Guide to Web Application and Platform Architectures

by Jablonski, Stefan; Petrov, Ilia; Meiler, Christian; Mayer, Udo

• ISBN13: 9783540009474
• ISBN10: 3540009477
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-16
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc

Summary

New concepts and technologies are being introduced continuously for application development in the World-Wide Web. Selecting the right implementation strategies and tools when building a Web application has become a tedious task, requiring in-depth knowledge and significant experience from both software developers and software managers. The mission of this book is to guide the reader through the opaque jungle of Web technologies. Based on their long industrial and academic experience, Stefan Jablonski and his coauthors provide a framework architecture for Web applications which helps choose the best strategy for a given project. The authors classify common technologies and standards like .NET, CORBA, J2EE, DCOM, WSDL and many more with respect to platform, architectural layer, and application package, and guide the reader through a three-phase development process consisting of preparation, design, and technology selection steps. The whole approach is exemplified using a real-world case: the architectural design of an order-entry management system.

Author Biography

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan JablonskiSince 1994 Stefan Jablonski is Full Professor in Computer Science (Database Systems) at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. Before that, he was affiliated with Digital Equipment Corporation from 1991 to 1994 where he was responsible for advanced development in the areas integration technologies and especially workflow management.Since 1994 Stefan Jablonski has given lectures in database management, web based application development, integration technologies and workflow. He has published more than 100 papers, mainly in the area of business process engineering and workflow management. He is author of five books in the area of database and workflow management.  Ilia PetrovIlia Petrov is a researcher at the department of database systems at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany, where he is actively involved in research in the field of web integration technologies and web-services, as well as in the filed of metadata management and repositories. He holds a master's degree in Computer Science and a master's degree in Industrial Engineering.  Christian MeilerSince 2002 Christian Meiler is a member of the research staff at the chair of database system at the department of computer science at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany).He holds a master-¦s degree in computer science (Dipl.-Informatiker). His research interests are in the field of integration, process/organizational modelling and content management.  Udo MayerUdo Mayer has been working with web technologies since he started to administrate Video-Web-Broadcasts of Lectures in 1997. Since 2002 he is a member of the research group for integration at the Computer Science Department 6 at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen / Nuremberg. He holds a Master Degree in Computer Science (Dipl.-Informatiker) and is currently a PhD-Student.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Part I: Introducing the Web Application Design Methodology	1	(76)
Introduction	3	(4)
Who Should Read the Book?	4	(1)
Structure of the Book	4	(3)
Framework Architecture	7	(32)
Motivation	7	(2)
Framework Architecture for Web Applications	9	(7)
From Client/Server to WWW	16	(12)
Web Platform Architecture (WPA)	28	(3)
Web Application Architecture (WAA)	31	(5)
Requirements for a Framework Architecture	36	(1)
Guide to the Rest of the Book	37	(2)
Developing WAA and WPA	39	(24)
Introduction	39	(2)
Preparation Phase	41	(6)
Design Phase: WAA	47	(2)
Design Phase: WPA	49	(4)
Design Phase: Assign Capabilities	53	(1)
Design Phase: Iterate and Improve	54	(2)
Alternative Notations	56	(5)
Conclusions	61	(2)
Classification of Internet Standards and Technologies	63	(14)
Classification	63	(9)
Developing WAA and WPA -- Continued	72	(5)
Part II: Internet Standards and Technologies	77	(96)
Basic Programming Concepts for Web Applications	77	(22)
Overview	77	(1)
Client vs. Server Side Approaches	78	(1)
The Session Problem	78	(2)
Generating, Extending, and Enriching HTML	80	(3)
Client Side Approaches	83	(1)
Server Side Approaches	84	(6)
Database Connectivity	90	(5)
Cookbook of Recommendations	95	(4)
Component-Oriented Software Development	99	(22)
Code Reuse	99	(2)
Components	101	(1)
The Implementation of Components	102	(2)
Component Oriented Software in Practice -- Middleware	104	(1)
The Classical Approach: RPC	105	(1)
Remote Method Invocation (RMI)	105	(1)
Object Brokers	106	(1)
CORBA	106	(3)
Sun's Enterprise Java Beans (J2EE)	109	(5)
The Microsoft .NET Framework	114	(2)
CORBA Component Model	116	(1)
When to Use What -- the Dilemma	117	(2)
Conclusion	119	(2)
Web Services and Web Applications	121	(28)
Introduction and Motivation	121	(4)
WSDL -- Web Services Description Language	125	(7)
SOAP -- Simple Object Access Protocol	132	(4)
UDDI -- Universal Description, Discovery and Integration	136	(6)
Advanced Concepts	142	(1)
Web Service Composition and Web Service Flow Languages	142	(5)
Assessment	147	(2)
Web Site Engineering and Web Content Management	149	(24)
History of Web Site Engineering -- from Engineering in the Small to Engineering in the Large	149	(1)
Separation Aspects	150	(10)
Web Content Management Systems	160	(13)
Part III: Complementary Technologies for Web Application Development	173	(58)
Why Technologies and Standards Are Not Enough	171	(6)
Characteristics of Web Applications in Enterprise Scenarios	171	(1)
Issues Arising from these Characteristics	172	(2)
Solution Concepts	174	(2)
Implementing the Concepts: Repository Technology	176	(1)
Registries	177	(14)
Introduction	177	(3)
Characteristics of a Registry	180	(6)
Application Scenarios	186	(5)
Organizations and Organizational Structures	191	(12)
Web Applications and Organizational Structures	191	(2)
Storing Organizational Structures	193	(1)
Dealing with Identity Management	194	(2)
Dealing with Personalization	196	(2)
Solutions: Microsoft Passport and Liberty Alliance	198	(2)
Integration with Web Framework Architecture	200	(2)
Conclusion	202	(1)
Process Technology	203	(8)
Motivation and Classification	203	(1)
The Perspectives of Process and Workflow Models	204	(4)
Using Processes in the Web Application Framework	208	(3)
Repositories	211	(10)
Introduction	211	(2)
Scenarios	213	(2)
Metadata	215	(2)
Architecture of Repository Systems	217	(3)
Repository Systems as Foundation for Registries and Organization Modeling	220	(1)
Putting It All Together	221	(10)
The Scenario: the Order Entry System	221	(1)
The WAA	222	(2)
The WPA	224	(5)
The Role of the Registry and Processes	229	(1)
Conclusion	230	(1)
A Appendix A	231	(6)
A.1 Introduction to UML	231	(1)
A.2 UML Use Case Diagrams	231	(1)
A.3 UML Sequence Diagrams	232	(1)
A.4 UML Class Diagrams and UML Package Diagrams	233	(4)
Literature	237	(6)
Index	243