Santiago Meliá

A Model-Driven Development for GWT-Based Rich Internet Applications with OOH4RIA

Traditionally, Web applications have had great limitations in the usability and interactivity of their user interfaces. To overcome these limitations, a new type of Web applications called rich Internet applications (RIAs) has recently appeared providing richer and more efficient graphical components similar to desktop applications. However, RIAs are rather complex and their development requires the designing and implementation tasks which are time-consuming and error-prone. Moreover, RIA development is a new challenge for the Web engineering methodologies requiring their modification and the introduction of other concerns. In this context, we propose a new approach called OOH4RIA which proposes a model-driven development process that extends OOH methodology. It introduces new structural and behavioural models in order to represent a complete RIA and to apply transformations that reduce the effort and accelerate its development. This RIA will be implemented on the promising Google Web toolkit (GWT) framework.

JUST-UI: A User Interface Specification Model

A Model for the Specification of Abstract User Interfaces based on Conceptual Patterns is proposed to enhance the semantic captured by an object-oriented analysis method. The model gathers both Presentation and Navigation issues. A graphical notation is also provided to make easier the specification tasks. This simple graphical notation allows that a non analyst can understand and participate in the specification process.

User Interface Conceptual Patterns

User Interface Patterns are not sufficiently explored at the Conceptual phase. Work in area of User Interface patterns is predominantly done at design phase but not enough work is dedicated to analysis patterns. This paper shows different examples of abstract user interface patterns and explores the impact of such patterns in the software life-cycle. Conceptual User Interface Patterns can be used for direct specification of device independent interfaces that can be refined using UI design patterns, or moreover, used to automatically obtain prototypes of the user interface specified in several devices.

Towards improving the navigability of Web applications: a model-driven approach

Navigability in use, defined as the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction with which a user navigates through the system in order to fulfil her goals under specific conditions, has a definite impact on the overall success of Web applications. This quality attribute can be measured based on the navigational model (NM) provided by Web engineering (WE) methodologies. Most of the measures currently defined for NMs are tightly coupled with particular WE methodologies, however. Furthermore, modifications to the design of the NM, carried out with the aim of improving navigability, are performed manually. Both practices have seriously hampered the reusability and adoption of proposed navigability measures and improvement techniques. In this paper, we present a Model-Driven Engineering approach to solving these problems. On the one hand, we propose a generic approach for the definition of navigability measurement models that can be integrated into any WE methodology. On the other hand, we present a model-driven improvement process for the NM design that incurs no increase in costs or in time-to-market of Web applications. This process is divided into two phases: evaluation (i.e. assessment of the model through objective measures) and evolution (i.e. transformation of the model when the measurement results do not fall inside the boundaries set by certain quality decision criteria that have been defined previously).

MDA transformations applied to web application development

Current Web generation techniques are mainly hard-coded for predefined architectures of Web applications. Consequently, there is a gap between Web design models and the final implementation. We solve this problem, following with our approach the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) principles of automatic generation of software systems based on model transformations. In this context, we present a transformation process and propose a visual and textual specification for the transformations using the forthcoming OMG standard Query /Views/ Transformations (QVT). Our proposal is illustrated by transformations involving elements of the UML-based Web Engineering (UWE) metamodel and the WebSA metamodel, showing this way how both approaches are integrated.

Improving web design methods with architecture modeling

Many approaches have been developed for modeling the functional aspects of Web applications, but there is a lack of a modeling language for their architectural concerns. This paper proposes such a modeling language defined as a UML 2.0 profile, which allows the specification of domain-specific models for the architectural view of Web applications. The profile is part of the Web Software Architecture (WebSA) approach, which follows the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) principles. The modeling elements proposed for each WebSA model (subsystem, configuration and integration models) are both represented graphically and formalized by means of the profile and the metamodel, respectively. In this article we will focus on the Configuration model and how it is used to model the well-known Petstore example.

Empirical study on the maintainability of Web applications: Model-driven Engineering vs Code-centric

Model-driven Engineering (MDE) approaches are often acknowledged to improve the maintainability of the resulting applications. However, there is a scarcity of empirical evidence that backs their claimed benefits and limitations with respect to code-centric approaches. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance and satisfaction of junior software maintainers while executing maintainability tasks on Web applications with two different development approaches, one being OOH4RIA, a model-driven approach, and the other being a code-centric approach based on Visual Studio .NET and the Agile Unified Process. We have conducted a quasi-experiment with 27 graduated students from the University of Alicante. They were randomly divided into two groups, and each group was assigned to a different Web application on which they performed a set of maintainability tasks. The results show that maintaining Web applications with OOH4RIA clearly improves the performance of subjects. It also tips the satisfaction balance in favor of OOH4RIA, although not significantly. Model-driven development methods seem to improve both the developers’ objective performance and subjective opinions on ease of use of the method. This notwithstanding, further experimentation is needed to be able to generalize the results to different populations, methods, languages and tools, different domains and different application sizes.

An eclipse plug-in for model-driven development of rich internet applications

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) have recently appeared in the Internet market offering a rich and efficient User Interface similar to desktop applications. However, these applications are rather complex and their development requires design and implementation tasks that are time-consuming and error-prone. In this paper, we present a tool called OIDE (OOH4RIA Integrated Development Enviroment) aimed at accelerating the RIAs development through the OOH4RIA approach which establishes a RIA-specific model-driven process.

Comparison of a textual versus a graphical notation for the maintainability of MDE domain models: an empirical pilot study

Models are a useful tool to increase the developer’s productivity and satisfaction when performing maintenance tasks. However, in order to maximise these advantages, the right selection of notations must be made. Unfortunately, the software engineering field lacks a body of empirical evidence that supports such selection. A suboptimal decision in this regard may have negative consequences over the maintenance process. The aim of the study was to compare a textual and a graphical notation with respect to the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of junior software developers while performing analysability and modifiability tasks on two different applications. We have carried out a quasi-experiment with 86 third-year students of the Computer Engineering degree at the University of Alicante. Subjects were randomly classified into two groups, and each group performed 20 maintenance tasks with a textual and a graphical notation. We measured and compared the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of subjects assigned to each treatment. The analysed data show that only the actual analysability coverage (AACov) and the actual modifiability efficiency (AMEffc) are affected by the type of notation used, regardless of the application. In both cases, subjects using the textual notation performed significantly better, although the effect size was low to moderate (AACov