A document-based approach for WebLab configuration

Given that broadband networks make quality user-interaction possible, there is a tendency for web-based laboratories (WebLabs) to allow their experiments to be accessed by remote users. Although problems such as laboratory description and experiment configuration and scheduling are common to most laboratories, WebLabs usually adopt an ad hoc solution with respect to these problems. There is an opportunity for specifying a standard way to describe a WebLab as well as for defining general and specific experiment configuration and presets. Our contributions include XML-Schemas for WebLab description and experiment configuration, as well as a document-based I- TOOLARR system designed to integrate remote experiments into a web-based environment. The I-TOOLARR system makes use of XSLT transformations to generate form-based interfaces that allow users to interactively configure WebLabs in general and associated specific experiments.