UML圖形間一致性檢查之研究

Abstract

物件導向分析與設計方法已被大多數軟體開發人員及組織所採用，UML語言也已成為今日軟體設計文件的主要塑模工具。在軟體複雜度日益提升之今日，軟體文件之不一致常導致軟體開發成本之增加，因此軟體設計文件的追溯性日益重要；然而今日之物件導向軟體開發環境對於跨階段UML圖形之一致性檢查功能卻嚴重不足，導致軟體開發團隊常需花費甚多人力來做不同階段軟體一致性的檢查，本研究旨在探討跨階段(需求與分析階段間及分析與設計階段間)的UML圖形之一致性檢查問題，並提出有效機制以提升軟體文件之可追溯性。

本研究首先分析跨階段UML圖形元素間的關係，進而提出下列的輔助機制： (1)將use case的flow of event以表格式描述，方便分析階段collaboration diagram之class名稱及responsibility之制定。 (2)由analysis classes、middleware及system software給予使用者建立關聯design classes之導引，以方便設計階段design classes及sequence diagram之設計。 透過上述輔助機制，可更方便進行(1) use case diagram與collaboration diagram，(2) collaboration diagram與sequence diagram，及(3) analysis class diagram與design class diagram之一致性檢查，並在ArgoUML開發工具加入上述輔助及檢查機制以驗證其實用性。

藉由本研究所提出之輔助機制及檢查方法確有助於在開發前期提早發現軟體產物間不一致的問題，減少設計的錯誤，因而降低日後偵錯與修改的成本，提升軟體開發之生產力。

Object-Oriented Analysis and Design have been widely used by most software developers and organizations. Unified Modeling Language (UML) becomes a major modeling tool used to describe software documents. By the improving of the complexity of information related product, inconsistencies between software documents would result in the increasing of development costs. Hence, the traceability between software documents becomes more and more important. However, the function of consistency checking between cross-phase UML diagrams is not well developed in most development environments at the present. Software development teams have to spend extra human resources in order to check consistencies between software artifacts produced in different development phases. In this research, we focus on the problem of consistency checking between cross-phase UML diagrams including those artifacts produced in requirement capturing phase to analysis phase and analysis phase to design phase. We also propose an efficient mechanism to improve the traceability between software documents.

After analyzing the relationships between elements appeared in UML diagrams, we proposed the mechanism to assist developers as follows: 1.We use a table to describe the flow of event of each use case scenario, this helps the developers identify class names and responsibilities in collaboration diagrams more easily during the analysis phase. 2.Associate the design classes with analysis classes, middlewares, and system softwares, it helps the developers identify design classes and sequence diagrams during the design phase.

It would be more convenient to check the consistency between (1) use case scenario and collaboration diagram, (2) collaboration diagram and sequence diagram, and (3) analysis class diagram and design class diagram with the proposed mechanism described above. We also implement this mechanism on the development tool called ArgoUML to verify the practicality. By means of this proposed mechanism, developers can find out the inconsistencies between software artifacts during the earlier stage of development cycles, and reduce mistakes and costs in design workflow to improve the productivity of software development.