JP2003076544A - Method and device for developing web application - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a device for developing a web application that enable efficient development of a plurality of web applications with the similar processing contents. SOLUTION: A web application skeleton source 206 is preliminarily created by development languages such as HTML (hyper text markup language) and APS (active server pages) and a wizard program 205 is created by using a group of template components. When a user specifies characteristics of a web application to be developed from a picture by the wizard program 205 in a web application development server 202, a new web application 207 is generated by analyzing the web application skeleton source 206 based on the specified characteristics by a template compiler 203.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a web application development method and device, for example, a web application development method and device installed on a web server and used by a client browser via the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, systems based on web applications using internet technology have become widespread. Web applications are usually in-house system development departments or specialized development companies (hereinafter "development departments").
Collectively called) is being developed.

Generally, in a Web application, its GUI (Graphical User Interface) is used.
ce) 's originality is emphasized. Therefore, even applications in similar systems are often developed individually in the development department. Therefore, there is a problem that development of each application takes a considerable amount of time and the development cost rises.

Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a template common to a plurality of applications is prepared in advance, and development is performed while modifying the template to realize the development in a short time and at low cost. However, even with this method, the template modifier is HTML (Hyper Text Markup Languag
It was necessary to be familiar with web application development languages such as e) and ASP (Active Server Pages). In addition, when actually modifying a template, reliance on manual modification by an editor method, or when performing one modification, while searching for a plurality of parts related to the modification dispersed in the template, I needed to make corrections. Therefore, it was not easy to manage and confirm the correction points.

The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems individually or
It is intended to solve the problems collectively, and an object thereof is to provide a web application development method and apparatus that enable efficient development of a plurality of web applications having similar processing contents.

As one means for achieving the above-mentioned object, the application development method of the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, a method of developing a web application installed on a web server and used by a browser of a client via the Internet, wherein a characteristic of a web application to be developed is designated and the designated characteristic is designated. The web application is generated by analyzing a predetermined template program based on the above.

[0006] Preferably, the characteristics are designated for each of a plurality of similar web applications, and the plurality of web applications are generated by analyzing a common template program based on the respective designated characteristics. Characterize.

[0007] Preferably, the feature specification of the web application is performed by interactive screen input.

Alternatively, a method of developing a web application installed on a web server and used from a client browser via the Internet,
A template program for a web application is created, a wizard program is created using a predetermined group of parts, the characteristics of the web application to be developed are specified from the screen of the wizard program, and the template is created based on the specified characteristics. A web application to be developed is generated by analyzing a program.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.

In this embodiment, a case will be described as an example where a web application relating to product sales, specifically, a product ordering system using the web is developed. As the process or screen flow in the web application of the present embodiment, that is, the module, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, (a) for consumers, (b) for small businesses,
(C) There are three types for large-scale businesses, and these are similar to each other. According to the figure, each module is composed of first to fourth phases, where a1 is the first phase and b1, b2, b3 are the second faces.
Is executed in combination with either c1 or c2 as the third phase and any combination of d1 and d2 as the fourth phase.

As described in the conventional example, as a method of developing each of these modules, first, there is a method of developing each as a different web application.
As another method, as shown in (d) of FIG. 1, there is a method of preparing one template including each module in advance and developing each module based on this template.

The present embodiment is characterized in that the latter template method is adopted to realize early and easy application development.

System Configuration FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the system configuration in this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, the web application development server 202 uses a template component group 204, a wizard program 205, and a web application skeleton source 206 prepared in advance as a template to create a web application (new web application 207). To generate.

The wizard program 205 has a function of prompting the user to input a user instruction by performing screen guidance in an interactive form, and is generated based on the template parts group 204. The web application skeleton source 206 is created by a template creator who has knowledge of web application development languages (HTML, ASP, etc.).

Variables for the web application skeleton source 206 are set based on the user's instruction input through the screen by the wizard program 205, and the web application skeleton source 206 is set by the template compiler 203.
The new web application 207 is created by being compiled by.

This new web application 207 is registered in the web server 201, and the Internet 208
Is used from the browsers of a plurality of clients 209 via.

Web Application Development Outline FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of the web application development in this embodiment. In the figure, items similar to those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The web application development in this embodiment is roughly divided into two processes: (a) template creation and (b) new web application creation. Hereinafter, each process will be described.

First, the template creation process (a) is performed by a template creator who has knowledge of web application development languages (HTML, ASP, etc.). That is, the template creator creates the web application skeleton source 206, which is the backbone of the application to be created. Step S301
In the above, by combining the template parts group 204 using a development tool such as Visual Basic, the wizard program 20 for screen input support
Create 5.

The template function in this embodiment is realized by the wizard program 205 and the web application skeleton source 206.

The template creation process (a) in this embodiment is performed by the web application development server 20.
However, it is also possible to do this on another independent device, that is, the created wizard program 205 and the web application skeleton source 206, the template compiler 2 described later.
It should be possible to refer from 03.

