Applying Interaction Patterns: Towards a Model-Driven Approach for Rich Internet Applications Development

Recently, a wide array of Web Applications has evolved to Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). This new application paradigm emphasizes the use of client-side technologies in order to provide more responsive and interactive Web Interfaces. The main contribution of this work is an Interaction Model to specify the new semantics to deal with the Model-Driven RIA development. This model is made up of Interaction Patterns that describe, from a conceptual point of view, a generic solution for a common user-system interaction. Following the HCI principles, this model has two views: 1) an Abstract view made up of Abstract Interaction Patterns that describe the interaction without taking into account technological details and, 2) a Concrete view made up of RIA Interaction Patterns which specify the new interaction and interface requirements. Applying this Interaction Model within a Model-Driven software process, a functional RIA can be obtained. Finally, to illustrate this approach, two RIA Interaction Patterns are described.