A pattern based approach to separate tangled concerns in component based development.
Wim Vanderperren · VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) · 2002
This work builds on aspect-oriented software development ideas and our previous research where we lift the abstraction level of visual component based development. In component based development, the components are the natural unit of modularization. However, there will always be concerns that cannot be confined to one single component. We introduce composition adapters as a means to modularize crosscutting concerns in separate and reusable entities. A composition adapter describes an adaptation of the interaction protocol between a set of components. An important feature of a composition adapter is that the adaptations are described independent of a concrete API, making them highly reusable. Using composition adapters, we are able to weave crosscutting aspects in a component based application. The weaving algorithm uses automata theory to allow the state-based insertion of a composition adapter into the interaction protocol. This allows a seamless integration with our component based methodology. We embedded composition adapters and our algorithms into PacoSuite, a visual component composition tool that is used in our lab as a research vehicle. PacoSuite hides the underlying complexity to the component composer, rendering an easy to use visual component based development environment that includes now aspect separation features through composition adapters.