Next, the new web application generation process (b) will be described. First, in step S302, the web application creator inputs an instruction regarding a desired application using the wizard program 205 created in step S301 on the web application development server 202. Then, in step S303, the template compiler 20
3 parses (compiles) the web application skeleton source 206 based on the instruction, thereby generating a new web application 207.

As described above, in the new web application generation process (b), the new web application 207 is generated using the template (the wizard program 205 and the web application skeleton source 206). By repeating this new web application generation process (b) by changing the instruction content in step S302, it is possible to easily generate a plurality of similar web applications.

It should be noted here that, unlike the template creator, the web application creator does not require any particular knowledge of the web application development language.

Details of Web Application Development Hereinafter, the method of developing a web application according to this embodiment will be described more specifically.

First, the template creating process will be described in detail.

As described above, the web applications created in this embodiment are similar to each other as shown in FIG. 1, namely (a) for consumers, (b) for small businesses, and (c) for large businesses. Although it consists of three modules, the modules for (b) small-scale vendors and (c) large-scale vendors are integrated to simplify the explanation, and they are similar to each other (a).
A case where two modules, a consumer module and a (b) trader module, are developed will be described below as an example.

FIG. 4 is created in this embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen by the web application (product order system) for ordering products. As described above, the product ordering system according to the present embodiment includes (a) consumer modules and (b) merchant modules that are similar to each other, and each module is as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. It has screens for consumers and businesses. Both are "product name", "price", "number of orders"
And the "amount" column, and the screen (b) for traders further has a "stock column" and a "desired delivery date column".

An example of creating a screen for each module shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B will be described below.

First, the template creator uses the general web application development language such as HTML or ASP and the original template directives prepared in advance in this embodiment to create the web application skeleton source 206. create.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the template directive in this embodiment. The web application skeleton source 206 is created in a format in which the template directive shown in FIG. 5 is embedded in the source statement in the web application development language such as HTML or ASP.

FIG. 6 shows the web application skeleton source 20 for the two modules shown in FIG. 4 described above.
6 shows an example of description. In each line of xx10 to xx80 shown in the figure, the line enclosed by tags <TD> and </ TD> indicates the description in general ASP language, and the line with quotation mark "'" at the left end is The description by the template directive inserted in this embodiment is shown.

In FIG. 6, line xx10 and line xx80 are the ASPs in the “price” column and the “number of orders” column shown in FIG. 4, respectively.
It is described in the language. Lines xx20 to xx40 are the descriptions regarding the "inventory" column shown in FIG. 4, and the variable "ZaikoHyouji_req" is specified by the template directive in line xx20.
It defines whether to display the "stock" column according to the value of "uired". Similarly, lines xx50 to xx70 are the descriptions regarding the "desired delivery date" column shown in FIG. 4, and whether the "desired delivery date" column is displayed according to the value of the variable "KibouNouki_required" by the template directive of the xx50th line. It specifies whether or not.
In the description of the figure, it can be seen that the "stock" column and the "desired delivery date" column are optional.

The source statement in the web application development language in the web application skeleton source 206 does not necessarily need to be newly developed, and it is also possible to use a source statement that is already in operation.

Application skeleton source 2
When 06 is created, the template creator subsequently determines the variable of the template directive in the application skeleton source 206 (“ZaikoHyouji_required”, “KibouNouki_require” on lines xx20 and xx50 shown in FIG. 6).
As a screen input support program for setting the value of d "), a wizard program 205 is created by, for example, Visual Basic.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen displayed by the created wizard program 205. As will be described later, in the new web application creation process (b), the web application creator simply specifies whether or not to use the fields of “stock” and “desired delivery date” on the screen.
Variables in template directives can be set.
That is, when “use inventory” is selected in the “inventory” column in FIG. 7, the value of the variable “ZaikoHyouji_required” in the template directive is set to “1”,
Similarly, "Use desired delivery date" in the "Requested delivery date" column
When is selected, the variable "K" in the template directive is
The value of "ibouNouki_required" is set to "1".

In the creation process (S301) of the wizard program 205 in this embodiment, the template creator can use the previously provided screen creation parts group (template parts group 204). Since the template part group 204 is prepared with the properties for associating with the variables in the template directive, the template creator pastes the parts on the screen and then sets the desired variable name for the variable properties. You can specify it. FIG. 8 shows an example of the template component group 204 in this embodiment.

For example, in the case of a display screen as shown in FIG. 7, two option button type custom controls 801 in the template parts group 204 shown in FIG. Created by.

The template creation process (a) by the template creator has been described above. Next, the new web application creation process (b) by the web application creator will be described in detail.

The web application creator inputs data according to the screen guidance of the wizard program 205, and the web application development server 202
A new web application 207 is created therein.

