| Robert Amor's PhD |
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A Generalised Framework for the Design and Construction of Integrated Design Systems(1997) PhD thesis, Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 350 pp. |
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To develop a schema representing some subsystem of a building it is necessary to have support tools which enhance the modeller's environment. The current state of the art, a replicated paper based approach, is ineffective at guaranteeing the consistency and validity of large schemas. In this thesis, a more appropriate environment is developed and demonstrated. This provides multiple overlapping views of the developing schema, with guaranteed consistency between all views, the ability for many modellers to work on the schema, and links to related aspects.
The array of schemas being developed for the A/E/C domains contain overlaps of information, though often in different representations. To enable the full use and correct transfer of information between schemas, mappings between their representations need to be defined. This thesis develops a comprehensive mapping language which describes bidirectional mappings between schemas. An automated system has been constructed which can take a mapping specification and manage the updates and consistency of data in models corresponding to the mapped schemas. To manage the development of environments described above, as well as the finished integrated environments proposed, it is necessary to manage and control the supported processes. A notation is developed to allow this control to be defined, and an implementation is provided to demonstrate how a project can be managed.
The end result of the thesis is a set of notations and associated tools which support all aspects of the development and implementation of integrated design environments. The resultant development environment greatly raises the level of support for developers over that offered by current tools, for all aspects of specification, consistency, testing, validation, implementation, and coordination between developers.
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
List of Tables
1.1 The Problem Domain 1.2 Related Research 1.3 COMBINE Project 1.4 Underlying Framework 1.5 Research Objectives 1.5.1 Formalism to specify mappings 1.5.2 Formalism to specify project and flow of control 1.5.3 Comprehensive tool set to support model specification 1.5.4 Inter-model mapping utilising mapping specifications 1.5.5 Control system utilising project and flow of control specification 1.6 Description of Example 1.6.1 The Snart language 1.6.2 PlanEntry 1.6.3 FaceEditor 1.6.4 VISION-3D 1.6.5 ThermalDesigner 1.6.6 IDM 1.6.7 Correspondences between models 1.7 Outline of Thesis
2.1 Structure and Requirements 2.2 Schema Modelling and Development 2.2.1 Requirements of a schema modelling environment 2.2.2 IDM schema 2.2.3 DT schemas 2.2.4 Actor schemas 2.2.5 Related schema modelling environment research 2.2.6 Approach to a schema modelling environment 2.3 Inter-schema Relationship Modelling 2.3.1 Requirements of an inter-schema relationship definition language and modelling environment 2.3.2 Related inter-schema relationship modelling languages 2.3.3 Related inter-schema relationship modelling environments 2.3.4 Approach to an inter-schema relationship modelling language 2.3.5 Approach to an inter-schema relationship modelling environment 2.4 Design Tool Environment Modelling 2.4.1 Requirements for design tool environment modelling 2.4.2 Related design tool environment modelling work 2.4.3 Approach to a design tool environment modelling system 2.5 Project Definition 2.5.1 Requirements for a project definition notation and development environment 2.5.2 Related project definition notation work 2.5.3 Related project definition environment work 2.5.4 Approach to a project definition notation 2.5.5 Approach to a project definition environment 2.6 Project Development Environment Summary
3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Requirements for schema development 3.1.2 Schema specification languages 3.1.3 The EXPRESS and EXPRESS-G languages 3.2 Schema Development in the EPE Environment 3.2.1 Functionality offered by the EPE environment 3.2.2 Using the EPE environment 3.2.3 Implementation of EPE in the MViews framework 3.2.4 Internal schema representation in EPE 3.2.5 Summary of EPE functionality 3.3 Generic Schema Database Definition 3.4 Appraisal of Schema Modelling
4.1 Mapping Types 4.1.1 Structural mapping types 4.1.2 Semantic mapping types 4.1.3 Mapping language requirements 4.2 Mapping Definition Languages 4.2.1 EXPRESS-M 4.2.2 EXPRESS-V 4.2.3 EXPRESS-C 4.2.4 Transformr 4.2.5 EDM-2 4.2.6 KIF 4.2.7 Superviews 4.2.8 RDBMS views 4.3 Summary of Inter-Schema Relationship Modelling
5.1 Mapping between Schemas 5.2 Mapping between Classes 5.2.1 Entity names and keys 5.2.2 Inheritance of inter_class definitions 5.2.3 Invariant specification 5.2.4 Initialiser specification 5.2.5 Equivalence specification 5.2.6 Mapping equations 5.3 A Graphical Notation for VML 5.3.1 Graphical icons of VML-G 5.4 Appraisal of VML
