Morphis - FAQ

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Morphis: open source wireless content transcoder

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Morphis FAQ

General

Installation and Support

Wax

Common Problems and Known Bugs

How do I run the sample applications?

Community and Getting Involved

What is Morphis?

Morphis is a Java based web content transcoding, transformation, translation and aggregation framework. Although it was primarily built for retrieving and translating XML based documents, it is capable of performing any type of translation: binary, plain text, or text markup. Therefore, Morphis is able to convert XML into HTML or WML, while also being able to scale, crop and convert images on the fly.
What benefits does Morphis provide?

There are many features of Morphis that users benefit from. Some of these are:
- Flexibility - Morphis is flexible enough to support the retrieval and translation of XML, as well as other forms of data, such as images or data supplied by another content or application server. In addition, the translation that occurs can be anything from custom translators to translation by software outside of Morphis.
- Extensibility - Developers will find it easy to extend Morphis and to create custom components. The framework is just that, the foundation for quickly and easily creating applications.
- Open Source - Morphis is free and a worldwide community provides support and continuing improvement to the framework.
To read more about Morphis' features, see the
Features Page.
How is Morphis/Morphis.org related to Kargo, Inc.?

Morphis.org is a community focused on the development of the Morphis framework. Morphis and Morphis.org are open source efforts sponsored by Kargo, a company dedicated to providing services and products that improve people's mobile experience. For more information, please visit www.kargo.com. The Kargo Morphis Team will continue to work on developing and improving Morphis alongside the efforts of the open source community.
What license is Morphis distributed under?

Morphis is being released under the GNU General Public License. See the License Page for more information about this license and the details regarding the creation and distribution of software that incorporates components of Morphis. Essentially, the motivation behind using this license is to promote open access, encourage contributions from an online development community, and to provide the best possible environment for Morphis to continually improve.
What do I need to use Morphis?

As Morphis is built upon Java technologies, Morphis will run across all platforms. The basic requirements are a Java runtime environment and a servlet engine. For details please see the Install Requirements of the Morphis Manual.
How can I get Morphis?

Morphis is currently available for download via FTP at the Download Page.
Where can I go for support?

First, you're looking in the right place. The FAQ should obtain, by definition, a listing of the most frequently asked questions. If your question is not answered here, you should try the morphis-interest mailing list. All Morphis developers, and many Morphis users are subscribed to this list, and can probably answer your question. As a last resort, you can fire off a message to support@morphis.org and hope to get a response.

Additionally, you should take a look at the Morphis Manual and Wax Manual.
What is WAX?

WAX is Wireless Abstract XML. The WAX language and components provide an easy mechanism for delivering the right content to wireless devices, with little effort. Morphis WAX provides direct translation into WML, HDML, HTML, and contains specific features to deliver the right set of text and images to the right devices.
What benefits does WAX provide?

WAX enables developers to write the content and create wireless applications once while delivering a customized form of that content to any wireless device. WAX is easy to learn, providing for faster development of mobile applications over creating customized content in WML, HDML, and HTML. WAX used with Morphis as a foundation also provides for DIS - dynamic item selection for choosing the right image and text to server to each device. In addition, WAX can be easily extended to incorporate new devices and wireless languages as they are introduced - ensuring the compatibility of WAX applications built today with the development of wireless platforms.
What languages can WAX translate to?

The WAX language is translated to various wireless languages via XSL stylesheets. Currently stylesheets exist to support translation to WML, HDML, and HTML. WAX can be easily extended to incorporate other wireless languages as they develop and come into use, so be sure to watch for developments from morphis.org.
What is DIS?

DIS is Dynamic Item Selection, a feature of Morphis WAX that enhances the delivery of the proper content to devices. Morphis will dynamically choose the image or text that is best suited for the device. This feature benefits developers by ensuring that each device will get the best available content - be it the right image size for the device or the right welcome message for the recipient. WAX also provides for full customization of which images and text are delivered to which devices if the developer wants to detail that customization. See the DIS Section of the WAX manual for more details.
How do I run the sample applications?

Morphis includes a set of sample applications that utilize various features and configurations. To test them out, edit the morphis.properties file to ensure that your morphis home directory is properly set. For more details, see the Install Instructions in the Morphis Manual.
How can I get involved in improving Morphis?

In the spirit of open source development communities, Mophis.org welcomes everyone that would like to contribute to the improvement of the Morphis framework, including developers, users, and anyone else that comes in contact with Morphis. If you are a developer looking to help extend or improve the components of Morphis, you can first go here. Also be sure to subscribe to the morphis-interest mailing List to receive the latest news about Morphis development.

If you are not a developer however, you are still a vital part of the Morphis community. If you have installed or used Morphis, written any WAX, or in any way used the Morphis product, please tell us about any bugs you've come across at bugs@morphis.org, or voice your opinion about what's good, what's bad, and what features we've left out that you want to see in the next version.
Do I need to contribute code to help with Morphis?

No! Morphis needs and encourages anyone that's come in contact with Morphis to contribute to the community! If you don't want to write a lick of code for Morphis but have tried out the system, please submit the results of your efforts along with opinions about Morphis and any suggestions for improvement!
If I do have code to contribute, how does it become a part of Morphis?

If you are interested in getting involved in the code development of Morphis, please keep up to date by subscribing to the Morphis mailing list, checking out the overview for Getting Involved, and taking a look at the Roadmap that details where the Morphis project is headed.
I found a bug or want to request a feature, what do I do?

First, make sure you've really encountered a bug. Read through the FAQ, read the manuals, and finally consult the morphis-interest mailing list. If nobody can offer you a fix, and you are sure you've hit a bug, it can be submitted on this Report Page or sent via email to bugs@morphis.org. Please include as much detail as possible with bug reports, including the particular usage of Morphis involved, any error messages, and any log messages if applicable. For WAX bugs, please detail the usage of WAX that causes the bug and the device for which the bug is being reported if applicable.
What is 'CVS'? Is there CVS setup for Morphis?

CVS is the Concurrent Versions System, an open source system often used by developers to control the availability and concurrency of source code that undergoes many changes from many developers. Go to www.cvshome.org to read more about CVS. Currently there is no public CVS repository for Morphis development, but keep an eye out, one should become available to the development community in the near future.

Didn't find the answer to your question here? There's plenty of resources for the Morphis community: aside from the online Morphis Manual and Wax Manual, try the morphis-interest mailing list as another resource to help answer your question. You can also send general Morphis questions to info@morphis.org and technical support questions to support@morphis.org.

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