Chapter 11. Using the AvantGo Module

If you've gotten PHP-Nuke up and running, try clicking on the AvantGo module. As shown in Figure 11.1, it's not terribly exciting; it shows a logo for your site, your site's name, and a very simple list of the latest news articles.

Figure 11.1. The AvantGo module.

Clicking on one of the stories reveals an even less snazzy screen where the article is displayed, as shown in Figure 11.2.

Figure 11.2. Reading a story in the AvantGo module.

Here's the deal: AvantGo (www.avantgo.com) is a free service that users of personal digital assistants (PDAs) like Palm devices, Windows Mobile devices, and a few cell phones, can sign up for. The service retrieves content from specified sites (like yours) and stores it in users' mobile devices so that they can read this interesting content from their postcard-size screen while on the train, plane, or whatever. So the substandard formatting of the AvantGo module is actually designed with consideration for these mobile devices' miniscule screens and lackluster graphics capabilities (lackluster, at least, on older devices).

UNDER THE HOOD

AvantGo works by installing a small piece of software on its users' computers. This software integrates with the users' device-synchronization software (ActiveSyncfor Windows Mobile devices or HotSyncfor Palm Devices). Whenever the user synchronizes the device (usually when docking it with a PC), AvantGo heads out and collects updated content for everything the user has in the AvantGo profile.

In the case of your site, AvantGo will hit the special URL for theAvantGo module, which is your site's main URL plus modules.php? name=AvantGo. Your site delivers up the contents of that module, which includes the main news articles menu and the subsequent article contents (the AvantGo profile must be configured to follow a"link depth"of 1 for the article content to be retrieved). AvantGo copies that content into the user's mobile device, allowing the user to read your content without being connected to the Internet.