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HIFI: Hypertext Interface for Information: Multimedia and Relational Databases

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Contract Information

Programme: THIRD FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
Programme Acronym: ESPRIT 3
Contract Type: NO CONTRACT TYPE
Start Date: 1992-06-15
End Date: 1994-06-14
Contract No: N/A
Role for TUC/MUSIC: Contractor
Funding for TUC/MUSIC: 0.0 Euros
Principal Investigator for TUC/MUSIC: Stavros Christodoulakis

Project Information

Project Description

The HIFI project aimed at creating a set of tools to allow a reader to access, via a hypertext interface, a large body of information managed by external (possibly pre-existing) databases, either relational or multimedia. The major output of the project was a set of tools to allow a reader to access, via a hypertext interface, a large body of information managed by external (possibly pre-existing) databases, either relational or multimedia, has been created. The approach was based on using a model based description (mapping) of the hypertext application, defined in a declarative and/or operational style, that translates hypertext operations (search, queries and navigation) into operations on the underlying information base, and also materializes hypertext objects of the underlying databases. A suitable model was also developed for multimedia information in order to define the mapping by abstracting from strict implementation considerations. A repository was used as an active dictionary, storing the model based schema (description) of the interface application, the schemas of the interfaces databases, and the mapping between the two. During the configuration phase such definitions are extracted (off line) from the repository and made available to the execution tools, in a suitable format. Methodologies to support the hypertext interface development process were also investigated. Three different real life applications (for banks, hospitals and museums) were developed to show the validity of the approach. A repository acts as an active dictionary, storing the model-based schema (description) of the interface application, the schemas of the interfaced databases, and the mapping between the two. During the "configuration" phase such definitions are extracted (off-line) from the repository and made available to the execution tools, in a suitable format. Methodologies to support the hypertext interface development process are also being provided. Three different real-life applications (for banks, hospitals and museums) have been developed to show the validity of the approach.

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