Matias Urbieta

Designing the Interface of Rich Internet Applications

In this paper we present a novel approach for designing the interface of rich internet applications. Our approach uses the Abstract Data Views (ADV) design model which allows to express at a high level of abstraction the structure and behaviors of the user interface. Additionally, by using advanced techniques for separation of concerns it allows to create complex interfaces as oblivious compositions of simple interface atoms. Using a simple illustrative example we present the rationale of our approach, its core stages and how it is integrated into the Object Oriented Hypermedia Design Method (OOHDM). Some implementation issues are finally analyzed.

Transparent interface composition in web applications

In this paper we present an approach for oblivious composition of Web user interfaces, particularly for volatile functionality. Our approach, which is inspired on well-known techniques for advanced separation of concerns such as aspect-oriented software design, allows to clearly separate the design of the cores interface from the one corresponding to more volatile services, i.e. those that are offered for short periods of time. Both interfaces are oblivious from each other and can be seamlessly composed using a transformation language. We show that in this way we simplify the applications evolution by preventing intrusive edition of the interface code. Using some illustrative examples we focus both on design and implementation issues, presenting an extension of the OOHDM design model which supports modular design of volatile functionality.

Modeling and Composing Navigational Concerns in Web Applications. Requirements and Design Issues.

Complex applications, in particular Web applications, deal with a myriad of different concerns and some of them affect several others. The result is that these crosscutting concerns are scattered throughout different software artifacts and tangled with other concerns. In this paper we present an approach for modeling and composing navigational concerns in Web applications. By showing how to build partial navigation scenarios with user interaction diagrams, analyzing how they crosscut and defining corresponding composition rules, we add modularity to the requirements specification stage, facilitating reasoning about the requirements and a consequent tradeoff analysis to support informed decisions on architectural choices. Moreover, by focusing on navigation concerns during the early stages of applications development, we aim to address the impact of crosscutting concerns in design models, improve the discovering of meaningful design artefacts and improve traceability of design decisions

Improving the Quality of Web-GIS Modularity Using Aspects

Spatial concerns of Web Geographical Information Systems (Web-GIS) are inherently crosscutting and volatile: crosscutting because they affect multiple functionalities of Web-GIS systems, such as visualization of a route in a map, volatile because their status may change often (e.g., in a map, a route can be obstructed temporarily due to a car accident or festivity, so alternative routes should be provided dynamically). The quality of Web-GIS services, in particular the efficiency required for their adaptation and evolution, can be compromised if volatility and the crosscutting nature of spatial concerns are not taken into consideration during modularization. This paper presents an aspect-oriented approach for Web-GIS applications. This approach models crosscutting spatial concerns and handles the volatile nature of some spatial concerns as if these were crosscutting. Thus, both types of concerns, crosscutting and volatile, are modeled as candidate aspects. By modularizing volatile concerns as aspects, it is simple to add and remove them at runtime from an application by using dynamic weaving. The approach starts with the identification and specification of crosscutting concerns and follows by composing them using MATA, an aspect-oriented modeling technique. GIS crosscutting concerns are stored and documented in a concern catalogue for promoting their reuse. Conflicts regarding the ordering of composition are also taken into account.

MODELING, DEPLOYING, AND CONTROLLING VOLATILE FUNCTIONALITIES IN WEB APPLICATIONS

One of the main characteristics of most Web applications is their high dynamism. Once implemented and deployed for the first time, new functionalities are added to meet new or changed requirements. Some of these functionalities may appear on the Web in response to an unexpected event, or phenomena (such as a natural calamity) after which they are removed. Some others are activated periodically, to coincide with a particular date, or period of the year (such as, return to school, Christmas holidays, etc.). Implementing such volatile functionalities usually impacts on a number of aspects of a Web application, including content, navigation, presentation, business processes, and user operations. Their cyclic activation/deactivation, which requires repetitive changes in the application code, may be the cause of waste of effort and application quality deterioration, up to incorrect functioning. In this paper, we present an approach to decouple the design and implementation of volatile functionalities from that of stable ones, i.e. the core functionalities of the application. The approach is instantiated in the context of the Object-Oriented Hypermedia Design Method (OOHDM), but its principles and related techniques are generally applicable to any other Web engineering method. We show how our approach enables the deployment and removal of these functionalities in a cost-effective and safe way and at runtime, thus providing business agility. A framework to classify volatile functionalities and a number of examples are also reported.

