Mockup-driven fast-prototyping methodology for Web application development

Abstract

Web application development can be very complicated without an appropriate framework, architecture and application model. A good implementation model can help application developers communicate with clients, consolidate the design before starting the development, speed up the development, and make the code highly reusable. This paper proposes a mockup-driven fast prototyping methodology (MODFM) for the development of Web applications. It is built on the most recent Web technologies: EJB, JSP, Servlet, XML, Struts, and Web application server. A two-tier Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture is proposed as the underlying backbone and a supporting environment is tailored specifically in order to enable development. Two basic supporting tools are provided: the dynamic menu generator and the generic code generator, which produce code for front-end, back-end and database schemas. MODFM helps to generate fully functional mockup systems for the client to review at an early analysis stage, and continues to provide guidance throughout follow-on development phases. Real-life experiences on the use of this methodology in industry are presented as examples. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.