3 Component Support

3.1.1 Supported Features

ADF Mobile supports the following renderer-specific features for the supported browsers:

• Partial Page Rendering

• Dialogs

3.1.2 Partial Page Rendering

The high latency and low bandwidth of networks in mobile environments decrease application responsiveness for mobile users. Screens refresh slowly, diminishing the mobile user experience. ADF Mobile's support of Partial Page Rendering (PPR) compensates for the negative impact that slow connections have on screen updates by minimizing the amount of data requested from the server; using PPR, mobile device screen updates do not require a full refresh. Browsers that do not support AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) use full page rendering instead of PPR. For example, a page submission on basic HTML browsers (which do not support JavaScript) results in the refresh of a full page.

3.1.3 Dialogs

ADF Mobile supports dialogs, pages used by applications to obtain user input. Because mobile browsers cannot open a new window that contains a dialog (a pop-up window), dialogs appear as new pages within the main browser window after automatically preserving the state of the current page.

3.1.4 Rendering Specific to the BlackBerry Browser 4.5 and Earlier Browsers

On browsers for BlackBerry 4.5 and earlier versions, the bullets in a list sublevel (such as those in a tr:panelList component) appear large and are not indented. The BlackBerry browser's table handling may affect complex layouts; the BlackBerry browser does not allow horizontal scrolling. Instead, it wraps a table row onto multiple display lines which may disturb the layout. For more information, see Chapter 6, "Design Guidelines for RIM BlackBerry 4.2 to 4.5."

3.2.1 Creating Input Text Fields

You can create input fields using the following components:

• tr:inputColor

  Note:

  Mobile browsers do not support an inline chooseColor or a color dialog for the tr:inputColor component.

• tr:inputDate

• tr:inputHidden

• tr:inputText

  Note:

  Basic HTML browsers do not support the autosubmit attribute of the tr:inputText component.

3.2.2 Creating Lists

You can create lists using the following components:

• tr:panelChoice

• tr:panelList

• tr:selectBooleanCheckBox

• tr:selectBooleanRadio

• tr:selectItem

  Note:

  Mobile browsers do not support the disabled attribute for the tr:selectItem component.

• tr:selectManyCheckBox

• tr:selectManyListBox

• tr:selectOneChoice

• tr:selectOneListBox

• tr:selectOneRadio

• tr:resetButton

3.3.1 Displaying Text

The following components enable you to display text:

• tr:iterator

• tr:message

• tr:messages

  Note:

  When using the tr:message and tr:messages components, the component-specific messages do not display as they do in a desktop browser. Instead, they display in the region where the message component is placed on the Web page.

• tr:outputDocument

• tr:outputForwarded

• tr:outputLabel

• tr:outputText

3.3.2 Displaying Images

The following components enable you to display images:

• tr:icon

• tr:image

• tr:panelTip

3.3.3 Showing (or Hiding) Components

The following components enable showing or hiding items:

• tr:panelAccordion

  Note:

  Mobile browsers only support a full-page update; they do not support the partialTriggers attribute of the tr:panelAccordion component.

• tr:panelTabbed

  Note:

  To save space on mobile devices, the renderer intentionally prevents the display of tab bars on both the top and bottom of the tr:panelTabbed component. Valid values for the attribute positions are top and bottom. If both is specified, then the renderer displays the tabs on top.

• tr:showDetail

  Note:

  For the tr:showDetail component, the disclosure arrow does not display; instead [+] and [-] display.

• tr:showDetailHeader

  Note:

  For the tr:showDetailHeader component, the disclosure arrow does not appear on mobile browsers.

• tr:showDetailItem

  Note:

  For the tr:showDetailItem component, the disclosure arrow does not appear on mobile browsers and flex is not supported.

3.4.1 Managing the Page

The following components enable you to manage the page:

• tr:document

• tr:form

  Note:

  Mobile browsers do not support the defaultCommand attribute of the tr:form component.

