Choompol Boonmee and Tawa Khampachua
province and occupation. In this context we assume that text value for province name and occupation can be set to default value or can be automated. Right side of the figure shows the modified web page by using this technique. As a result text input fields have been reduced without legacy software modification by using the proposed contextualization technique. Figure 5 shows example of contextualization for text based input fields which can be automated using information from external data source.
Figure 4 Example of contextualization for text based data entry modification
Figure 5: Example of contextualization for ' multiple choice selection ' styled data entry modification
Thai government has promoted the citizen identification smartcard since 2004. More benefits are expected from such invested electronic devices. Evidence shows its high diffusion but limited use not only in Thailand( Arteaga et al, 2012). In this example the smartcard can be used as an external data source. Left side of the figure shows the screen layout of existing web page application. It consists of person’ s ID, name, address and birth date. In a specific context, this software is used to input citizen’ s information and all visited citizens bring their citizen ID smartcards. The information can be retrieved automatically from the card through smartcard reader. By using this contextualization technique this web page is modified by adding button‘ Ex src’ and java script program with corresponding card data retrieving software. Right side of the figure shows the modified web page. If the user presses the button the added java script then run to retrieve data from the smartcard and fill the data entry fields automatically. As a result the data input time is reduced dramatically, the benefit of the legacy application increased without its modification.
Figure 6 shows an example of contextualization for multiple choices styled data entry modification. Left side of the figure shows the screen layout of existing web page application. There is a selection box with too many multiple choices which make users’ selection inefficient. For a specific context less choices are valid, for example these choices can be reduced to five elements for the context. Right side of the figure shows the modified web page by using this technique. The choices are reduced to five elements. This makes users’ selection more efficient, reduces input time without software modification.
Figure 6: Example of contextualization for text based data entry modification using external data source
4. Field study
Two experiments have been performed with legacy web applications of government in Thailand. The first experiment is the legacy web page application called‘ e‐Plan’. The application has been developed by department of local administration to be used by more than 6000 municipalities and local governments in Thailand for years.
Figure 7 shows software architecture of web based software‘ e‐Plan’ contextualization using client side web page modification technique. In the figure, two municipalities are using the software through the web page modification modules; WebMod # 1 and WebMod # 2. As a result the proposed technique could be applied successfully with the legacy web application software. It reduces time consumed in data entry without modifying legacy software‘ e‐Plan’. The software benefit has been maximized easily and independently for individual context of municipality. There are a number of web page applications that require citizen personal information which stored in the citizen ID smartcard. Most Thai people whose age is between seven and seventy do have the ID card. The second experiment is to use this ID card as an external data source to automate data input for legacy web page healthcare applications. Figure 8 shows software architecture of the
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