Detecting Web requirements conflicts and inconsistencies under a model-based perspective

Web requirements engineering is an essential phase in the software project life cycle for the project results. This phase covers different activities and tasks that in many situations, depending on the analysts experience or intuition, help getting accurate specifications. One of these tasks is the conciliation of requirements in projects with different groups of users. This article presents an approach for the systematic conciliation of requirements in big projects dealing with a model-based approach. The article presents a possible implementation of the approach in the context of the NDT (Navigational Development Techniques) Methodology and shows the empirical evaluation in a real project by analysing the improvements obtained with our approach. The paper presents interesting results that demonstrate that we can get a reduction in the time required to find conflicts between requirements, which implies a reduction in the global development costs.

A framework and tool to manage Cloud Computing service quality

Cloud Computing has generated considerable interest in both companies specialized in Information and Communication Technology and business context in general. The Sourcing Capability Maturity Model for service (e-SCM) is a capability model for offshore outsourcing services between clients and providers that offers appropriate strategies to enhance Cloud Computing implementation. It intends to achieve the required quality of service and develop an effective working relationship between clients and providers. Moreover, quality evaluation framework is a framework to control the quality of any product and/or process. It offers a tool support that can generate software artifacts to manage any type of product and service efficiently and effectively. Thus, the aim of this paper was to make this framework and tool support available to manage Cloud Computing service quality between clients and providers by means of e-SCM.

Web-GIS models: accomplishing modularity with aspects

Spatial concerns of Web geographical information systems (Web-GIS) are inherently crosscutting and volatile: crosscutting because they affect multiple functionalities of Web-GIS systems, and volatile because their status may change often. If these concerns are not modularized properly, the quality of Web-GIS services, particularly with regard to adaptation and evolution, can be severely compromised. This paper uses aspect-orientation to model crosscutting and volatile spatial concerns. By modeling both types of concerns, crosscutting and volatile, as candidate aspects, one can use dynamic weaving to add or remove them from a system at runtime. The aspect-oriented approach proposed starts with the identification and specification of crosscutting concerns and follows by composing these using modeling aspects using a transformation approach, an aspect-oriented modeling technique. The conflicts that can emerge due to the composition order are also taken into consideration. Finally, this paper proposes a set of reusable GIS crosscutting concerns, documenting them in a concern catalogue.

MODELLING LOCATION-AWARE BEHAVIOUR IN WEB-GIS USING ASPECTS

Web-GIS applications evolve fast as new requirements emerge constantly. Some of these requirements, particularly those related with spatial behaviours, might crosscut previous core application requirements. Conventional modelling techniques, which ignore the effect of crosscutting concerns (such as tangling and scattered behaviours) affect negatively the modularity and thus compromise application maintenance. In this paper we present and aspect-oriented approach to model crosscutting concerns in Web-GIS applications, particularly those related with spatial features. The process introduced in this paper starts with the identification and specification of crosscutting concerns, followed by the composition of these concerns, using the MATA language.

A Model-driven Approach for Empowering Advance Web Augmentation - From Client-side to Server-side Support.

Websites augmentations have been adopted as a mean for improving the User Experience of applications that often are not owned by the user. The augmentations alter the page in order to add, modify and even remove its content pursuing the satisfaction of a user’s need. However, these augmentations are limited to page modification or transcluding content from another site on Internet. Moreover, advance server-side based augmentations have been released only by developers because of the required technical skill for the task. In this work, we have presented a novel approach for designing Web Augmentation coping client-side and serverside using a Model-Driven Web Engineering approach. The approach rises the abstraction level for serverside developments allowing end-users to design, and even implement the new functionalities. Additionally, the approach uses advance separation of concern principles thus we provide a set of tools for designing the composition of the core application and the augmentation. We show as running example an augmentation that introduces a site community’s review support upon an agriculture e-commerce site.