A simple and efficient step towards type-correct XSLT transformations

XSLT 1.0 is a standardized functional programming language and widely used for defining transformations on XML models and documents, in many areas of industry and publishing. The problem of XSLT type checking is to verify that a given transformation, when applied to an input which conforms to a given structure definition, e.g. an XML DTD, will always produce an output which adheres to a second structure definition. This problem is known to be undecidable for the full range of XSLT and document structure definition languages. Either one or both of them must be significantly restricted, or only approximations can be calculated. The algorithm presented here takes a different approach towards type correct XSLT transformations. It does not consider the type of the input document at all. Instead it parses the fragments of the result document contained verbatim in the transformation code and verifies that these can potentially appear in the result language, as defined by a given DTD. This is a kind of abstract interpretation, which can be executed on the fly and in linear time when parsing the XSLT program. Generated error messages are located accurately to a child subsequence of a single result element node. Apparently the method eliminates a considerable share of XSLT programming errors, on the same order of magnitude as a full fledged global control-flow analysis

Visualization of Crash Channel Assignments in a Tabular Form

Passive safety systems try to lessen the effects of an accident. Airbags are a passive safety feature. They are designed to protect occupants of a vehicle during a crash. These systems have to be configured correctly in order to deploy airbags at the right time in case of a collision. Airbag application tools are used to simulate and interpret crashes. Some factors influence when an airbag should deploy. Based on different parameters, the logic for firing airbags is also different. Under every circumstance, an airbag has to be deployed at the right time in order to prevent injuries and fatalities. During the process of simulation, the data which is simulated is written to a database. During interpretation, this data is extracted from the database. Then, the required information can be analyzed and interpreted for further use. This data contains crash related information. For example, the type of crash, crash code and crash channel assignments. For every crash present in the airbag project, crash channels are assigned to the sensors. Each sensor present has a crash channel assigned to it. This is called the crash channel assignment. An airbag application tool is developed to show the crash channel assignments. This tool should handle the information extraction, and visualization of crash channel assignments. The final output should be in a tabular format, which includes user specific customizations

Web Engineering for Workflow-based Applications: Models, Systems and Methodologies

This dissertation presents novel solutions for the construction of Workflow-based Web applications: The Web Engineering DSL Framework, a stakeholder-oriented Web Engineering methodology based on Domain-Specific Languages; the Workflow DSL for the efficient engineering of Web-based Workflows with strong stakeholder involvement; the Dialog DSL for the usability-oriented development of advanced Web-based dialogs; the Web Engineering Reuse Sphere enabling holistic, stakeholder-oriented reuse

A Model Driven Approach to Model Transformations

The OMG's Model Driven Architecture (MDA) initiative has been the focus of much attention in both academia and industry, due to its promise of more rapid and consistent software development through the increased use of models. In order for MDA to reach its full potential, the ability to manipulate and transform models { most obviously from the Platform Independent Model (PIM) to the Platform Specific Models (PSM) { is vital. Recognizing this need, the OMG issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) largely concerned with finding a suitable mechanism for trans- forming models. This paper outlines the relevant background material, summarizes the approach taken by the QVT-Partners (to whom the authors belong), presents a non-trivial example using the QVT-Partners approach, and finally sketches out what the future holds for model transformations

Towards More Comprehensive Information Retrieval Systems: Entity Extraction Using XSLT

One problem that exists in today\u27s document management arena is the issue of retrieving information from electronic documents such as images, Microsoft Office documents, and e-mail. Specific data entities must be extracted from these documents so that the data can be searched and queried. This study presents a unique approach to extracting these entities: using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) to match patterns in text. Because XSLT is processed at run time, new XSLT templates can be created and used without having to recompile and redeploy the application. The specific implementation addressed in this project extracts entities from an image file. The data in the image file is converted to Extensible Markup Language (XML) text via optical character recognition (OCR), and then this XML text is transformed into an organized, well-formed XML output file using an XSLT template. We show this approach can accurately retrieve the correct data and this method can be extended to other electronic document sources

Description-driven Adaptation of Media Resources

The current multimedia landscape is characterized by a significant diversity in terms of available media formats, network technologies, and device properties. This heterogeneity has resulted in a number of new challenges, such as providing universal access to multimedia content. A solution for this diversity is the use of scalable bit streams, as well as the deployment of a complementary system that is capable of adapting scalable bit streams to the constraints imposed by a particular usage environment (e.g., the limited screen resolution of a mobile device). This dissertation investigates the use of an XML-driven (Extensible Markup Language) framework for the format-independent adaptation of scalable bit streams. Using this approach, the structure of a bit stream is first translated into an XML description. In a next step, the resulting XML description is transformed to reflect a desired adaptation of the bit stream. Finally, the transformed XML description is used to create an adapted bit stream that is suited for playback in the targeted usage environment. The main contribution of this dissertation is BFlavor, a new tool for exposing the syntax of binary media resources as an XML description. Its development was inspired by two other technologies, i.e. MPEG-21 BSDL (Bitstream Syntax Description Language) and XFlavor (Formal Language for Audio-Visual Object Representation, extended with XML features). Although created from a different point of view, both languages offer solutions for translating the syntax of a media resource into an XML representation for further processing. BFlavor (BSDL+XFlavor) harmonizes the two technologies by combining their strengths and eliminating their weaknesses. The expressive power and performance of a BFlavor-based content adaptation chain, compared to tool chains entirely based on either BSDL or XFlavor, were investigated by several experiments. One series of experiments targeted the exploitation of multi-layered temporal scalability in H.264/AVC, paying particular attention to the use of sub-sequences and hierarchical coding patterns, as well as to the use of metadata messages to communicate the bit stream structure to the adaptation logic. BFlavor was the only tool to offer an elegant and practical solution for XML-driven adaptation of H.264/AVC bit streams in the temporal domain