An algorithm and architecture for server-side processing of model-bound compositional web forms
Bernhard Schussek · 2013
Web forms that support rich interaction patterns are time-consuming to develop. This is mainly because of their inherent complexity and the lack of reusability and compositionality in many of today’s form libraries. This thesis proposes an algorithm for server-side form processing which addresses four challenges: Reusability of form components, the ability to compose components for modeling higher-level components, the reduction of crosscutting effects between the different layers of a Model-View-Controller architecture and the integration of the domain model into the form layer. Methodologically, this work uses an exemplary form to highlight the beforementioned challenges and then presents a three-step approach for solving them. The first of these steps is described in detail. It introduces an object-oriented framework consisting of form objects, data transformers, data mappers and event listeners. With these tools, one can construct reusable form components and exploit synergy effects between applications that employ similar interaction patterns. Together with a full implementation in the web framework Symfony2, the proposed algorithm is a significant step towards rapid development of rich web forms.