Introduction

Chapters 1 through 9 covered Web applications based on the Clipper. Chapter 10 described integration of Clipper with native Palm OS applications. This chapter goes one step further by developing a native Palm OS application that replaces the browser-based user interface. By replacing the client side with a native application, your Web application can use all Palm OS features.

Developing a native application to access your Web site is a difficult task. You find that you may have to implement much of the functionality of Web clipping to get even a basic application working. However, the rewards can be great. One of the basic advantages of having a standalone application is that your data is available offline. Your application can accept new data from the user and display and analyze existing data. Later on, it can connect to the server synchronizing changes in a batch mode. Moreover, because you control the protocol spoken between the server and the application, you can squeeze as many bytes out of the protocol as needed.

Because native applications have full control of the device, you can implement databases and unique user interface methods. A native application can be smarter, anticipating the user s requests and providing a smoother workflow. This chapter gives you much of the background you need to implement the network parts of a native Palm OS application and teaches you how to make Palm s Internet Library work for you.