XVCL: A Tool for reusing software

1. XVCL: A Tool for reusing software • Soe Myat Swe • Software Engineer (CAP Dept.)

2. Presentation overview • Background • What is XVCL? • Our experiences • Current status • Conclusion

3. Background SES (Domain Knowledge) Waterloo University (Reliability) Work on XVCL need more than Frame offer XVCL1.0 (1998) NUS + Paul Bassett (Netron Inc.) Netron Inc. (Experties in Frame) NUS (Reusability) More experiments More improvements XVCL 2.0 Experiment with CAD CAD = Computer Aided Dispatch System XVCL = XML-based Variant Configuration Language SES (Domain Knowledge)

4. What is XVCL? XML-based Variant Configuration Language • building generic reusable and customizable components (meta-components) • deriving concrete components from generic components by customizing through configuration

5. What is XVCL? <set var=“classname” value=“Hello1”/> <set-multi var=“message” value=“Hello world, This is XVCL.”/> customization script XVCL processor Hello3 Hello2 Customization Process Hello Hello1 <x-frame> class <value-of expr= “?@classname?”/> { public static void main(String[] args) { <whileusing-items-in=“messages”> System.out.println( <value-of expr= “?@messages?”/>); </while> } } </x-frame> class Hello1 { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println(“Hello world!”); System.out.println(“This is XVCL.”); } }

6. Pilot project: summary • Command and control (C2) application • Developed in C# on .NET platform • The scope of the pilot application: • 13 domain entities (User, Task, Resource, etc.) • GUI, service / entity / DB classes • Results: we eliminated 68% of code

7. User Task Resource entities: operations: create update find list save High-level redundancies: an example • each entity (User, Task) needs similar operations: • operations (create, update, etc.) follow the same pattern independently of the entity

8. <<form class>> FormTaskCreation GUI <<form class>> FormUserCreation executes executes visualizes <<service class>> TaskService Service visualizes <<service class>> UserService manipulates <<entity class>> manipulates access Task <<entity class>> Entity access User persists <<DB class>> persists DBTask <<DB class>> DB DBUser Operation create for User, Task

9. Summary of the classes • 112 classes in GUI, service, entity, DB access

10. Our experience • experimented on a prison prototype system • 112 classes in GUI, service, entity, db access

11. Our Experience: XVCL vs. original C# solution)

12. Our Experience: Results • XVCL was easier to apply than expected • we got encouraging results (presented in ICSE 2003 conference): • to add a new domain entity to the application:

13. Our next experience • Web Portal system: • e-learning system • 20 domain entities • relationships between entities (aggregations, association, abstract inheritance, etc) • Time duration: two weeks! • Made of: JavaScripts and ASP pages

14. Our next Experience: Results • XVCL was even easier to apply than expected • we got more encouraging results: • able to deliver the sample system on time • able to create other similar portals on demand • to add a new domain entity to the web portal:

15. Current status • Many published papers based on XVCL • FSE, SSR, ICSE tool demonstration…,etc., • has not reached its maturity for industrial wise application: • short in Guidelines and Methodology • short in supporting tools (e.g., editors, reverse engineering, debugger, etc) • collaborations with NUS continues • Guidelines and Methodology • publish papers • more experiments

16. Conclusion • reduces the development time and effort • reduces code redundancies by 68% • free and open source! (http://fxvcl.sourceforge.net/) • language is simple and easy to learn • experimental studies gives encouraging results • new and need to wait for its maturity

17. Thank you! Questions?