OneStopTesting - Quality Testing Jobs, eBooks, Articles, FAQs, Training Institutes, Testing Software, Testing downloads, testing news, testing tools, learn testing, manual testing, automated testing, load runner, winrunner, test director, silk test, STLC

Forum| Contact Us| Testimonials| Sitemap| Employee Referrals| News| Articles| Feedback| Enquiry
 
Testing Resources
 
  • Testing Articles
  • Testing Books
  • Testing Certification
  • Testing FAQs
  • Testing Downloads
  • Testing Interview Questions
  • Career In Software Testing
  • Testing Jobs
  • Testing Job Consultants
  • Testing News
  • Testing Training Institutes
  •  
    Fundamentals
     
  • Introduction
  • Designing Test Cases
  • Developing Test Cases
  • Writing Test Cases
  • Test Case Templates
  • Purpose
  • What Is a Good Test Case?
  • Test Specifications
  • UML
  • Scenario Testing
  • Test Script
  • Test Summary Report
  • Test Data
  • Defect Tracking
  •  
    Software testing
     
  • Testing Forum
  • Introduction
  • Testing Start Process
  • Testing Stop Process
  • Testing Strategy
  • Risk Analysis
  • Software Listings
  • Test Metrics
  • Release Life Cycle
  • Interoperability Testing
  • Extreme Programming
  • Cyclomatic Complexity
  • Equivalence Partitioning
  • Error Guessing
  • Boundary Value Analysis
  • Traceability Matrix
  •  
    SDLC Models
     
  • Introduction
  • Waterfall Model
  • Iterative Model
  • V-Model
  • Spiral Model
  • Big Bang Model
  • RAD Model
  • Prototyping Model
  •  
    Software Testing Types
     
  • Static Testing
  • Dynamic Testing
  • Blackbox Testing
  • Whitebox Testing
  • Unit Testing
  • Requirements Testing
  • Regression Testing
  • Error Handling Testing
  • Manual support Testing
  • Intersystem Testing
  • Control Testing
  • Parallel Testing
  • Volume Testing
  • Stress Testing
  • Performance Testing
  • Agile Testing
  • Localization Testing
  • Globalization Testing
  • Internationalization Testing
  •  
    Test Plan
     
  • Introduction
  • Test Plan Development
  • Test Plan Template
  • Regional Differences
  • Criticism
  • Hardware Development
  • IEEE 829-1998
  • Testing Without a TestPlan
  •  
    Code Coverage
     
  • Introduction
  • Measures
  • Working
  • Statement Coverage
  • Branch Coverage
  • Path Coverage
  • Coverage criteria
  • Code coverage in practice
  • Tools
  • Features
  •  
    Quality Management
     
  • Introduction
  • Components
  • Capability Maturity Model
  • CMMI
  • Six Sigma
  •  
    Project Management
     
  • Introduction
  • PM Activities
  • Project Control Variables
  • PM Methodology
  • PM Phases
  • PM Templates
  • Agile PM
  •  
    Automated Testing Tools
     
  • Quick Test Professional
  • WinRunner
  • LoadRunner
  • Test Director
  • Silk Test
  • Test Partner
  • Rational Robot
  •  
    Performance Testing Tools
     
  • Apache JMeter
  • Rational Performance Tester
  • LoadRunner
  • NeoLoad
  • WAPT
  • WebLOAD
  • Loadster
  • OpenSTA
  • LoadUI
  • Appvance
  • Loadstorm
  • LoadImpact
  • QEngine
  • Httperf
  • CloudTest
  •  
    Languages
     
  • Perl Testing
  • Python Testing
  • JUnit Testing
  • Unix Shell Scripting
  •  
    Automation Framework
     
  • Introduction
  • Keyword-driven Testing
  • Data-driven Testing
  •  
    Configuration Management
     
  • History
  • What is CM?
  • Meaning of CM
  • Graphically Representation
  • Traditional CM
  • CM Activities
  • Tools
  •  
    Articles
     
  • What Is Software Testing?
  • Effective Defect Reports
  • Software Security
  • Tracking Defects
  • Bug Report
  • Web Testing
  • Exploratory Testing
  • Good Test Case
  • Write a Test
  • Code Coverage
  • WinRunner vs. QuickTest
  • Web Testing Tools
  • Automated Testing
  • Testing Estimation Process
  • Quality Assurance
  • The Interview Guide
  • Upgrade Path Testing
  • Priority and Severity of Bug
  • Three Questions About Bug
  •    
     
    Home » Testing Articles » Testing - General Articles » Software Product Line Engineering with Feature Models

    Software Product Line Engineering with Feature Models

    A D V E R T I S E M E N T


    Although the term "Software Product Line Engineering" is becoming more widely known, there is still uncertaintyamong developers about how it would apply in their own development context. Inthis article we tackle this problem by describing the design and automatedderivation of the product variants of a Software Product Line using an easy to understand, practical example.

