A Framework for Extending Object-oriented Applications with Hypermedia Functionality Alejandra Garrido and Gustavo

A core set of navigational aspects may be found by extracting the key features of hypermedia applications. Incorporated to an information system (IS), they may increase its utility and usability (1). This type of extension of an IS is called ‘The Hypertext Functionality Approach’ (2), and it may be done in different ways. In this paper we present a novel approach to add navigational features into object-oriented (OO) applications: by using the application model as the basis for the hypermedia model and placing the navigational features in a different layer, allowing to augment the application functionality without polluting the base model. The navigational features were included as components of an OO framework, and were defined by abstracting the major concepts of current hypermedia design models. The major goal of this approach is the seamless integration of the application’s behaviour with main characteristics of hypermedia. This results in a hybrid application that may be considered either as an OO application enhanced with hypermedia functionality (HF) or, conversely, as a hypermedia application defined with the semantics of an OO model and enhanced with other than navigational computations. 1 This paper will appear in the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia Volume 2, 1996, Taylor Graham Publishing.