A trading and model-based methodology for adapting dynamic user interfaces

La constante evolución de las tecnologías orientadas al desarrollo de software implica una adaptación de las aplicaciones existentes, tanto a las nuevas técnicas emergentes como a la nuevas tendencias que se imponen frente al resto. En este sentido, las interfaces de usuario de las aplicaciones se ven afectadas por esta necesidad de evolución, puesto que son el principal enlace entre el software y los usuarios. En ocasiones, son la parte del software que más se ve afectada por las actualizaciones para adaptarse a las nuevas necesidades, debido a que son el elemento "visible" de las aplicaciones. Esta necesidad de evolución cobra aún mayor relevancia en las interfaces de usuario web, ya que los recursos externos a los que acceden, pueden dejar de funcionar correctamente o cambiar su localización. También es posible que surjan nuevos recursos que mejoren la funcionalidad de los existentes, o que el contexto determine una necesidad de incorporar o deshabilitar algún elemento en la interfaz de usuario.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), proyecto TIN2010-15588. Proyecto de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía, P10-TIC6114

Mediación semántica A* basada en MDE para la generación de arquitecturas en tiempo de ejecución

Existen aplicaciones software que necesitan ser adaptadas en tiempo de ejecución debido a que los componentes que conforma su arquitectura no representan la configuración óptima. En estos casos, las arquitecturas deben ser reconfiguradas, por ejemplo, añadiendo y eliminando componentes, o modificando las relaciones entre ellos. Este artı́culo presenta una propuesta para la generación de arquitecturas en tiempo de ejecución. Está enfocado en la descripción del proceso que ocurre desde que existe una definición de arquitectura que hay que resolver, hasta que se genera la mejor configuración que da solución a dicha arquitectura. Para construir dicha configuración, se utilizan técnicas de modelado, mecanismos de trading y un algoritmo de búsqueda A*. Dicho algoritmo hace uso de una heurı́stica basada en la información sintáctica y semántica de los componentes. Como dominio de aplicación, se muestra un caso estudio para la generación de interfaces de usuario

A Collaborative testbed Web Tool for Learning Model Transformation in Software Engineering Education

Software Engineering provides mechanisms to design, develop, manage and maintain social and collaborative software systems. At present, the Software Engineering Curricula includes teaching Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) as a new paradigm that enables higher productivity, attempting to maximize compatibility between systems. Modern learning methods MDE require the use of practical approaches to analyze new model-transformation techniques. Model transformations are carried out by using very high-level languages, like the ATL language. This model transformation language is built as a plugin for the Eclipse framework, and users who want to collaborate and develop software with it, have some difficulties executing ATL transformations outside this platform. To handle models at runtime, it is interesting to perform the transformations in a standalone way. In this context, we have developed a testbed web tool which aims to be useful for learning model transformation techniques. The tool offers a Graphical User Interface to test and verify the involved model transformations.The proposal is useful as a collaborative scenario for learning MDE and model transformation issues and techniques in Software Engineering education

Composing Model Transformations at Runtime: an approach for adapting Component-based User Interfaces

Nowadays, large part of the efforts in software development are focused on achieving systems with an as high as possible level of adaptation. With the traditional technique of model-driven development this can be largely accomplished. The inconvenience of these techniques however, is that the models are usually manipulated at design-time by means of fixed transformation. Furthermore, the transformations that manipulate these models cannot change dynamically according to the current execution context. This paper presents a transformation pattern aimed to adapt architectural models at runtime, this means that these models may change dynamically at runtime. The transformations that produce this model adaptation are not fixed, but dynamically composed by selecting the most appropriate set of rules from those available in a repository. As an example scenario for the application of these transformations, we chose architectural models representing component-based UIs

