One of the most requested features since we launched ScientiaMobile was a URL to download the latest WURFL Snapshot. In August 2011, we introduced the WURFL Direct Download URL, which is a custom URL for our customers that allows them to download their latest authorized WURFL Snapshot. This snapshot is internally licensed to the customer when it is downloaded, based on their ScientiaMobile license.
Since its introduction, the Direct Download URL system has become quite popular. Now, just 8 months later, we are serving nearly 900 requests for WURFL Snapshots per day! Until this past week, the URL has only returned the WURFL data in a ZIP archive, but we have had requests for the data in Gzip format as well. Since we’re big Linux fans at ScientiaMobile, we can appreciate that, so we’ve added the ability to download the WURFL Snapshot in Gzip format as well!
You will find the URL for the Gzip data in your customer vault if you are a licensed customer of a standalone WURFL API. The Gzip Direct Download URL is very similar to the ZIP URL, you just need to replace /wurfl.zip with /wurfl.xml.gz
Here’s an example of the existing ZIP download URL (your actual URL will have a unique key instead of xxxxxx):
https://www.scientiamobile.com/wurfl/xxxxxx/wurfl.zip
and this is the new Gzip URL:
https://www.scientiamobile.com/wurfl/xxxxxx/wurfl.xml.gzIn case you haven’t used the Direct Download URL feature before, you should know that it supports all of the popular HTTP methods for checking if a remote file has changed: If-Modified-Since/Last-Modified, If-None-Match/Etag and HTTP HEAD requests. For a complete description of these methods, and some sample scripts that demonstrate downloading WURFL updates, head over to our forum post on automatically updating the commercial WURFL file.
