Taking in consideration the two important aspects considered above, we de¯ne
the architecture of the design tool (Figure. 2). We observe that there is a
database where we store the instances of each diagram and the details of the
di®erent users that, according to the metaphor, can participate in the de¯nition
of a speci¯c model (Storyboard Artist, Designer, Pedagogic people, Technical
users). The engine of the design tool accesses to the database using a database
access object layer (DAO). The DAO has the task to abstract and encapsulates
all accesses to the data source; it manages the connection with the data source
to obtain and store data. The output of the design will be an XML ¯le: the
xml ¯le will be the input for a CVE engine that will automatically generate
the collaboration virtual environment. It is important to note that the CVE
engine may use a set of template useful for the designer. The editor must
present to the user these templates in order to help him in its design task.
the architecture of the design tool (Figure. 2). We observe that there is a
database where we store the instances of each diagram and the details of the
di®erent users that, according to the metaphor, can participate in the de¯nition
of a speci¯c model (Storyboard Artist, Designer, Pedagogic people, Technical
users). The engine of the design tool accesses to the database using a database
access object layer (DAO). The DAO has the task to abstract and encapsulates
all accesses to the data source; it manages the connection with the data source
to obtain and store data. The output of the design will be an XML ¯le: the
xml ¯le will be the input for a CVE engine that will automatically generate
the collaboration virtual environment. It is important to note that the CVE
engine may use a set of template useful for the designer. The editor must
present to the user these templates in order to help him in its design task.