An approach for Framework Construction and Instantiation Using Pattern Languages

Rosana Teresinha Vaccare Braga

Paulo Cesar MasieroICMC-USP: Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences of the

University of São Paulo

São Carlos – SP – Brazil

ACIS International Conference on Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, e-Business, and Applications (CSITeA’02)

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

1 – Introduction and Motivation

Software Reuse: – Software Patterns: capture experience acquired during

software development, synthesizing it in a problem/solution pair.

– Pattern languages: organization of the knowledge about a specific domain into specific patterns that can be systematically applied in the development of systems in the same domain.

– Frameworks: set of abstract and concrete classes that can be customized to produce specific applications.

Problem: complexity to build and use frameworks

1 – Introduction and Motivation

Relationship between frameworks and pattern languages:– Pattern languages can be used to:

• document the framework• Support the framework design and implementation• Guide the transformation of the framework into a concrete application

Our proposal: – an approach to develop a framework from a pattern

language, and– to use this pattern language to instantiate the framework to

specific applications

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

2 - Approach for Framework Construction and Instantiation

Specific Systems

Pattern Language

Development

Experience in a specific domain

STEP 1

Specific System

Specific System

Wizard

Programminglanguage

STEP 3

WizardDevelopment

Pattern Language

Pattern Language

Programminglanguage

Requirements of a Specific Application

STEP 4 (a)

White-box-driven

Instantiation"Cookbook"

White-box Framework

Pattern Language

Wizard-driven

Instantiation

Requirements of a Specific Application

STEP 4 (b)Design-

patterns/metapatterns

STEP 2

Programminglanguage

White-boxFramework

Development

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

3 - Pattern Language Development

Objective: building a pattern language to capture the domain functionality and to guide the development of applications in the domain

Based on practical experience in the domain, domain analysis, or reverse engineering of existing systems

3 - Pattern Language Development

Steps:– 1) Produce an analysis model of the domain– 2) Define the patterns of the pattern language

• Look at recurring analysis patterns that are implicit in the model• Look at other pattern languages for equivalent domains• Try to isolate each pattern according to specific functions

performed• Try to create optional patterns when there are optional functions

– 3) Analyze interaction among patterns• Illustrate this information with a diagram• Do the cross-reference in the “Following patterns” section

GRN: A Pattern Language for Business Resource Management

Quantify the Resource (2)

Store the Resource (3)

Rent the Resource (4)

Reserve the Resource (5)

Trade the Resource (6)

Quote the Trade (7)

Check Resource Delivery (8)

Maintain theResource (9)

Quote the Maintenance (10)

Identify Maintenance Tasks (14)

Identify Maintenance Parts (15)

Itemize the Resource Transaction (11)

Pay for the Resource Transaction (12)

Identify the Resource Executor (13)

Identify the Resource (1)

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

4 - White-box Framework Development

Objective: building a set of classes to support the development of applications in the same domain of the pattern language

The classes belonging to patterns of the pattern language have the corresponding implementation in the framework

4 - White-box Framework Development

Steps:– 1) Identify the framework hot-spots, using the

pattern language.– 2) Design the framework, based on the list of hot

spots and on the pattern language.– 3) Implement the framework– 4) Document the mapping between the pattern

language and the framework, to ease future instantiation

Example of GREN classes

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

5 – Wizard Development

Objective: creating a tool with a graphical user interface that follows the pattern language concepts

Specific applications can be implemented by following the wizard instructions, i.e., the pattern language is interactively applied by filling in the wizard screens

5 – Wizard Development

Data about the patterns, variants, classes, etc. can be stored in a meta-database and retrieved by the wizard

Information filled in by the user is also stored in a database.

