Modifying media output/formats for mobile devices using MAP

The Media Access Proxy (MAP) web application is used to convert images to different formats for different device types.

When designing your mobile portal you might want to create portlets that include content from third-party websites or browser-based applications. Since this content is designed for viewing on large displays and supports complex layouts, it can be impractical to include everything in your portlets.

Because different devices also handle images in different ways, the MAP can convert images to a different format and pixel depth. It can also reduce the color depth for a smaller color palette and scale images for a smaller screen size.

MAP can be used in two ways:

In XDIME2, the <object> element is used when MAP is used.
In XDIME1, the <img> element is used with ICS URLs, which ensures compatibility with earlier versions with the ICS-based XDIME1 code. The code can be changed to XDIME2 with the <object> element. Or, you can use XDIME1 with ICS URLs since it is compatible with earlier versions of ICS.

The MAP application has the following principal components:

Media agent: When MCS finds an <object> element in the XDIME2 source, the src attribute value is passed to the media agent. Configuration parameters that affect the transcoded output are also passed to the media agent.
The value for the src attribute can be the path to the image file or the mimg file served from a server location. For example:
```
src="http://hostname.example.com:9080/map/ics/wps/PA_1_0_1BP/images/testimg-vga-02.jpg?v.imgHost=norrissai-kqu&v.imgPort=9081" 
```
```
src="/ics/testimg-vga-04-jpg.mimg"
```
For more examples, see the topic Usage scenarios for MAP sample portlet.
Descriptor store: The descriptor store associates unique identifiers with the parameters required by a particular operation.
Operation engine: When MAP receives a request from a device, it extracts the identifier, and requests the transcoded asset from the operation engine.
ICS servlet: For compatibility with earlier releases, this servlet invokes the built-in image-processing plug-in for Image Conversion Service ICS) native and TransForce URLs.

For more information, refer to the Multi-Channel Server information center plug-in.

For clustered and production environments, the MAP software must be installed on a separate WebSphere® Application Server from WebSphere Portal.

When MAP is used with a messaging web application, it can be installed either on the same application server as the messaging web application or on a separate application server. The separate application server can be on the same physical server as the messaging web application or a different physical server.