Extending graphical part of the Interaction Flow Modeling Language to Generate Rich Internet Graphical User Interfaces

Abstract

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) combine the simplicity of the hypertext paradigm with the flexibility of desktop interfaces. However, RIAs are complex applications and their development requires designing and implementation which are time-consuming and the available tools are specialized in manual design. In this paper, we present an approach for the model driven generation of Rich Internet Application using the Interaction Flow Modeling Language (IFML). The approach exploits the new language IFML recently adopted by the Object Management Group by extending first the graphical part of the Meta Model to fit the RIAs' needs. We used frameworks and technologies known to model-driven engineering, such as Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) for Meta Models, Query View Transformation (QVT) for model transformations and Acceleo for code generation. The approach allows to quickly and efficiently generating a RIA focusing on the graphical aspect of the application.