Automatic adaptation of the framework to the specific application

Example of GREN-Wizard screen Example of GREN-Wizard report

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

6 – Framework Instantiation

Objective: Adapt the framework to specific applications, obtaining an executable code

Types of instantiation:– Using the white-box version of the framework– Using the wizard

6 – Framework Instantiation

– Instantiation using the white-box version of the framework

• Pattern language usage to obtain the analysis model of the application to instantiate

• Mapping from the analysis model to the framework classes

• Implementation of the application • Validation of the application

6 – Framework Instantiation

– Instantiation using the wizard• Pattern language usage to obtain the analysis model

of the application to instantiate• Usage of the Wizard to fill in the patterns applied and

respective roles played by each class in each pattern• Implementation of the application (done by the

wizard)• Validation of the application

Example of application generated using GREN-Wizard

Contents

1- Introduction and motivation 2- Overview of the approach 3- Pattern Language Development 4- White-box Framework Development 5- Wizard development 6- Framework instantiation 7- Concluding remarks

7 - Concluding Remarks

The approach here proposed intends to promote software reuse, allowing developers to better understand and use frameworks

Instantiation is eased because:– The framework architecture is related to the patterns of

the pattern language– No technical knowledge about the framework

implementation details is necessary to derive new applications from it.

7 - Concluding Remarks

Not all types of pattern languages could help framework construction and instantiation.

Candidate pattern languages: – those that concern problems to be solved during analysis

of systems in the domain

Information systems are an example of a domain that is suitable for this approach.

Concluding Remarks (continued)

During the framework usage in the development of specific applications and because of the application domain evolution, new hot spots may be necessary.– In this case, the pattern language must also be

updated, including new patterns or changing existing ones.

Contact

Rosana: rtvb@icmc.sc.usp.br Paulo: masiero@icmc.sc.usp.br

LABES (Software Engineering Lab at ICMC-USP) http://nt-labes.icmc.sc.usp.br (in Portuguese only)

My WEB page: www.icmc.sc.usp.br/~rtvb/ingles.html

An approach for Framework Construction and Instantiation Using Pattern Languages

Rosana Teresinha Vaccare Braga

Paulo Cesar MasieroICMC-USP: Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences of the

University of São Paulo

São Carlos – SP – Brazil

ACIS International Conference on Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, e-Business, and Applications (CSITeA’02)

P a t t e r n 2 : Q U A N T I F Y T H E R E S O U R C E C o n t e x t

Y o u h a v e i d e n t i f i e d a r e s o u r c e t h a t y o u r a p p l i c a t i o n d e a l s w i t h a n d i t s r e l e v a n t q u a l i t i e s . A n i m p o r t a n t i s s u e t o b e c o n s i d e r e d n o w i s t h e f o r m o f r e s o u r c e q u a n t i f i c a t i o n . T h e r e a r e c e r t a i n a p p l i c a t i o n s i n w h i c h i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o t r a c e s p e c i f i c i n s t a n c e s o f a r e s o u r c e , b e c a u s e t h e y a r e t r a n s a c t e d i n d i v i d u a l l y . F o r e x a m p l e , a b o o k i n a l i b r a r y c a n h a v e s e v e r a l c o p i e s , e a c h l e n t t o a d i f f e r e n t r e a d e r . S o m e a p p l i c a t i o n s d e a l w i t h a c e r t a i n q u a n t i t y o f t h e r e s o u r c e o r w i t h r e s o u r c e l o t s . I n t h e s e a p p l i c a t i o n s , i t i s n o t n e c e s s a r y t o k n o w w h a t p a r t i c u l a r i n s t a n c e o f t h e r e s o u r c e w a s a c t u a l l y t r a n s a c t e d . F o r e x a m p l e , a c e r t a i n w e i g h t o f s t e e l i s s o l d . I n o t h e r a p p l i c a t i o n s , t h e r e s o u r c e i s d e a l t w i t h a s a w h o l e , a s f o r e x a m p l e a c a r t h a t g o e s t o m a i n t e n a n c e o r a d o c t o r t h a t e x a m i n e s a p a t i e n t .

P r o b l e m

H o w d o e s t h e a p p l i c a t i o n q u a n t i f y t h e b u s i n e s s r e s o u r c e ?

F o r c e s

K n o w i n g e x a c t l y w h a t i s t h e f o r m o f q u a n t i f i c a t i o n a d o p t e d b y t h e a p p l i c a t i o n i s i m p o r t a n t d u r i n g a n a l y s i s . A w r o n g d e c i s i o n a t t h i s p o i n t m a y c o m p r o m i s e f u t u r e e v o l u t i o n .

