Composite Application Overview

Summary

A Composite Application is a software program which creates a user interface consisting of features integrated from multiple different sources and physical locations and presents that interface to humans or other programs.

Comparison to Traditional Applications

Traditional application development methodologies tend to approach the database as the most valuable part of a software system leaving systems which depend on continually evolving schemas owned by 3rd parties or other business groups within the host organization. A Composite Application places development emphasis on constructing a consistent and efficient way to integrate multiple services into a coherent whole by normalizing the way the user interacts with services, providing a powerful runtime framework for the service clients, and optimizing the development experience for the end user's experience.

Different Types of Composites

Composites can take many forms. Some examples include

• Headless Composite, used in computer-to-computer scenarios
• HTML5 Composite, for modern web browsers on desktops and mobile devices
• MVC Composite, for serving arbitrary HTML applications (not just HTML5)
• iOS Composite, for building user experiences on the iOS platform
• WPF Composite, for building modern Windows desktop apps