Composite Application Platform Widget Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Developing customized online banking and shopping applications is resource-intensive and costly, requiring significant coding efforts for appearance, interaction, and behavior customization.
Innovation Solution
A platform that allows users to create composite applications by selecting widgets from a catalog and defining their behavior using metadata, with runtime assembly and layout generation, enabling the creation of composite applications without requiring users to write code for individual applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If customized applications are developed using traditional coding methods, then application functionality and customization are achieved, but development time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The application is divided into independent, reusable widgets that can be selected and assembled from a catalog. Each widget represents a discrete functional unit that can be configured independently, eliminating the need to code entire applications from scratch and significantly reducing development time while maintaining full customization capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Widgets are pre-built and stored in a catalog before application assembly. The metadata schemas, interaction patterns, and visual presentations are prepared in advance, allowing users to simply select and configure pre-developed components rather than developing everything anew, thus resolving the contradiction between customization and development time.
2Ease of operation
If code is written for each individual application and its appearance/interaction/behavior, then full control over application details is achieved, but resource efficiency decreases and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single widget catalog serves multiple application assembly needs. The same set of reusable widgets can be assembled into different composite applications by simply changing the selection and configuration of widgets, not by writing new code. This universal component library improves resource efficiency while maintaining ease of operation for creating diverse applications.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of writing code for each application, developers copy and reuse existing widget definitions from the catalog. The metadata and configuration files are replicated and adapted for different applications, eliminating redundant coding work and improving resource efficiency while keeping the assembly process simple and intuitive.
3Ease of manufacture
If a platform enables no-code widget assembly, then development burden is reduced, but control over individual application behavior may be limited
Solution Approach 1:
Metadata acts as an intermediary between the user-friendly widget selection interface and the underlying application behavior. Users configure widgets through simple metadata properties without writing code, while the metadata schema ensures that all necessary behavioral controls are available. This intermediary layer maintains ease of manufacture while preserving full adaptability through structured configuration options.
Solution Approach 2:
Widget behavior is customized by changing parameters in metadata configuration files rather than modifying code. The metadata schema defines all available behavioral parameters, allowing users to achieve full customization by simply adjusting configuration values. This approach maintains ease of application creation while preserving complete adaptability through parameter-based control.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to composite applications that can be created and implemented using components of a platform disclosed herein. Widgets associated with one or more products available in a mashup container can be implemented based on a selection by a user of the widgets from a widget catalog. A behavior of, and an interaction between, the widgets can be defined using metadata data associated with the widgets without requiring assistance from the user. A skin can be applied to the composite application that controls a visual presentation of the application on a display.