Architectural variability management in multi-layer web applications through feature models
José Manuel García-Alonso, Javier Berrocal Olmeda, Juan M. Murillo · 2012
The development of large web applications has focused on the use of increasingly complex architectures based on the layer architectural pattern and different development frame-works. Many techniques have been proposed to deal with this increasing complexity, mostly in the field of model-based development which abstracts the architects and designers from the architectural and technological complexities. However, these techniques do not take into account the great variability of these architectures, and therefore limit the architectural options available for their users. We here describe a feature model that captures the architectural and technological variability of multilayer applications. Using this feature model as the core of a model-driven development process, we are able to incorporate architectural and technological variability into the model-based development of multilayer applications. This approach keeps complexity under control whilst flexibility on choosing technologies is not penalized