Modern hybrid web-based ui for legacy and native windows applications
Margetsch, Bars (2024)
2024
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024090624824
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024090624824
Tiivistelmä
An ever-increasing number of Windows applications reach the end of their original UI framework's lifespan. A possible solution presented in this thesis is migration to a hybrid architecture, replacing the ageing native framework with a new, web-based user interface.
This is described through the example of a prototype application developed for Keysight Technologies’ Nemo Outdoor application, which was built to determine the viability of web-based user interfaces when compared to the pre-existing native ones and identify and describe the main challenges associated with it. Considering Nemo Outdoor’s highly dynamic and data heavy interface, it was the perfect candidate for evaluating the performance and development challenges of a hybrid application in an extreme case.
The prototype consists of an Angular web component, running in a Windows Forms application, which uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime to host it. The communication between it and the Nemo Outdoor backed is done through an integrated REST API.
The thesis concludes that migration to a hybrid web-based interface is viable, and while there are some initial challenges, the prototype demonstrated that it could perform in various data and processing heavy environments while still providing a responsive user experience.
This is described through the example of a prototype application developed for Keysight Technologies’ Nemo Outdoor application, which was built to determine the viability of web-based user interfaces when compared to the pre-existing native ones and identify and describe the main challenges associated with it. Considering Nemo Outdoor’s highly dynamic and data heavy interface, it was the perfect candidate for evaluating the performance and development challenges of a hybrid application in an extreme case.
The prototype consists of an Angular web component, running in a Windows Forms application, which uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime to host it. The communication between it and the Nemo Outdoor backed is done through an integrated REST API.
The thesis concludes that migration to a hybrid web-based interface is viable, and while there are some initial challenges, the prototype demonstrated that it could perform in various data and processing heavy environments while still providing a responsive user experience.