Maintaining consistency in XML-based configurations: A Pattern-driven approach

Several software artifacts are used along the software development process. These are used as input to perform tasks that produce new artifacts. Inconsistencies between related artifacts at different levels of abstraction can arise during the software development process. Specialization patterns abstract the structural description of a framework extension point, and can be used to qualify an element of the framework with a status and get a list of actions needed to change the element to a different status. A tool built using these patterns can then provide an overview of the framework status and identify the actions needed to reach a status of consistency. This thesis first identifies a source of inconsistencies between three artifacts that are generated and used in a framework (diagrams, XML schema and XML configuration files). Second this thesis shows how to adapt specialization patterns to validate XML configuration files. Finally this thesis provides a tool support that utilizes specialization patterns to guide the developer in the process of editing the configuration of the framework while maintaining the consistency of the three artifacts