Configurable RESTful Service Mashup: A Process-Data- Widget Approach

Abstract

Techniques for the mashup of services have been attracting considerable attention; however, reusable and reconfigurable models for the construction of mashup applications are still lacking. The REST (Representational State Transfer) software architecture has been widely accepted due to its usability and simplicity. This makes REST an appropriate foundation for the development of components for mashup applications. This study proposes a software framework based on the REST architecture, called Process-Data-Widget, to assist designers in building mashup applications. The proposed approach is meant to convert time-consuming, manual mashup-construction tasks into systematic, semi-automatic and configurable tasks. Such an approach would enable designers to design service processes, compose service data, and configure widget-based user interfaces by developing a mashup document. The document could then be input into a mashup engine to produce a corresponding mashup application and a new composite RESTful service.