CBSE and Mobile Application Development

Transcription

1 ECE750-T11 CBSE and Mobile Application Development Submitted To: Ladan Tahvildari Authors: Jenelle Chen ( ) Aaron Jin ( )

2 Table of Contents Table of Figures...3 Abstract...4 Problem Description...4 Process...5 High Level Feature Overview...5 Targeted User Base...5 Architectural Description (Functional Requirements and Data Flow)...6 Development Platform...7 Expected Results...8 Resources...8 Schedule...9 References...9 2

3 Table of Figures Figure 1: ABI Notes Client Server Architecture...6 Figure 2: Server Side Three Tier Architecture...7 3

4 Abstract While CBSE is commonly used in the design and implementation of desktop applications, the effectiveness of CBSE in mobile software development is still unknown. In theory, CBSE would be extremely effective in mobile development, since mobile developers consistently port their applications to three main mobile platforms (Android, iphone, Blackberry). As such, we seek to investigate whether the application of CBSE to mobile development would likely decrease development and porting time, reduce defect counts, and allow for component reuse across these three platforms. We investigate this problem by developing a short document editing application on the Android framework using CBSE principles. This application (ABINotes) allows the creation, editing, and sharing of short documents. The development process will be evaluated in terms of development time, number of open defects, and practicality of componentization. We expect that at the end of the project, we will have a working mobile application that satisfies the functional requirements. Time permitting, the application will be ported to another mobile development platform. This will allow us to compare the difference in development time between the original and the ported application. Based on the observations, a conclusion will be formed as to whether CBSE can be applied to mobile application development. Problem Description Mobile application development is challenging because applications must be developed rapidly on resource-limited devices. As such, developers do not have the luxury of developing inefficient code bases with large amounts of redundant code (as is commonly seen in desktop software). Furthermore, mobile developers face the unique challenge of having to deliver applications that can run on different platforms (iphone, Blackberry, Android, Java ME). Porting applications, however, has traditionally been a challenging and time-consuming process. The constraints clearly indicate that mobile development is in dire need of strong software engineering principles. Certainly, CBSE would standardize interfaces and components, and allow for greater reusability. In turn, software component usage would ideally reduce defects and development time when porting the application to various mobile frameworks. However, it is unclear whether CBSE can be adapted to development environments that are both agile and resourcelimited. 4

5 Process We propose to test whether CBSE can be applied to mobile application development by creating our own mobile application on the Android framework. If time permits, we will port the mobile application to the Blackberry framework. By recording the process of development, number of defects, and practicality of reusing components, we can determine whether CBSE can be effectively used in mobile development. High Level Feature Overview This mobile application (ABINotes) allows two or more users to share a short document, such as a list or note. From a user perspective, the application will contain the following features: - User registration, authentication, and login - Creating, editing, and saving the document - Sharing the document with other mobile users - Non-real time multiple-user document editing - Real-time notifications to users when the document is updated - Synchronization of users and document through RESTful web services to abinotes.com Targeted User Base This application is primarily targeted to users who wish to send information that is both persistent and larger in size than a standard SMS message. This type of information could be short notes or lists (grocery lists, to-do lists). SMS cannot facilitate this kind of data, since SMS has size limitations and data cannot be retrieved once it is deleted off the phone. Ideal users would be families and students - people who require short blocks of information to be shared, stored, and edited. 5

6 Architectural Description (Functional Requirements and Data Flow) At a high level, this project follows the standard client-server architecture. The following figure illustrates this architecture: Figure 1: ABI Notes Client Server Architecture The client consists of a user and cell phone. The user access the ABINotes application from the cell phone. User inputs are sent via the internet cloud to the server, which processes and manipulates the data. Responses from the server are sent via the HTTP protocol. The server side consists of a three tier architectural model. The presentation layer, business logic, and database handling will be three logically separate layers. These layers are described as follows: The Presentation Layer: (Note that several features of this presentation layer may not strictly reside on the server; rather, some features may be abstracted into the application on the client side) Consists of the main user interface: o Text editor UI containing with various text-editing tools (font-selection and styling, text alignment, etc) o UI to save and share documents o UI to allow synchronization between phone and server o Login and authentication components The Business Logic Layer: Translates user input data into meaningful database models, and vice versa Handles user events from the cell phone hardware Interprets and handling connections from users Deals with synchronization 6

7 The Database Layer Stores the most updated version of the document Stores user information The following diagram illustrates the data flow between each layer: Figure 2: Server Side Three Tier Architecture The presentation layer receives data from cloud. Usually, this data contains information or requests from the user, such as authentication information and text-editor data. The presentation layer serializes data using JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and transmits it to the business logic layer via a web service call. Similarly, data from the business logic is sent to the presentation layer using structured JSON calls. The business logic and database layers interact via the Django framework. Django was chosen because it abstracts database tables and structures into models. Models are then manipulated by the user without writing SQL statements. The business logic parses data from the structured presentation layer and populates the Django models. If data needs to be created or manipulated, the business logic layer uses the Django framework to manipulate the database. The database also responds to business logic queri es using Django model responses. Development Platform On the server side, this project will be developed using Python and the Django framework. On the client application side, the Java and Android SDK will be used. Android provides a supporting Java library to access different Android phone features. Time permitting, we will follow CBSE principals to make it easier to reuse some Java code on the Blackberry client development. 7

8 Expected Results We expect the following results: Development of a working mobile application that allows users to create, edit, and save short documents Development of components to allow multiple users to access the same document Determination of whether CBSE principles can be effectively applied to mobile application development Determination the ease of porting the application to other mobile frameworks (blackberry, iphone) given a CBSE-centric design Comparison of Android and Blackberry SDKs and development process (time permitting) Resources Programming Knowledge Resources - Java with Android SDK - Python with Django framework - Mobile application development best practices Documentation Resources: - Android Framework: - Blackberry Framework: (time permitting) - Django Framework: 8

9 Schedule Task Completion Date Assigned To Design Design views June 10 Aaron /Jenelle Design models June 13 Aaron /Jenelle Design database June 15 Aaron /Jenelle Technology research Ramp up time to learn Django June 5 Aaron /Jenelle Ramp up time to learn Android June 9 Aaron /Jenelle Development abinotes.com development June 20 Aaron /Jenelle Android development June 30 Aaron /Jenelle Backend development July 5 Aaron /Jenelle Unit tests and debug July 10 Aaron /Jenelle Integration Test and debug July 15 Aaron /Jenelle Deliverables Proposal June 16 Aaron / Jenelle First Presentation July 7 Aaron /Jenelle Second Presentation July 21 Aaron /Jenelle Final Report July 31 Aaron /Jenelle References Tahvildari, L, Course Materials from Course E750-T11. University of Waterloo, ON. (Accessed June 13, 2010) Morisio, M. Ezran, C. Tully, Success and Failure Factors in Software Reuse, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Volume 28, Issue 4, pp , April