Final Thesis: Offline Experience for Web Applications

Abstract: In the recent years, the popularity of Web based applications, in contrast to conventional desktop applications, has risen significantly. The advantages include platform independence, easy collaboration possibilities, decreased maintenance costs and more. Never the less, being web based results in a major disadvantage. To successfully use the application, an active connection to the internet is required. This makes working in offline environments or with intermediate long-lasting connection losses impossible. This thesis presents a possible solution to this problem at the example of the web application QDAcity. The solution is based on the Service Worker API that is a new technology used in Progressive Web Apps. The core functionality of this application can now be reliably used even without an active internet connection or during reoccurring connection losses. After reconnecting, the changes the user made while being offline, are synchronized so that the data on the server and the client contain the most recent version. This solution improves web applications by making them more resilient against connection losses, that can occur in mobile office environments or on travel and makes them significantly more attractive compared to desktop applications.

Keywords: Progressive Web Apps, Offline Experience, Service Worker, QDAcity

PDFs: Master Thesis, Work Description

Reference: Sebastian Knauer. Offline Experience for Web Applications. Master Thesis, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg: 2018.