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Info At Hand Mobile
 

Info At Hand Mobile: Handheld Browser Support

Info At Hand Mobile allows users of wireless phones or PDAs, with browser support, to access their Info At Hand (or SugarCRM) server. Mobile users may view or update existing data, as well as add new data. Only the principal modules may be accessed using Info At Hand Mobile, including Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Leads, Tasks, Meetings, Calls and Cases.

The user interface has been optimized for browsing on smaller screens, and is character-based to conserve bandwidth. You can try it out at http://demo.longreach.net/mobile - this links to the database of our regular demo site, so login as admin/admin. If on a BlackBerry - make sure that browser options - Emulation is set to BlackBerry. You can also go to this address with a full browser - with interesting results. (See Mobile User Guide here.)

Info At Hand Mobile recognizes four classes of device:

  • If a device only accepts WML, it is a WAP browser.
  • If it accepts some sort of (X)HTML, then screen width come into play : If width < 320 pixels then it is classed as a small device (most likely a mobile phone, maybe a BlackBerry or a Windows Mobile device such as an iPAQ)
  • If screen width is in the range 320 - 639 pixels then it is classed as a medium-sized device (many modern PDAs, including Blackberry 8700, and Treo 650/700p)
  • If screen width >= 640 pixels then it is classed as a large device (most likely a PC/Mac browser, or perhaps a VGA-class PDA such as some Dell Axim models)

Small, medium and large devices each have different screen layouts. For small devices, list views are rendered in one column, each label and data item on a separate line, and the same for detail/edit/search layouts. For medium devices, there is still a one-column layout, but with labels on the left and data on the right of the same line. For large devices, there is the usual tabular layout for list views, and a 4-column layout for detail/edit/search screens.

Info At Hand Mobile is provided free to users of Info At Hand, and is available commercially for users of SugarCRM Open Source. To learn more about Info At Hand Mobile, please contact us at 613-692-7818, or at info@infoathand.com.

WAP Interface

Medium Layout
(Blackberry 8700)


Large Layout (Dell Axim X50V)


Sync4j: Direct Wireless Handheld-to-Server Synchronization

Only you can decide which you prefer – handheld browser access to your business data as provided by Info At Hand Mobile, or handheld wireless sync of your data from the handheld back to your server. At The Long Reach Corporation, we find that one or the other may be the better fit for you, depending on several criteria:

The applications native to the handheld device – be it a Palm Treo, a BlackBerry or a PocketPC – can operate more responsively, and make better use of the screen layout. If you sync infrequently, and seldom enter data remotely, this can mean a sync solution may be a good fit for you.

As well, speed is an issue. If you have poor wireless bandwidth, and poor processing power on the handheld, this typically creates a slow browsing experience, again making a sync solution preferable.

Accordingly another wireless solution focus for Info At Hand has been to provide a direct wireless handheld-to-server synchronization solution. That solution has been created through the integration of the Sync4j open source software. Their web site is at http://sync4j.funambol.com/ (Funambol is the principal corporate sponsor of the Sync4j project). 

Sync4j is a certified implementation of the Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management protocols (OMA DS and DM, formerly known as SyncML). Sync4j is supported by one of the very largest communities of mobile developers.

The full Sync4j system consists of these components:

  • Sync4j Server: a Java-based mobile application server with connectors to SQL relational databases, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino and Info At Hand.

  • Sync4j Clients: applications for Outlook, Windows Mobile PocketPC, BlackBerry, Palm and iPod that you can use to synchronize your PIM data (address book and calendar) with the Sync4j server. Many Java phones have native support.

  • Sync4j Email Gateway: a POP, IMAP and SMTP gateway, to support mobile email.

  • Sync4j Software Development Kit: tools to develop (in Java - J2SE and J2ME - and C++) sometimes-connected mobile applications.

  • Sync4j Device Management: an OMA DM server to remotely manage mobile devices.

The protocol framework behind OMA DS & DM works as shown in the Sync4j Architecture Diagram.  

What we see is that Internet-connected mobile devices connect to the Sync4j server via the OMA DM (Device Management) protocols – which are either built into the devices (such as many Java phones) or available for free download at the Sync4j website (Palm, iPod, Outlook, BlackBerry). Note that not every device can synchronize all possible data – some being limited to synchronizing contacts and calendar data, while others are also able to synchronize notes, tasks and even files.

How does that Sync4j server have your Info At Hand data available to it? Via the OMA DS (Data Synchronization) protocols, with which it connects to the Info At Hand server and synchronizes data – with each server passing data modifications to the other, and conflicts being resolved jointly.

Now while Sync4j is built using Java, and Info At Hand is built using PHP, the two servers can peacefully co-exist on the same server – messaging each other happily. So when a user away from the office uses their Treo or BlackBerry to perform a sync back to the Info At Hand server, in actual fact, they connect via the Internet to the Sync4j server, which then performs the synchronization with the Info At Hand server. Given that the two servers will usually reside within the same physical server, the distinction is perhaps moot.

To learn more about our Sync4j implementation services, please contact us at 613-692-7818, or at info@infoathand.com.