Page 194 - DCAP312_WEB_TECHNOLOGIES_II

Web Technologies-II

Notes Transforming of the OO Model (Which has been done by parser engine) to an ER model is a
challenging process and will be done by database factory. In this phase, inputs and outputs are
the OO structures and relational structures, respectively.

9.7.2 Methodology in Action
Once the system is built, the system information will be stored in the system database. The first
step to use the system is to retrieve the form information and rebuild it for the user. The next
step is to get the data from the user and store the information in the database.

Form Displaying/Rendering Process
This process includes presenting the form to the user independent from the platform depending
on the environment (See Figure 9.11).

Figure 9.11: Forms Displaying/Rendering Process

One of the important outputs of this process is an XForm document that has the exact declaration
of the original use cases in the design phase. This declaration is abstract and platform independent.
As we saw in design phase, parser engine is responsible for converting declarative model of
designed form to OO model. The other responsibility of parser engine is to generate the actual
user interface from the stored information and according to end user's platform.
The parser receives form's declarative definition in XForms format and then regenerates the user
interface for the target platform from the logic and the user interface design information. For
example for regular web browsers it generates HTML codes while for PDAs it may generate
WML codes or a windows form for PC desktop applications. To perform this task, parser uses
the following parts of the system or information:
XSL files and XSLT files
These files have the main role in generating the interface and the look of the form for different
platforms.

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