An architecture for heterogeneous groupware applications
Ivan Marsic · 2001
The proliferation of wireless networks and small portable computing devices raises the need for applications that are adaptable to heterogeneous computing and communication environments and the contexts in which they are used. However, most current groupware systems as well as other software applications are not well prepared to handle the heterogeneity. The Manifold framework presented here provides a software architecture for synchronous groupware applications to deal with heterogeneity. The framework's main characteristics are multi-tier architecture and single data structure (tree). These respectively allow for flexible composition of modules and simpler implementation of group-related functions. The design is tightly integrated with eXtensible Markup Language (XML) to allow dynamic adaptation to heterogeneity. The resulting design is simple yet very powerful and scalable. Manifold is implemented and tested by developing several complex groupware applications. Keywords Software fr...