Tool support for testing and documenting framework-based software

Abstract

Complex object oriented applications are these days built on the basis of frameworks. While it is clear that a framework and the applications built using the framework conform to some design, we experienced a mismatch between the "idealized" software architecture presented in the documentation and the architectural structures actually existing in the source code. This mismatch belongs either to the failures of the developer in implementing the proposed architecture or to the lack of tool support. By providing tool support for dynamic diagrams, applications can be animated for debug and optimization purposes and actual design documentation can be extracted from the implemented model. Framework inspection using a true object oriented approach enables the software engineer to access the source level using an object oriented map of the observed application instead of switching to a procedural way of working.