When building enterprise applications that need to be accessed through a variety of client devices, developers usually strive to implement most of the business logic device-independently while using a web browser to display the user interface. However, when those web-based front-ends shall be rendered on different devices, their differing I/O capabilities may require device-specific interaction patterns that still need to be specified and implemented efficiently. We present an approach for specifying the dialog flows in multi-channel web interfaces with very low redundancy and introduce a framework that controls web interfaces’ device-specific dialog flows according to those specifications, while keeping the enterprise application logic completely device-independent.

In Web-based applications, most user interactions take the form of navigating between Web pages. The structure of the navigation model thus has a strong impact on a Web application's usability. However, specifying a user-friendly navigation model for complex applications can be time-consuming, especially when designing for multiple presentation channels. We therefore present the formal semantics of the dialog flow notation (DFN) that provides constructs for the design of modular navigation models, and especially focus on constructs that reduce the specification redundancy within and between channels, thus reducing the design effort for Web-based user interfaces

We present a dialog-driven process model for the development of web-based applications that uses a graphical notation to model and iteratively refine the application’s dialog flow, and communicate with non-technical stakeholders in the development process. This way, the user interface can drive the design and implementation of the application logic and data model instead of being dictated by it. After an introduction of the underlying notation and dialog control framework, we present how these tools can support the phases of the development process and discuss experiences gained from the implementation of a web application that was built using this approach.

In web-based applications, the dialog control logic is often hidden in or entwined with the presentation and/or application logic, even if the latter tiers are well-separated. This makes it difficult to control complex dialog structures like nested dialogs, and to reconcile the device-independent business logic with the device-specific interaction patterns required by different clients’ I/O capabilities. To avoid continuous re-implementation of the dialog control logic, we present a Dialog Control Framework that is separate from the presentation and business tiers, and manages arbitrarily nested dialog flows on different presentation channels. The framework relies on dialog specifications developed using the Dialog Flow Notation, which are translated into an object-oriented dialog flow model for efficient run-time lookups. This way, the framework automates the dialog control aspect of web-based application development and leaves only the tasks of implementing the business logic, designing the hypertext pages, and specifying the dialog flow to the developer.

When considering the addition of a mobile presentation channel to an existing web-based application, a key question that has to be answered even before development begins is how the mobile channel's characteristics will impact the user experience and the cost of using the application. If either of these factors is outside acceptable limits, economical considerations may forbid adding the channels, even if it would be feasible from a purely technical perspective. Both of these factors depend considerably on two metrics: The time required to transmit data over the mobile network, and the volume transmitted. The PETTICOAT method presented in this paper uses the dialog flow model and web server log files of an existing application to identify typical interaction sequences and to compile volume statistics, which are then run through a tool that simulates the volume and time that would be incurred by executing the interaction sequences on a mobile channel. From the simulated volume and time data, we can then calculate the cost of accessing the application on a mobile channel, and derive suitable approaches for optimizing cost and response times.

When considering the addition of a mobile presentation channel to an existing web-based application, a key question that has to be answered even before development begins is how the mobile channel’s characteristics will impact the user experience and the cost of using the application. If either of these factors is outside acceptable limits, economical considerations may forbid adding the channels, even if it would be feasible from a purely technical perspective. Both of these factors depend considerably on two metrics: The time required to transmit data over the mobile network, and the volume transmitted. The PETTICOAT method presented in this paper uses the dialog flow model and web server log files of an existing application to identify typical interaction sequences and to compile volume statistics, which are then run through a tool that simulates the volume and time that would be incurred by executing the interaction sequences on a mobile channel. From the simulated volume and time data, we can then calculate the cost of accessing the application on a mobile channel.

This article presents a configuration management concept for software projects using Lyee methodology. To illustrate this concept, an introduction in configuration management is given. Then, the structure of Lyee programs is defined by sets and their dependencies. From this structure, the actual configuration management concept is deduced and discussed by rendering the structure for an existing configuration management testbed and describing the involved key players as well as the necessary procedures.

The development of electronic commerce systems is subject to different conditions than that of conventional software systems. This includes the introduction of new activities to the development process and the removal of others. An adapted process must cope with important idiosyncrasies of EC system development: EC systems typically have a high degree of interaction, which makes factors like ergonomics, didactics and psychology especially important in the development of user interfaces. Typically, they also have a high degree of integration with existing software systems such as legacy or groupware systems. Integration techniques have to be selected systematically in order not to endanger the whole software development process. This article describes the development of an EC system and it generalizes salient features of the software process used. The result is a process model that can be used for other highly integrative EC system development projects. The processes described are determined by short process lifecycles, by an orientation towards integration of legacy systems and by a strict role-based cooperation approach.

Today’s global markets demand global processes. Increasingly, these processes are not only distributed, but also contain mobile aspects. We discuss two challenges brought about by these mobile business processes: Firstly, the need to specify the distribution of processes across several sites, and secondly, the need to specify the dialog flows of the applications implementing those processes on mobile devices. To remedy the first challenge, we give an overview of the Process Landscaping method with its support for refining processes across multiple abstraction layers and associating their activities and objects with distinguished locations. Next, we present a Dialog Flow Notation and Dialog Control Framework for the specification and management of complex hypertext-based dialog flows. These tools allow developers to build user interfaces for mobile client devices with different input/output capabilities, which all access the same application logic on a central server.

Throughout numerous analyses and proposals of the capabilities of the Lyee methodology for software development there has been done a lot of work concerning how Lyee works, what its benefits are, and what its perspectives will be. Most of the time this has been done in relation to automated software generation. But concerning all the proposed benefits and the announced major breakthrough Lyee would be for software development, Lyee has also positioned itself in direct concurrence to traditional, already established software development models. The intention of this article is to put the Lyee technology into perspective to established software technologies, which is done at the example of a comparison of the Lyee and the Catalysis approach for software development.