• tr:page

3.4.2 Laying Out Sections of the Page

The following ADF Faces core tags support page layout for mobile device applications:

• tr:group

• tr:panelBorderLayout

  Note:

  Only the top and bottom facets are supported for the tr:panelBorderLayout component. Mobile browsers do not support the following facets:

  • left

  • right

  • start

  • end

  • innerLeft

  • innerRight

  • innerStart

  • innerEnd

  The tr:panelBorderLayout component does not render if you use any of these unsupported facets.

• tr:panelBox

• tr:panelFormLayout

• tr:panelGroupLayout

• tr:panelHeader

• tr:panelHorizontalLayout

  Note:

  Mobile devices do not support the halign=end in the tr:panelHorizontalLayout component.

• tr:panelLabelAndMessage

• tr:panelPage

• tr:panelPageHeader

  Note:

  Mobile devices only support the following facets of the tr:panelPageHeader component:

  • branding

  • brandingApp

  • navigation1

  • navigation2

• tr:panelRadio

• tr:panelCaptionGroup

3.4.3 Inserting Spaces

The following components control the space allocation on pages:

• tr:separator

• tr:spacer

• tr:subform

3.5.1 Creating Buttons

ADF Mobile supports the following button types:

• tr:commandButton

  Note:

  Because the text attribute cannot display if the icon attribute has been set, buttons on mobile devices can have either text or an image, but not both. If you set the disabled attribute to true, then the tr:commandButton component with an icon attribute renders as a static image with no links.

• tr:goButton

See Chapter 7, " Extending ADF Mobile Applications" for information on how to use the tr:goButton component to integrate e-mail, telephony, and Google maps into an application.

3.5.2 Creating Links

ADF Mobile supports the following components for creating hyper-links:

• tr:commandLink

  Note:

  Because the tr:commandLink component renders as an input element in basic mobile HTML browsers, its child components cannot render. For more information on input elements in basic mobile HTML browsers, see Section 5.2, "Developing Applications for Basic HTML Mobile Browsers."

• tr:goLink

See Chapter 7, " Extending ADF Mobile Applications" for information on how to use the tr:goLink component to integrate e-mail, telephony, and Google maps into an application.

3.5.3 Navigation Components

ADF mobile supports the following navigation components:

• tr:breadcrumbs

• tr:commandNavigationItem

  Note:

  tr:commandNavigationItem does not render when you set the disabled attribute to true for the following:

  • tr:selectOneListBox

  • tr:selectOneChoice

  • tr:processChoiceBar

  • tr:navigationPane with hint, "choice"

  • tr:selectRangeChoiceBar

• tr:navigationPane

  Note:

  tr:navigationPane hint = "choice" with a destination value is not supported for basic HTML browsers.

• tr:train

3.7.1 Creating Tables

ADF Mobile supports tables comprised of the following components:

• tr:table

  Note:

  ADF Mobile does not support the allDetailsEnabled attribute for the tr:table component; this attribute is always set to false.

• tr:column

  Note:

  When you nest tr:column tags to create column groups, the header facets do not render for the column groups.

3.7.2 Creating Trees

ADF mobile supports the tr:tree component.

3.8.1 Unsupported Components

ADF Mobile 11g does not support the following:

• tr:chart

• tr:chooseColor

• tr:chooseDate

• tr:inputFile

• tr:inputListOFVariables

• tr:inputNumberSpinbox

• tr:legend

• tr:media

• tr:navigationTree

• tr:panelButtonBar

• tr:panelPopup

• tr:panelSideBar

• tr:poll

• tr:progressIndicator

• tr:selectManyShuttle

• tr:selectOrderShuttle

• tr:singleStepButtonBar

• tr:statusIndicator

• tr:switcher

• tr:treeTable

3.8.2 Unsupported Attributes

ADF Mobile 11g does not support the following component attributes on any component.

• accessKey

• shortDesc (tooltip)