Customized data retrieval applications for mobile devices providing interpretation of markup language data
Systems and techniques, including computer software, for retrieving information to a mobile device involve installing a data retrieval application on the mobile device. The data retrieval application includes instructions for presenting a structured data display on the mobile device, defining a structure of the structured data display, requesting selected hyperlinks included in the structured data display, and rendering markup language information received in response to the selected hyperlinks. A user request to retrieve data through the data retrieval application is received, and data is retrieved in response to the received user request. The retrieved data is displayed according to the structure of the structured data display, and a user can select a hyperlink in the displayed data to retrieve and render markup language information using the data retrieval application.
1. A method comprising:
installing, by one or more processors, a data retrieval application other than a browser on a mobile device, the data retrieval application comprising instructions for:
presenting a structured data display on the mobile device;
defining structure information associated with the structured data display;
requesting selected hyperlinks included in the structured data display; and
rendering markup language information received based on the selected hyperlinks;
receiving, by the one or more processors, a user request to retrieve data using the data retrieval application;
retrieving, by the one or more processors, data based on the received user request;
causing, by the one or more processors, the retrieved data to be displayed according to the structure information; and
enabling, by the one or more processors, selection of a hyperlink in the displayed data, the selection of the hyperlink causing markup language information to be retrieved and rendered using the data retrieval application.
2. The method of claim 1 , where the data retrieval application comprises a search application, or an electronic mail application.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
causing a search user interface, having a structure defined by the search application installed on the mobile device, to be displayed,
the search user interface having a predefined field for a user entry of a search query,
the user request to retrieve data including a submission of a search query, and
the structured data display defining a structure of a search results user interface for presenting data based on the search query.
4. The method of claim 1 , where the method further includes:
receiving a user selection of the hyperlink using a search results user interface;
sending, based on receiving the user selection, a request for additional data based on
information included in the hyperlink;
receiving the additional data in a markup language format; and
rendering the markup-language-formatted data by the data retrieval application for display on a user interface of the mobile device.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting a display of the data on the mobile device by the data retrieval application based on at least one characteristic of the mobile device.
6. The method of claim 1 , where the structured data display includes
at least one user-selectable feature defined by the data retrieval application,
the at least one user-selectable feature being used to perform an operation defined by the data retrieval application.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user selection of the hyperlink in the displayed data; and
retrieving and rendering markup language information without accessing a browser application.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the browser interprets markup language tags included in a Web page that define the appearance of the Web page to determine how to represent content associated with the Web page on the user interface.