An Automated Software Tool for Validating Design Patterns

摘要

Design pattern languages have started to gain more attention by providing the ability to specify instances of patterns. The Role Based Metamodeling Language (RBML) is a visually oriented language defined in terms of a specialization of the UML meta-model that is used to verify and specify generic or domain specific design patterns. The evolution of increasingly complex computer applications is mandating the development of technologies and tools that can validate the intended design and can alert developers of potential changes that were not intended by the original designers. Deviations from design patterns occur as a result of a lack of understanding of intended designs or through evolutionary changes of the software; thus an automated tool is needed to inform developers when design patterns no longer conform to their original intended design. Herein, we present an automated software tool that compares the UML class diagrams of instances of design patterns with their RBML representations and reports back if said UML diagram is compliant. The tool can identify which classifiers (classes or associations) of the design pattern are in violation with their RBML description. Furthermore, the tool produces a score that is indicative of the level of compliance. We describe the algorithm that compares the UML representing a design pattern to its corresponding RBML and provide several scenarios that demonstrate the capabilities of this tool.