. . .

S t r u c t u r e T h e r e a r e f o u r s l i g h t l y d i f f e r e n t s o l u t i o n s f o r t h i s p r o b l e m ,

d e p e n d i n g o n t h e f o r m o f q u a n t i f i c a t i o n . F i g u r e s 4 t h r o u g h 7 s h o w t h e f o u r Q U A N T I F Y T H E R E S O U R C E s u b - p a t t e r n s . W h e n i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o d i s t i n g u i s h a m o n g r e s o u r c e i n s t a n c e s , u s e I N S T A N T I A B L E R E S O U R C E s u b - p a t t e r n ( F i g u r e 4 ) . W h e n t h e r e s o u r c e i s m a n a g e d i n a c e r t a i n q u a n t i t y , u s e t h e M E A S U R A B L E

R E S O U R C E s u b - p a t t e r n ( F i g u r e 5 ) .

h a s

1 *

R e s o u r c e I n s t a n c en u m b e rl o c a t i o ns t a t u si s A v a i l a b l e

R e s o u r c ei d C o d ed e s c r i p t i o n

c a l c u l a t e q t t y o f a v a i l a b l e i n s t a n c e s F i g u r e 4 : I N S T A N T I A B L E R E S O U R C E s u b - p a t t e r n

h a s

1*

R e s o u r c ei d C o d ed e s c r i p t i o nq u a n t i t y i n s t o c kr e - s u p p l y l e v e l! # l i s t r e s o u r c e s t o b e r e - s u p p l i e d

M e a s u r e U n i t yi d C o d ed e s c r i p t i o n

F i g u r e 5 : M E A S U R A B L E R E S O U R C E s u b - p a t t e r n

P a r t i c i p a n t s . . . E x a m p l e

. . .

F o l l o w i n g p a t t e r n s A f t e r y o u Q u a n t i f y t h e R e s o u r c e , e x a m i n e y o u r a p p l i c a t i o n t o v e r i f y w h e t h e r i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o k n o w a b o u t t h e r e s o u r c e s s t o r a g e . I f s o , t r y t o a p p l y S T O R E T H E R E S O U R C E ( 3 ) . I f n o t , p r o c e e d e x a m i n i n g y o u r a p p l i c a t i o n t o v e r i f y w h i c h k i n d o f r e s o u r c e t r a n s a c t i o n s a r e d o n e . I f t h e a p p l i c a t i o n c o n c e r n s r e s o u r c e l o c a t i o n o r r e n t a l , y o u s h o u l d a p p l y R E N T T H E R E S O U R C E ( 4 ) . I f t h e a p p l i c a t i o n c o n c e r n s r e s o u r c e t r a d i n g , i . e . , r e s o u r c e p u r c h a s e o r s a l e , y o u s h o u l d a p p l y T R A D E T H E R E S O U R C E ( 6 ) . I f t h e a p p l i c a t i o n d e a l s w i t h r e s o u r c e r e p a i r , y o u s h o u l d a p p l y M A I N T A I N T H E

R E S O U R C E ( 9 ) .

Example of Hot Spots tableHot spot number

Name Description Type Source in the pattern

language

Pat #

1 Resource Qualification

A resource can have a type, but this is optional. It can also have multiple types or nested types.

PARTIC_ CHOICE

Participants, Variants

1

2 Resource Quantification

A resource can be unique, can have multiple instances, can be managed in quantities or in lots

PARTIC_ CHOICE

Participants, Structure, Variants (sub-patterns)

2

3 Resource Storage

It can or cannot be desirable that the application manages the resource storage

PATTERN_OPTION

Language Graph+ Context

3

4 Resource Rental

The application may or may not concern resource rental

PATTERN_OPTION

Language Graph + Context

4

GREN Wizard: A Tool to Automate GREN Instantiation

Example of a report generated by GREN-Wizard

Example of an application generated by the GREN-Wizard

Example of an application generated by the GREN-Wizard

Example of an application generated by the GREN-Wizard

Example of an application generated by the GREN-Wizard