6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 Requirements for mapping development 6.2 Mapping Development in VPE 6.2.1 Functionality offered by the VPE environment 6.2.2 Using the VPE environment 6.2.3 Implementation of VPE in the MViews framework 6.2.4 Future connections between VPE and EPE 6.3 Management of Mapping Definitions 6.3.1 Name resolution 6.3.2 Schema modification 6.4 Generic Mapping Database Definition 6.5 Appraisal of Mapping Modelling and Development
7.1 Introduction 7.1.1 Requirements 7.1.2 Structure 7.2 User and Function Modelling 7.3 Flow of Control Modelling 7.3.1 Set theoretic background for flow of control 7.3.2 Flow definition 7.4 Appraisal of Project Specification
8.1 Structure and Requirements 8.2 Schema Instance Development 8.2.1 Requirements of a schema instance maintenance system 8.2.2 Related schema instance maintenance systems 8.2.3 Approach to a schema instance maintenance system 8.3 Mapping Handler and Controller 8.3.1 Requirements of a mapping handler and controller 8.3.2 Related mapping handler and controller work 8.3.3 Approach to a mapping handler and controller 8.4 Design Tool Connection 8.4.1 Requirements for a design tool connection system 8.4.2 Related design tool connection systems 8.5 Flow Handling 8.5.1 Requirements of a flow of control manager 8.5.2 Related flow of control manager work 8.5.3 Approach to a flow of control manager 8.6 Project Testing and Implementation Environment Summary
9.1 Requirements for Instance Management 9.2 Instance Management Systems 9.2.1 EPE: an instance construction and browsing system 9.2.2 InSTEP: a graphical instance browser 9.2.3 SnartQuery and the ObjectViewer 9.2.4 ReŽlex: an object-oriented CAD system 9.3 Appraisal of Schema Instance Management
10.1 Data-Store Modification Records 10.2 The Mapping Controller 10.2.1 Transaction-based mapping manager 10.2.2 Automatic mapping manager 10.3 Performing a Mapping 10.3.1 In preparation to map 10.3.2 The first mapping between two stores 10.3.3 Consideration of modification types 10.3.4 Determining combinations of objects from an inter_class header 10.3.5 Four pass mapping process 10.3.6 Mapping a new combination to the other data-store 10.3.7 Procedures followed when a new object is created 10.3.8 Tracking objects created and referenced in mappings 10.3.9 Mapping the deletion of an object 10.3.10 Mapping the modification of an object 10.3.11 Evaluating, or re-evaluating affected equations 10.4 Appraisal of Mapping Controller
11.1 Requirements for Flow Handling 11.1.1 Project manager requirements 11.1.2 Actor requirements 11.2 The Exchange Executive 11.2.1 Simulation of flow of control 11.2.2 Representation of design tool invocation 11.2.3 Project manager interface 11.2.4 Actor interface 11.3 Appraisal of Flow Handling
12.1 The Project Development Environment 12.2 The Mapping System 12.2.1 Additional applications of the mapping language 12.3 The Flow of Control System 12.4 Future Work 12.4.1 Tighter system integration 12.4.2 Distributed environment 12.4.3 Wider incorporation of project aspects 12.4.4 Formal definitions of the mapping domain 12.4.5 Alternate mapping language implementations 12.4.6 Incorporation of measure tools 12.4.7 Dissemination and exploitation
Appendix A. The View Mapping Language A.1 VML Syntax A.2 VML Graphical Notation A.3 VML Comparison to other Notations A.3.1 Comparison to database operators A.3.2 Comparison to Motro virtual integration operators Appendix B. Project Specification Language B.1 Project Model Transfer Syntax B.2 Project Modelling Graphical Notation B.2.1 User and function specification B.2.2 Flow of control specification Appendix C. Snart C.1 Facets C.2 Query Language C.2.1 Introduction C.2.2 Example schemas C.2.3 Old style queries in Snart C.2.4 New style queries in Snart C.2.5 Implementation of the query language in Snart C.3 Object Spaces C.3.1 Introduction C.3.2 Defining an object space in Snart C.3.3 Working with an object space model in Snart C.4 Persistency C.4.1 Introduction C.4.2 Persistency in the old Snart C.4.3 Manipulating persistent objects in the old Snart C.4.4 Persistency in the new Snart C.5 ObjectViewer Appendix D. Small Examples Schemas and Mappings Appendix E. Large Example Schemas and Mappings E.1 Description of Large Example E.2 Schemas for the Large Example E.2.1 IDM schema E.2.2 PlanEntry schema E.2.3 FaceEditor schema E.2.4 VISION-3D schema E.2.5 ThermalDesigner schema E.3 Mappings for the Large Example E.3.1 IDM <-> PlanEntry mapping E.3.2 IDM <-> FaceEditor mapping E.3.3 IDM <-> VISION-3D mapping E.3.4 IDM <-> ThermalDesigner mapping E.4 Project Window for the Large Example E.4.1 User and function specification E.4.2 Flow of control specification Appendix F. The Parsers F.1 ISO-10303:11 EXPRESS Parser F.1.1 EXPRESS to Snart translator F.1.2 Snart to EXPRESS translator F.1.3 Snart to ReŽlex translator F.2 ISO-10303:21 STEP data-file Parser F.2.1 STEP data-file to Snart translator F.2.2 Snart to STEP data-file translator F.3 CGE Parser F.4 VML Parser Appendix G. Generalised Schema Representation Notation G.1 Version Tree G.2 Schema Appendix H. Generalised Mapping Representation Notation H.1 Schema H.2 Mapping H.3 Inverted Index