[[!meta title="Flexible wiring between user interfaces and communication protocols"]]

In order to give students and other interested people some more insight at what might
be the *next big thing* according to our optimistic opinion, this blog now features a
*research category*.

The first entry shall be about my pet project [Dynvoker](http://www.dynvoker.org).
While I'm currently not able to work on it much during my work time, there are still
some changes now and then. One of the most recent additions is a [WADL](https://wadl.dev.java.net/)
parser contributed by Christian Liebing. Along with other modifications, the
*dynvoker-generic-branch* transforms the application into a multilaterally generic
framework. The generic dimensions encompass the service description formats,
the output formats, the protocol for communication with the web service and the
choice of runtime environment. A fifth, rather imaginary dimension would be the
integration into complex processes.

Going *generic* is essential in service-oriented environments, given that on the one
hand the promise of SOA is the flexible wiring and re-wiring of services, and on
the other hand there is as always a plethora of protocol options available in real-world
applications.

The following picture illustrates the options between output formats and submission
formats alone:

[[!img pics/submission-2008.png alt="Dynvoker wires between UI and submission"]]

Add to this that various service description formats support several submission
formats, and the confusion arrives at the highest level. But do ordinary users care?
No, they certainly don't, and that's why user interfaces for services need to
hide this complexity. The generic approach of Dynvoker is an important step into
this direction. Details will be presented at the ServiceWave 2008 conference
in Madrid which also has a workshop on common goals towards UIs for services.
Let's see if I will be able to attend since at the same time there's another workshop on
monitoring and adaptation, my current *dia em dia* topic which will soon lead to another
blog post.

[[!tag tags/lang:en tags/community:research]]