For example, when the web application creator gives an instruction on the use of the "stock" and "desired delivery date" fields from the screen of the wizard program 205 shown in FIG. 7, the web application development server 202 causes the web application development server 202 to execute the template instruction statement. Variable name (in this case "ZaikoHyouji
_required "," KibouNouki_required ")
The indicated value is stored.

When the instructions from the web application creator are completed, the web application development server 20
2 starts the template compiler 203. At this time, the stored set of variable names and values is passed to the template compiler 203 as a parameter.

The template compiler 203 reads the web application skeleton source 206 and sets the value instructed in the variable in the template directive. Then, based on the value of the variable, the conditional branch or control statement of the template directive of the web application skeleton source 206 is analyzed and embedded in the web application skeleton source 206.
Generate code in HTML or ASP language. The code generated by the template compiler 203 in this way is the new web application 207.
Is.

In the present embodiment, namely, in step S302 of FIG. 3, if the web application creator sets that neither the "inventory" nor the "desired delivery date" column is used on the screen of the wizard program shown in FIG. In step S303, the template compiler 203 creates a screen for the consumer module shown in FIG. Similarly, if both the "stock" and "desired delivery date" fields are set to be used, the screen for the module for traders shown in FIG. 4B is created.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
It is possible to generate a plurality of new web applications having similar processing contents according to the instruction contents on the display screen by the wizard program 205.

At this time, the web application creator has to process the processing logic of the target application, HTML, AS
The new web application 207 is generated easily and at high speed because it is only necessary to set the items on the display screen by the wizard program 205 without any knowledge of the development language such as P.

Further, since the value set on the display screen by the wizard program 205 is directly passed to the template compiler 203, it is not necessary to prepare a special database for compilation. Therefore, since it is not necessary to install the database management software or set the environment, it can be understood that the development system of the present embodiment can be easily installed and implemented.

[0048]

[Other Embodiments] According to the present invention, a storage medium recording a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to an apparatus, and the CPU of the apparatus reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium. It can also be achieved by doing. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently develop a plurality of web applications having similar processing contents.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a similar module in a web application, which is a creation target in an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration in the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of web application development in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen by a web application that is a creation target in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a template directive in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a web application according to the present embodiment.
It is a figure which shows the example of description of a skeleton source.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen by a wizard program according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a template component group in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

201 Web server 202 Web application development server 203 Template compiler 204 Template parts group 205 Wizard Program 206 Web Application Skeleton Source 207 New Web Application 208 Internet 209 clients

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Koji Koeda             2-17-51 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo Nihon Uni             In cis corporation F term (reference) 5B076 DA00 DA02 DB01 DB03 DB06                       DC00 DC02 DC07 DD00 DD01                       DD04 DD05 DD06 DD07 DD08                       DD10

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A method for developing a web application that is installed on a web server and used from a client browser via the Internet, wherein the characteristics of the web application to be developed are specified, and the specified characteristics are specified. A web application development method, wherein the web application is generated by analyzing a predetermined template program based on the above. 2. The plurality of web applications are generated by designating the feature for each of a plurality of similar web applications, and analyzing a common template program based on each of the designated features. Claim 1
Web application development method described. 3. The web application development method according to claim 1, wherein the feature designation of the web application is performed by screen input in an interactive format. 4. The web application developing method according to claim 3, wherein the interactive screen input is executed based on a predetermined wizard program. 5. The web application development method according to claim 4, wherein the wizard program is generated using a plurality of predetermined components. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the variables in the template program are set based on the characteristics of the web application designated via the wizard program. 7. The web application development method according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined component has a property for associating with a variable in the template program. 8. The features of the web application include:
3. The web application development method according to claim 1, further comprising characteristic processing logic of the web application. 9. The features of the web application include:
3. The web application developing method according to claim 1, further comprising a characteristic screen display of the web application. 10. The web application development method according to claim 1, wherein the template program includes a description portion in a predetermined development language. 11. The predetermined development language is HTML or
11. The web application development method according to claim 10, further comprising ASP. 12. The template program includes a description part in the predetermined development language and a description part peculiar to the template.
Web application development method described in 0. 13. A method for developing a web application installed on a web server to be used from a client browser via the Internet, which comprises creating a web application template program and using a predetermined component group. Creating a wizard program, specifying the characteristics of the web application to be developed from the screen of the wizard program, and analyzing the template program based on the specified characteristics to generate the web application to be developed. Web application development method characterized by. 14. A device for developing a web application, which is installed on a web server and used by a browser of a client via the Internet, and a designation means for designating characteristics of a web application to be developed, and the designation. A web application development device comprising: a generation unit configured to generate the web application by analyzing a predetermined template program based on the determined characteristics. 15. A program code for realizing the application development method according to claim 1, when the program code is executed by a computer device. 16. A recording medium on which the program code according to claim 15 is recorded.