WATT: A Compiler for automated visualization service generation

Abstract

Service-oriented application development is a time consuming task that changes little between projects. In general, development is a two step process where developers first create the core functionality of the service and then routinely integrate details for distribution, transport protocols and user interfaces. Addressing a need to port standalone applications to web services, we have developed a compiler to automate the generation of Web Services. This compiler is called the Web Automation and Translation Toolkit, or WATT. Originally designed as a utility for porting Tcl scripts for the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) to equivalent but more efficient C++, WATT has been extended to seamlessly integrate the SOAP transport protocol to create working visualization web services. Within this document, we present details of the WATT compiler, including motivation, goals and example applications.