A MIDlet is an application that uses the
Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) of the
Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) for the
Java ME
Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of portable code for embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, TV set-top ...
environment. Typical applications include games running on mobile devices and
cell phones which have small graphical displays, simple numeric keypad interfaces and limited network access over
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...
. MIDlet can run on
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
devices via the J2ME Loader emulator application.
The
.jad
file describing a MIDlet suite is used to deploy the applications in one of two ways. Over the air (OTA) deployment involves uploading the
.jad
and
.jar
files to a
Web server which is accessible by the device over
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...
. The user downloads the
.jad
file and installs the MIDlets they require. Local deployment requires that the MIDlet files be transferred to the device over a non-network connection (such as through
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
or
IrDa, and may involve device-specific software).
Phones that support
microSD
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between San ...
cards can sometimes install .jar or .jad files that have been transferred to the memory card.
Restrictions
Unlike a
Java applet
Java applets were small applications written in the Java programming language, or another programming language that compiles to Java bytecode, and delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. The user launched the Java applet from a ...
, a MIDlet is limited to use of the
LCDUI rather than the more familiar widgets of
AWT and
Swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
. There are also restrictions on the size of
.jar
files and the number of concurrent HTTP connections based on the MIDP specification.
See also
*
Mobile Information Device Profile
*
Connected Limited Device Configuration
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midlet
Java device platform
Mobile software programming tools