    One increasing trend in software development is the need to develop multiple, similar software products instead of just a single individualproduct. There are several reasons for this. Products that are being developedfor the international market must be adapted for different legal or culturalenvironments, as well as for different languages, and so must provide adapteduser interfaces. Because of cost and time constraints it is not possible forsoftware developers to develop a new product from scratch for each new customer,and so software reuse must be increased. These types of problems typically occurin portal or embedded applications, e.g. vehicle control applications [Ste04]. SoftwareProduct Line Engineering (SPLE) offers a solution to these not quite new, but increasingly challenging, problems [Cle01].

    The basis of SPLE is the explicit modelling of what is common and what differs between product variants. Feature Models [Kan90],[Cza00] are frequently used for this. SPLE also includes the design andmanagement of a variable software architecture and its constituent (software) components.

    This article describes how this is done in practice, using the example of a Product Line of meteorological data systems. Using this examplewe will show how a Product Line is designed, and how product variants can be derived automatically.

    Software Product Lines

    However, before we introduce the example, we will take a small detour into the basis of SPLE. The main difference from"normal", one-of-a-kind software development is a logical separationbetween the development of core, reusable software assets (the platform),and actual applications. During application development, platform software is selected and configured to meet the specific needs of the application.

    The Product Line's commonalities and variabilities are described in the Problem Space. This reflects the desired range ofapplications ("product variants") in the Product Line (the"domain") and their inter-dependencies. So, when producing a productvariant, the application developer uses the problem space definition to describethe desired combination of problem variabilities to implement the product variant.

    An associated Solution Space describes the constituent assets of the Product Line (the "platform") and its relation to theproblem space, i.e. rules for how elements of the platform are selected whencertain values in the problem space are selected as part of a product variant.The four-part division resulting from the combination of the problem space and solution space with domain and application engineering is shown in Figure 1.

    Figure 1 Overview of SPLE activities

    Several different options are available for modelling the information in these four quadrants. The problem space can be described e.g.with Feature Models, or with a Domain Specific Language (DSL).There are also a number of different options for modelling the solution space,for example component libraries, DSL compilers, generative programs and also configuration files. [Cza00].

    In the rest of this article we will consider each of these quadrants in turn, beginning with Domain Engineering activities. We will firstlook at modelling the problem space - what is common to, and what differsbetween, the different product variants. Then we will consider one possibleapproach for realising product variants in the solution space using C++ as anexample. Finally, we will look at how Application Engineering is performed byusing the problem and solution space models to create a product variant. Inreality, this linear flow is rarely found in practice. Product Lines usuallyevolve continuously, even after the first product variants have been defined and delivered to customers.

    Our example Product Line will contain different products for entry and display of meteorological data on a PC. An initial brainstormingsession has led to a set of possible differences (variation points)between possible products: meteorological data can come from different sensorsattached to the PC, fetched from appropriate Internet services or generateddirectly by the product for demonstration and test purposes. Data can be outputdirectly from the application, distributed as HTML or XML through an integratedWeb server or regularly written to file on a fixed disk. The measurements tomake can also vary: temperature, air pressure, wind velocity and humidity couldall be of interest. Finally the units of measure could also vary (degrees Celsius vs. Fahrenheit, hPa vs. mmHg, m / s vs. Beaufort).



    More Testing - General Articles
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next



    discussionDiscussion Center
    Discuss
    Discuss

    Query

    Feedback
    Yahoo Groups
    Y! Group
    Sirfdosti Groups
    Sirfdosti
    Contact Us
    Contact

    Looking for Software Testing eBooks and Interview Questions? Join now and get it FREE!
     
    A D V E R T I S E M E N T
       
       

    Members Login


    Email ID:
    Password:


    Forgot Password
    New User
       
       
    Testing Interview Questions
  • General Testing
  • Automation Testing
  • Manual Testing
  • Software Development Life Cycle
  • Software Testing Life Cycle
  • Testing Models
  • Automated Testing Tools
  • Silk Test
  • Win Runner
  •    
       
    Testing Highlights

  • Software Testing Ebooks
  • Testing Jobs
  • Testing Frequently Asked Questions
  • Testing News
  • Testing Interview Questions
  • Testing Jobs
  • Testing Companies
  • Testing Job Consultants
  • ISTQB Certification Questions
  •    
       
    Interview Questions

  • WinRunner
  • LoadRunner
  • SilkTest
  • TestDirector
  • General Testing Questions
  •    
       
    Resources

  • Testing Forum
  • Downloads
  • E-Books
  • Testing Jobs
  • Testing Interview Questions
  • Testing Tools Questions
  • Testing Jobs
  • A-Z Knowledge
  •    
    Planning
    for
    Study ABROAD ?


    Study Abroad


    Vyom Network : Free SMS, GRE, GMAT, MBA | Online Exams | Freshers Jobs | Software Downloads | Programming & Source Codes | Free eBooks | Job Interview Questions | Free Tutorials | Jokes, Songs, Fun | Free Classifieds | Free Recipes | Bangalore Info | GATE Preparation | MBA Preparation | Free SAP Training
    Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions
    Sitemap | Sitemap (XML)
    Job Interview Questions | Placement Papers | SMS Jokes | C++ Interview Questions | C Interview Questions | Web Hosting
    German | French | Portugese | Italian