Sunil Mishra

Title: Lightweight Solutions for User Interfaces Over the WWW

Abstract:  Lisp-based HTTP servers provide a starting point for building Web-based applications written in Common Lisp. They do not provide a complete solution. An application needs additional facilities for generating content and managing dialogs. We present some lightweight tools that have been essential in producing applications with complex interactive interfaces. Expressing computed responses is greatly simplified by scripting a template HTML page with some Lisp code. This is managed through our Active Lisp Pages (ALP). Conducting a dialog with a user requires managing an evolving state, for which we have implemented a simple interaction manager. We integrate interactive interfaces developed by third parties in our application, using a simple API based on XML and XSLT. Finally, SOAP messaging provides applications with a standard means of exchanging messages with custom interfaces. These tools have allowed us to assemble consistent and usable user interfaces for our applications.