A tool for building an automatic interface in any application has been proposed by a doctoral candidate from Warsaw.
In his publication (https://www.softxjournal.com/article/s2352-7110(22)00101-7/fulltext) in the journal SoftwareX, Damian Frąszczak from the Military University of Technology, presented the example of a Covid-19 tracker app built on the basis of the proprietary NEFBDAA tool (.NET Environment for Building Dynamic Angular Applications).
Most internet applications have a graphic interface - a simple and intuitive mechanism of data management or human interaction with a developed program.
But the construction of such an interface is time consuming and expensive. Programmers create software called the code, a set of instructions for a computer. The content of the implemented project is the code. The source code building the interface is often half of the result of their creative work.
Frąszczak said: “Solutions based on the command line are usually intended for specialized groups of users. The construction of the user interface is time consuming and expensive. Often, the interface is half of the source code of the project, and therefore also accounts for half of its maintenance - consisting in repairing detected errors or safety threats.”
Determining how the application should work in terms of data management and integration with the user interface often requires the development of a standard code. It must be modified each time the domain model changes.
Frąszczak continued: “The domain model can be treated as a detail of processed and displayed data. Imagine an application presenting cars, each car consists of the same features. The car with selected features is part of the domain model, because apart from the car itself, we can also be interested in other things, e.g. equipment, accessories, etc. This is the information that we process and display to the user.”
He added that due to the rapid development of internet technologies, the construction of applications becomes a serious challenge. One of the solutions to these problems is the construction of graphic interfaces automatically, based on the domain model.
Developing interfaces based on models reduces the time and cost of developing the initial version of the project, as well as its further maintenance. Changes in the user interface based on the indicated model are carried out automatically. According to Frąszczak, the saved time and money can be spent on the implementation of the business requirements of the project.
He added that the tool can be used for any application that requires a user interface. Similar solutions are actively used in both the private and science sectors.
NEFBDAA has a proprietary model definition mechanism that allows to configure visual aspects, and a proprietary data integration protocol.
PAP - Science in Poland, Karolina Duszczyk
kol/ zan/ kap/
tr. RL
