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Viewing Mobile Web Applications

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You can view a newly written ASP.NET mobile Web application in a number of ways. You need to thoroughly test and view your application on a variety of devices and emulators to assure support for the greatest number of devices. This section describes the ways you can view mobile Web applications.

Using Your Desktop Browser

Because ASP.NET mobile Web Forms support HTML-based browsers, you can use your desktop browser to view mobile Web applications. You can debug your application with the desktop browser because it displays detailed error information, such as compilation and run-time errors. You can also enable page tracing and view the resulting trace information on the page.

Using an Emulator

You can often obtain an emulator application for a mobile device. Emulators allow you to test your application from your desktop workstation, and do not require an actual device or a wireless connection. Emulators can also include additional development tools, such as the ability to view page source or device state.

Most emulators allow you to view applications installed locally on your workstation. However, others might require additional components, such as a gateway.

To determine whether a supported device has an emulator, consult the device manufacturer. To install and use an emulator, consult the documentation that accompanies the emulator.

Using Wireless Internet Access

If your supported cellular phone or other mobile device has wireless Internet access, you can use it to view your Web application. However, you must ensure that your Web server can be accessed from the Internet. If the server is on your corporate intranet, your network might need a proxy or gateway. Products such as Microsoft Mobile Information Server 2002 can provide secure wireless access to intranet servers.

After you have wireless connectivity to your Web server, you can browse to the application from your mobile device. Most devices also allow you to bookmark the application URL for easier future access.

Using a Pocket PC

Even if you do not have wireless Internet access, you can view your application by using a Pocket PC, if it has network connectivity to your Web server. Pocket PCs have several network connectivity options. For more information, consult the documentation that accompanies your device.

To view your application, first connect your Pocket PC to your network. Then, open Microsoft Internet Explorer for the Pocket PC, and enter the URL of the application. You can also bookmark the URL for easier future access.

Note   For best viewing with a Pocket PC, make sure that the Fit to screen feature is on.

Like all ASP.NET applications, mobile Web applications can be configured to work with or without the use of client cookies. Some mobile devices do not support cookies, and other devices might allow the user to turn off cookies. To support these devices, configure your application to use cookieless sessions, and do not rely on cookies in your own application code.

Note   Due to the security risks associated with cookies, the ASP.NET Mobile Designer by default assumes cookieless sessions (will set <sessionState cookieless="true"/>).

See Also

Application Developer's Guide | Creating ASP.NET Mobile Web Applications | Controlling View State | Controlling Session State