VisDP: A Web Service for Visualizing Design Pattern on Demand

Upload File here if you do NOT want to show Attributes/Operations Please select the XML file: Please input your scale, Horizontal and Vertical

Upload File here if you DO want to show Attributes/Operations Please select the XML file: Please input your scale, Horizontal and Vertical

Objective

UML diagrams has been used to visually represent a software system design. However, current UML tool such as Rational Rose has no capability to represent design pattern related information in a system design.  Design patterns have been common building blocks to develop large scale software system. Representing pattern related information in UML diagrams is very important for system architects and developers to understand system better.

This service enables users to attach pattern related information onto UML diagrams. The new generated diagrams can hide/show pattern related information dynamically. When pattern related information is hidden, it looks just like regular class diagram generated by other UML tools such as Ration Rose. When users move the mouse over a UML element, the pattern related information will show and user can tell the design patterns the UML element participates, and the role the UML element plays in the pattern.

How to use VisDP?

• Before you can use this service, you need to have following steps done.

  • Java plug-in 1.3 or up is installed in your system. You can download a copy of Java plug-in 1.4 from here.

  • Grant "read" permission.
    Edit java.policy file in the directory "%Java plug-in installed directory%/lib/security" and add the following line in java.policy file.
    permission java.util.PropertyPermission "user.home", "read";

  • Generate XML file.
    You can generate XML file from UML tool plug-in (e.g. Unisys software, a plug-in for Rational Rose)

• To use this service, select the XML file and click on "Submit"

Example

Suppose that we have a system design that manages the connections to different types of databases, such as Oracle and MySQL. This system provides a connection pool for accessing each type of database. The connect pool restricts a limit number of accesses to a database and reuses connections to the database. The system has the capability to handle different types of database connections. The UML class diagram generated by Ration Rose is given below. The UML class diagram with pattern-related information attached can be found here. The corresponding XML file can be found here.