Software Integration and Framework Development

Abstract

The a-posteriori integration of heterogeneous engineering tools, where tools are supplied by different vendors, constitutes a challenging task. In particular, this applies to an integration approach where existing engineering tools are extended by new functionality which, again, can be integrated synergistically. Responding to these challenges, an approach to tool integration is described which puts strong emphasis on software architecture and model-driven development.

Starting from an abstract description for an integration software architecture, this architecture is gradually refined down to the implementation level. To integrate heterogeneous engineering tools, wrappers are constructed, abstracting from technical details and providing homogenized data access. This approach to tool integration is supported by a collection of tools for software architecture design and model-driven wrapper development, all based on formal graph models and transformation rules. This collection of tools considerably leverages the problem of composing a tightly integrated development environment from a set of heterogeneous engineering tools. So, we give specific architecture tools for the problem of tool integration following an a-posteriori approach.