A middleware approach in facilitating Web-Mobile-Desktop (WMD) application communication in distributed systems

ABSTRACT

Broadcasting messages to other peers and subscription to remote events over the network are the two common functionalities of client applications in distributed systems. For desktop application, these capabilities are considered as granted, think of instant messengers like Yahoo and MSN. The recent AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) framework has boosted the asynchronous processing capability of web applications, but that is far from making web applications on par with desktop counterparts in terms of performing inter-client communications. The paper presents a lightweight framework - no ActiveX installation required - that can enable real-time communication between Web-Mobile-Desktop (WMD) client applications. The framework comprises of three components: (1) simple middleware passing translated messages between WMD clients; (2) web applications invoking Web Services asynchronously; and (3) stateful implementation of Web Services. The paper discusses about each of the components and demonstrates their efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of some real-world applications.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.7 Organization and Design
          Subjects: Distributed systems

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Client/server

  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.4 Communications Management
      D.4.9 Systems Programs and Utilities
          Subjects: Window managers

  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services

General Terms:
Design, Management