Emulating Home Automation Installations through Component-based Web Technology

The Internet of Things mechanisms enable the management of home environments since they can be developed as IoT based information systems. From standard smart homes to automated buildings, including other kind of domotics and inmotics solutions, every system must be tested and validated before its installation. The current tools offered by IoT and home automation vendors lack in emulation features close to the real behavior of the devices. In many cases, delaying the verification actions until the hardware is acquired and installed may cause some drawbacks, for example, from the economic point of view. This paper presents a solution for emulating home automation environments which are based on the KNX standard and can be represented by architectures of devices. The emulation consist of developing virtual implementations of real devices which operate and communicate through web technology. The technology implementing these virtual devices allows us to develop components which can provide different type of data related to the installation (audio, video, text, animations, images, etc.). The architectures can be managed using web services and their behavior can be tested through web user interfaces showing the mentioned data. Furthermore, virtual and physical devices are connected to validate the interoperability between the real installation and the emulation

A Component-based User Interface Approach for Smart TV

The fast growth and diversity of technological devices currently being produced is benefiting areas such as “ambient intelligence”. This area attempts to integrate information technology in any personal environment. However, to construct service/application software that adapts to different environments, there must be techniques available that favor this type of development. Component based software Engineering (CBSE) is a discipline of the software engineering that integrates (previously constructed) components to build new software systems. This paper presents a CBSE approach to build Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) at run-time. Both a component-based perspective of the user interface and a set of component relationships are presented in the paper. As a case study, this paper also describes an application built for an emerging computation environment, Smart TV. A running example is also presented through the paper putting some Web-based solutions to build User Interfaces together (e.g., Wookie, W3C Widgets, Node.js)

Dynamic Mashup Interfaces for Information Systems using Widgets-as-a-Service

Web Information Systems intend to adapt to the users’ preferences as new data available on the network. In this regard, the composition and reuse of services which are involved in a web application is an interesting research topic, since these techniques pursue the dynamic construction of applications that can be adapted at design or run time. As for the visualization of these applications, web user interfaces play a key role, serving as a connection point between users and the rest of the system. This article proposes an architecture for specification, storage, management and visualization of components, built from widgets complying with the W3C recommendation, for making web user interfaces. We follow a service-based approach for the interface deployment and communication management, introducing the concept of Widgets-as-a-Service (WaaS). To illustrate this proposal, an example of widget-based Web Information System is shown

Una Aproximación MDA para la Construcción de Componentes COTSgets en Aplicaciones Web

Actualmente, existe una tendencia al desarrollo de aplicaciones web. Muchas de estas aplicaciones se construyen en base a componentes reutilizables, lo que influye considerablemente en el tiempo de desarrollo. En este contexto se enmarca nuestra propuesta. El artı́culo presenta una solución basada en la ingenierı́a dirigida por modelos (MDE) para agilizar y facilitar a los desarrolladores la implementación de un tipo de componentes web (llamados COTSgets). Nuestra propuesta consiste en la generación automática de la implementación de estos componentes, en lo que a su estructura y funcionalidad básica se refiere, a partir de un modelo que describe su especificación y mediante la utilización de una transformación modelo-a-texto (M2T). Para dicha implementación se ha seleccionado la incipiente tecnologı́a Polymer

A Cloud Service for COTS component-based Architectures

The management of software architectures is an important subject, especially in component-based web user interfaces to enhance their accessibility, dynamism and management at run-time. The Cloud offers some favorable mechanisms for this kind of systems, since it allows us to manage the software remotely, guarantees high availability of the resources and enables us to perform mass storage. This article presents an infrastructure solution, based on the use of web services and cloud computing, for managing COTS-based architectures

Modeling Big Data based Systems through Ontological Trading

One of the great challenges the information society faces is dealing with the huge amount of information generated and handled daily on the Internet. Today, progress in Big Data proposals attempt to solve this problem, but there are certain limitations to information search and retrieval due basically to the large volumes handled, the heterogeneity of the information and its dispersion among a multitude of sources. In this article, a formal framework is defined to facilitate the design and development of an Environmental Management Information System which works with an heterogeneous and large amount of data. Nevertheless, this framework can be applied to other information systems that work with Big Data, since it does not depend on the type of data and can be utilized in other domains. The framework is based on an Ontological Web-Trading Model (OntoTrader) which follows Model-Driven Engineering and Ontology-Driven Engineering guidelines to separate the system architecture from its implementation. The proposal is accompanied by a case study, SOLERES-KRS, an Environmental Knowledge Representation System designed and developed using Software Agents and Multi-Agent Systems