Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Prototype 1: Mail access
. A system providing basic email access to an
external server through a web
■
HTML-based interface.
Prototype 2: User profiles
. The system adds the definition of user profiles
that are stored and can be reused.
■
Prototype 3: WAP access
. The access through WAP
WML interface is
added, which can be used as an alternative to the web interface.
■
Prototype 4: Mail notification
. A new mail notification service through
SMS
■
GSM is integrated into the system.
16.3
■
Prototype 1: Mail access
This prototype focuses on providing a basic web interface to access a mail
server that implements the POP protocol. The prototype is based on the Java
technology for the web, i.e. Java Server Pages.
16.3.1
Analysis
The system must provide access to a mail server through the POP3 protocol
(Network Working Group 1996). The purpose of the system is to seamlessly
adapt the low-level POP protocol to an HTML-based interface that can be
used through a web browser.
The user interface consists of a set of HTML pages that contain the list of
the messages received by the user and the content of each message.
The parameters to connect to the mail server must be provided by the
user, since in this prototype there is no persistent storage of user profiles. In
addition, to improve the friendliness of the user interface the user should be
able to provide a name, which will be used by the system to address him
more directly (e.g. “Welcome John”). The user can interact with the system
depending on the current state of UbiMail. The states and the transitions
between them are represented as a statechart in Figure 16.4.
When the user enters the UbiMail system, he is in the state
Begin
in which
he is expected to provide his name. After this the user is logged in and can
provide the parameters for the connection to the mail server (i.e. the name
/ provide name
Login
Setup
/ provide mail server parameters
/ return
/ log out
/ select message
Message
Email list
Figure 16.4
Flow of states
