Integration of Markup Languages, Document Transformations and Software Components in the Development of Applications: the DTC Approach

This paper describes the DTC approach to the development of applications based on markup languages. DTC consistently combines componentware and markup technologies in a unified solution. Building an application according DTC supposes, on one hand, the provision of the set of documents describing the application at a purely declarative level (i.e. content, processes and interaction) and, on the other hand, the derivation of the application’s computational machinery by assembling (reusable) software components. Each software component considered in DTC gives operational support and operational meaning to a type of documents. If necessary, documents describing the application can be integrated into the projected application’s component structure using transformations. Transformations make possible to uncouple specific domain documents from reusable components. This explicit separation between the marked information, that describes the domain’s application, and its computational support improves the maintainability of the applications promoting reuse at both information and software levels (documents and components).