click on the Download link at http://avantgo.com/setup/index.html where you’ll read about the system requirements.
Then, click on the Get Started link at http://avantgo.com/setup/specify_device.htm where you’ll be asked if you have Palm Pilot or a Windows CE device.
We have created a test version of PalmPower for mobile devices. For details read the PowerBoard posting here. A more formal announcement (and detailed article) will be published when development is finished.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Jason Perlow is a systems integrator, freelance writer and Contributing Editor with PalmPower. He can be reached via email address of perlow@hotmail.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6d36d
