A graphical environment for Déjà Vu app development

Abstract

Déjà Vu is a platform that allows people to build web applications from clichés, reusable implementations of software concepts. A cliché provides user interface elements and a database-backed web service in a single package, and the actions provided by clichés can be connected together to create complex functionality. On its own, the Déjà Vu platform requires one to learn HTML and a few additional language constructs to create an app. In order to make Déjà Vu accessible to non-programmers, I created a WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") editor for Déjà Vu apps. This editor uses the drag-and-drop approach taken by many static website editors and extends it to Déjà Vu action composition. The actions, their inputs and outputs, and the connections between them are presented visually, and an app can be used in the editor as it is being built. This new editor allows unique, multi-user applications to be created without writing any code.