Purpose

The Component Broker (CB) tool kit provides a bridge between the Rational Rose design domain and the Object Builder implementation domain. The Rose bridge allows the design team to move their design directly into Object Builder from Rose, and to reflect changes made in Object Builder back into the original Rose model. This reduces the amount of time spent developing the application and ensures that the implementation in Object Builder matches the original design.

Related Rational Unified Process activity:  Activity: Design Implementation Model.

Overview

  1. Prepare the Rational Rose environment
  2. Create the Rational Rose model
  3. Bridge the Rational Rose model to Object Builder
  4. Verify the Object Builder model
  5. Update the Rational Rose model

1. Prepare the Rational Rose environment To top of page

The bridging process requires the Rational Rose Developer's edition or the Enterprise edition (preferred).

Follow the instructions in the Component Broker Application Development Tools Guide to prepare Rational Rose prior to attempting a bridge. The setup procedure is provided section "Using Rational Rose with Object Builder". In addition, the Component Broker .cat file may be imported into Rose to allow designers to specify inheritance from Managed Object Framework (MOFW) classes. The .cat files are as follows:

  • services.cat:     Object Services
  • boim.cat:          Business Object Application Frameworks (BOIMs)
  • managed.cat:    MOFW

2. Create the Rational Rose model To top of page

The Rational Rose model must be structured appropriately to allow team development with Object Builder.

  1. You must consider how the model is to be partitioned into packages that can be developed in Object Builder by multiple programmers simultaneously.
  2. Keep in mind that Rational Rose represents your design model and Object Builder will represent your implementation model.
  3. You will want to make sure that you keep the model in sync using Rational ClearCase®.

For details on creating the Rational rose model, refer to Application Development Tools Guide, "Using Rational Rose with Object Builder".

3. Bridge the Rational Rose model to Object Builder To top of page

  1. Open the Rational Rose model.
  2. Check the model. Creating a checklist specific to your project is a good idea.
  3. Make sure that the $CRUDER variable is set to your current project directory.
  4. From the File menu, select Export to Object Builder.
  5. Specify the export destination directory. If this is a re-bridge, be sure the directory is the same as the previous bridge.
  6. Select the Log error(s) into a file instead of message box checkbox. This will allow you to examine the errors later and repair the model.
  7. Click Finish.
  8. Create and run a batch file that collates the error messages from all Object Builder models in a single file.
  9. Examine the error file. There are several types of entries listed in this file. Some of these errors are to be expected, whereas others indicate a problem with the mode. You should expect that any reference to a non-bridge class will cause an entry in this log. This will allow you to finish the bridging process.

4. Verify the Object Builder model To top of page

Once the model is bridged, verify the Object Builder model.

This operation is necessary because the Rational Rose Bridge will not add any references in the Object Builder model that will cause the model not to compile. So, when the bridge finds a reference to a class that will not be included in the Object Builder model, it will not add it to the Object Builder model. Instead, it will write a log entry in the .tmp file. There is one .tmp file for each Object Builder project. This file is located in the project directory.

Using the collated file, make the following changes to the various Object Builder projects:

  • Add attributes for non-IDL classes; for example, Java.util.Hashtable and account
  • Add parameters and return types to methods that use non-IDL classes
  • Add attributes and methods needed to implement relationships to non-IDL classes

5. Update the Rational Rose model To top of page

A Rational Rose model can be modified and re-bridged. However, certain restrictions need to be considered when doing so. Changing scope from public to private will not remove the public interface during a re-bridge. Deletions in the Rose model will not propagate and delete the corresponding elements from the Object Builder model. A class that is moved from one project to another will create a new class in the second package, but will not remove the class from the original package.

This information is provided by IBM Corporation

 

© Copyright IBM Corporation 1999-2000

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