Towards Modeling of DataWeb Applications - A Requirement\u27s Perspective

The web is more and more used as a platform for fullfledged, increasingly complex information systems, where a huge amount of change-intensive data is managed by underlying database systems. From a software engineering point of view, the development of such so called DataWeb applications requires proper modeling methods in order to ensure architectural soundness and maintainability. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, a framework of requirements, covering the design space of DataWeb modeling methods in terms of three orthogonal dimensions is suggested. Second, on the basis of this framework, eight representative modeling methods for DataWeb applications are surveyed and general shortcomings are identified pointing the way to nextgeneration modeling methods

Identifying and Modelling Complex Workflow Requirements in Web Applications

Workflow plays a major role in nowadays business and therefore its requirement elicitation must be accurate and clear for achieving the solution closest to business’s needs. Due to Web applications popularity, the Web is becoming the standard platform for implementing business workflows. In this context, Web applications and their workflows must be adapted to market demands in such a way that time and effort are minimize. As they get more popular, they must give support to different functional requirements but also they contain tangled and scattered behaviour. In this work we present a model-driven approach for modelling workflows using a Domain Specific Language for Web application requirement called WebSpec. We present an extension to WebSpec based on Pattern Specifications for modelling crosscutting workflow requirements identifying tangled and scattered behaviour and reducing inconsistencies early in the cycle

Automated verification of model transformations based on visual contracts

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10515-012-0102-yModel-Driven Engineering promotes the use of models to conduct the different phases of the software development. In this way, models are transformed between different languages and notations until code is generated for the final application. Hence, the construction of correct Model-to-Model (M2M) transformations becomes a crucial aspect in this approach. Even though many languages and tools have been proposed to build and execute M2M transformations, there is scarce support to specify correctness requirements for such transformations in an implementation-independent way, i.e., irrespective of the actual transformation language used. In this paper we fill this gap by proposing a declarative language for the specification of visual contracts, enabling the verification of transformations defined with any transformation language. The verification is performed by compiling the contracts into QVT to detect disconformities of transformation results with respect to the contracts. As a proof of concept, we also report on a graphical modeling environment for the specification of contracts, and on its use for the verification of transformations in several case studies.This work has been funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under grant P21374-N13, the Spanish Ministry of Science under grants TIN2008-02081 and TIN2011-24139, and the R&D programme of the Madrid Region under project S2009/TIC-1650

Ubiquitous Access to Cultural Tourism Portals

Web-based tourism information systems are more and more required to provide besides traditional tourism information about hotel facilities and infrastructure also cultural content comprising material heritage, performing art, folk tradition, handicraft or simply habits of everyday life. These cultural Web applications are required not to offer on-line brochures only, but rather to provide both, value and service. This paper focuses on two crucial aspects of cultural Web applications comprising quality of content and quality of access. As an example for achieving quality of content in terms of comprehensiveness and cross-national nature, the MEDINA portal is presented, allowing one-stop access to cultural information of fourteen Mediterranean countries. In order to provide quality of access, the notion of ubiquity is introduced, allowing to customize Web applications towards different kinds of contexts, thus supporting the cultural tourist with device-independent, time-aware, location-aware, and personalized services. 1

Identifying and modelling complex workflow requirements in web applications

Workflow plays a major role in nowadays business and therefore its requirement elicitation must be accurate and clear for achieving the solution closest to business's needs. Due to Web applications popularity, the Web is becoming the standard platform for implementing business workflows. In this context, Web applications and their workflows must be adapted to market demands in such a way that time and effort are minimize. As they get more popular, they must give support to different functional requirements but also they contain tangled and scattered behaviour. In this work we present a model-driven approach for modelling workflows using a Domain Specific Language for Web application requirement called WebSpec. We present an extension to WebSpec based on Pattern Specifications for modelling crosscutting workflow requirements identifying tangled and scattered behaviour and reducing inconsistencies early in the cycle.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (vol. 7387).Facultad de InformáticaLaboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Assisting Tourists on the Move- An Evaluation of Mobile Tourist Guides

The penetration of high-end mobile devices equipped with GPS and enhanced with multimedia features together with decreasing mobile data prices have resulted in larger usage of mobile services. One of the application domains particularly well-suited for mobile services is tourism, not least since tourists can be assisted especially during the vacation itself. Currently, there is a proliferation of such mobile tourist guides, proposing an unmanageable number of diverse functionalities. To counteract this situation, the contribution of this paper is threefold. First, an evaluation framework is proposed, comprising both, a classification of mobile tourist services and a categorization of their delivery aspects in terms of several orthogonal dimensions. Second, on basis of this framework, four representative mobile tourist guides are evaluated, thereby demonstrating the frameworks ’ applicability. Third, several lessons learned are discussed, thereby shedding light on the current state of effort in the area of mobile tourist guides. 1

Beaware!—situation awareness, the ontology-driven way.

Abstract Information overload is a severe problem for human operators of large-scale control systems as, for example, encountered in the domain of road traffic management. Operators of such systems are at risk to lack situation awareness, because existing systems focus on the mere presentation of the available information on graphical user interfaces-thus endangering the timely and correct identification, resolution, and prevention of critical situations. In recent years, ontologybased approaches to situation awareness featuring a semantically richer knowledge model have emerged. However, current approaches are either highly domain-specific or have, in case they are domain-independent, shortcomings regarding their reusability. In this paper, we present our experience gained from the development of BeAware!, a framework for ontology-driven information systems aiming at increasing an operator's situation awareness. In contrast to existing domain-independent approaches, BeAware!'s ontology introduces the concept of spatio-temporal primitive relations between observed real-world objects thereby improving the reusability of the framework. To show its applicability, a prototype of BeAware! has been implemented in the domain of road traffic management. An overview of this prototype and lessons learned for the development of ontology-driven information systems complete our contribution

Reusing Model Transformations across Heterogeneous Metamodels

Model transformations are key enablers for multi-paradigm modeling. However, currently there is little support for reusing transformations in different contexts since they are tightly coupled to the metamodels they are defined upon, and hence reusing them for other metamodels becomes challenging. Inspired from generic programming, we proposed generic model-to-model transformations, which are defined over so-called metamodel concepts, which are later bound to specific metamodels. Nevertheless, the current binding mechanism lacks automated resolution support for recurring structural heterogeneities between metamodels. Therefore, based on a systematic classification of heterogeneities, we propose a flexible binding mechanism being able to automatically resolve recurring structural heterogeneities between metamodels. For this, the binding model is analyzed and required adaptors are automatically added to the transformation