CapView - Functionality-aware visual mashup development for non-programmers

Abstract

Building mashup applications from existing web resources becomes increasingly popular, and, in theory, accessible even for end users without programming skills. Current proposals for end user development of mashups mainly focus on visual wiring of component interfaces supplemented by recommendations on composition steps and a certain degree of automation. However, it is still a major challenge to provide an appropriate level of functional abstraction in order to visualize the functionality of a mashup and its components, and for composing on a functional level instead of merely assembling structural units. This becomes crucial, especially when non-programmers are the intended target group. In this paper, we propose CapView, a novel functionality-aware development view on running composite applications. CapView is part of the EDYRA platform and provides a functional overview of the mashup by abstracting from interface and wiring details. It enables users to understand mashup development as an assembly process that is centered on the capabilities of components and mashup fragments. We evaluate the concepts in a user study and present lessons learned. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.