Refining a Reference Architecture for Model-Driven Business Apps

Ernsting Jan, Rieger Christoph, Wrede Fabian, Majchrzak Tim A

Abstract
Despite much progress, cross-platform app development frameworks remain a topic of active research. While frameworks that yield native apps are particularly attractive, their spread is very limited. It is apparent that (theoretical) technological superiority needs to be accompanied with profound support for developers and adequate capabilities for maintaining the framework itself. We deem so called reference architectures to be a major step for building better cross-platform app development frameworks, particularly if they are based on techniques of model-driven software development (MDSD). In this paper, we describe a refinement of a reference architecture for business apps. We employ the model-driven cross-platform development framework MD2 for this purpose. Its general design has been described extensively in the literature. The framework has a sound foundation in MDSD, yet lacks a generator support that fulfils the above sketched goals. After describing the required background, we argue in detail for a suitable reference architecture. While it will be a valuable addition to the MD2 framework, the discussion of our findings also makes a contribution for generative app development in general.

Keywords
Reference Architecture; MDSD; App; Mobile; Mobile App; Business App; Architecture