Chapter 16 - Component-based software

engineering

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Topics covered

 Components and component models

 CBSE processes
 Component composition

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Component-based development

 Component-based software engineering (CBSE) is an

approach to software development that relies on the
reuse of entities called ‘software components’.
 It emerged from the failure of object-oriented
development to support effective reuse. Single object
classes are too detailed and specific.
 Components are more abstract than object classes and
can be considered to be stand-alone service providers.
They can exist as stand-alone entities.

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CBSE essentials

 Independent components specified by their interfaces.

 Component standards to facilitate component
integration.
 Middleware that provides support for component inter-
operability.
 A development process that is geared to reuse.

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CBSE and design principles

 Apart from the benefits of reuse, CBSE is based on

sound software engineering design principles:
 Components are independent so do not interfere with each
other;
 Component implementations are hidden;
 Communication is through well-defined interfaces;
 One components can be replaced by another if its interface is
maintained;
 Component infrastructures offer a range of standard services.

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Component standards

 Standards need to be established so that components

can communicate with each other and inter-operate.
 Unfortunately, several competing component standards
were established:
 Sun’s Enterprise Java Beans
 Microsoft’s COM and .NET
 CORBA’s CCM
 In practice, these multiple standards have hindered the
uptake of CBSE. It is impossible for components
developed using different approaches to work together.

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Service-oriented software engineering

 An executable service is a type of independent

component. It has a ‘provides’ interface but not a
‘requires’ interface.
 From the outset, services have been based around
standards so there are no problems in communicating
between services offered by different vendors.
 System performance may be slower with services but
this approach is replacing CBSE in many systems.
 Covered in Chapter 18

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 Components and component models

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Components

 Components provide a service without regard to where

the component is executing or its programming
language
 A component is an independent executable entity that can be
made up of one or more executable objects;
 The component interface is published and all interactions are
through the published interface;

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Component definitions

 Councill and Heinmann:

 A software component is a software element that conforms to a
component model and can be independently deployed and
composed without modification according to a composition
standard.
 Szyperski:
 A software component is a unit of composition with contractually
specified interfaces and explicit context dependencies only. A
software component can be deployed independently and is
subject to composition by third-parties.

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Component characteristics

Component Description
characteristic
Composable For a component to be composable, all external interactions must
take place through publicly defined interfaces. In addition, it must
provide external access to information about itself, such as its
methods and attributes.
Deployable To be deployable, a component has to be self-contained. It must be
able to operate as a stand-alone entity on a component platform that
provides an implementation of the component model. This usually
means that the component is binary and does not have to be
compiled before it is deployed. If a component is implemented as a
service, it does not have to be deployed by a user of a component.
Rather, it is deployed by the service provider.

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 Component characteristics

Component Description
characteristic
Documented Components have to be fully documented so that potential users can
decide whether or not the components meet their needs. The syntax
and, ideally, the semantics of all component interfaces should be
specified.
Independent A component should be independent—it should be possible to
compose and deploy it without having to use other specific
components. In situations where the component needs externally
provided services, these should be explicitly set out in a ‘requires’
interface specification.
Standardized Component standardization means that a component used in a CBSE
process has to conform to a standard component model. This model
may define component interfaces, component metadata,
documentation, composition, and deployment.

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Component as a service provider

 The component is an independent, executable entity. It

does not have to be compiled before it is used with other
components.
 The services offered by a component are made available
through an interface and all component interactions take
place through that interface.
 The component interface is expressed in terms of
parameterized operations and its internal state is never
exposed.

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Component interfaces

 Provides interface
 Defines the services that are provided by the component to other
components.
 This interface, essentially, is the component API. It defines the
methods that can be called by a user of the component.
 Requires interface
 Defines the services that specifies what services must be made
available for the component to execute as specified.
 This does not compromise the independence or deployability of
a component because the ‘requires’ interface does not define
how these services should be provided.

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Component interfaces

Note UML notation. Ball and sockets can fit together.

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A model of a data collector component

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Component access

 Components are accessed using remote procedure calls

(RPCs).
 Each component has a unique identifier (usually a URL)
and can be referenced from any networked computer.
 Therefore it can be called in a similar way as a
procedure or method running on a local computer.

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Component models

 A component model is a definition of standards for

component implementation, documentation and
deployment.
 Examples of component models
 EJB model (Enterprise Java Beans)
 COM+ model (.NET model)
 Corba Component Model
 The component model specifies how interfaces should
be defined and the elements that should be included in
an interface definition.

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Basic elements of a component model

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Elements of a component model

 Interfaces
 Components are defined by specifying their interfaces. The
component model specifies how the interfaces should be defined
and the elements, such as operation names, parameters and
exceptions, which should be included in the interface definition.
 Usage
 In order for components to be distributed and accessed
remotely, they need to have a unique name or handle associated
with them. This has to be globally unique.
 Deployment
 The component model includes a specification of how
components should be packaged for deployment as
independent, executable entities.
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Middleware support

 Component models are the basis for middleware that

provides support for executing components.
 Component model implementations provide:
 Platform services that allow components written according to the
model to communicate;
 Support services that are application-independent services used
by different components.
 To use services provided by a model, components are
deployed in a container. This is a set of interfaces used
to access the service implementations.

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Middleware services defined in a component
model

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 CBSE processes

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CBSE processes

 CBSE processes are software processes that support

component-based software engineering.
 They take into account the possibilities of reuse and the different
process activities involved in developing and using reusable
components.
 Development for reuse
 This process is concerned with developing components or
services that will be reused in other applications. It usually
involves generalizing existing components.
 Development with reuse
 This process is the process of developing new applications
using existing components and services.

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CBSE processes

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Supporting processes

 Component acquisition is the process of acquiring

components for reuse or development into a reusable
component.
 It may involve accessing locally- developed components or
services or finding these components from an external source.
 Component management is concerned with managing a
company’s reusable components, ensuring that they are
properly catalogued, stored and made available for
reuse.
 Component certification is the process of checking a
component and certifying that it meets its specification.

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CBSE for reuse

 CBSE for reuse focuses on component development.

 Components developed for a specific application usually
have to be generalised to make them reusable.
 A component is most likely to be reusable if it associated
with a stable domain abstraction (business object).
 For example, in a hospital stable domain abstractions
are associated with the fundamental purpose - nurses,
patients, treatments, etc.

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Component development for reuse

 Components for reuse may be specially constructed by

generalising existing components.
 Component reusability
 Should reflect stable domain abstractions;
 Should hide state representation;
 Should be as independent as possible;
 Should publish exceptions through the component interface.
 There is a trade-off between reusability and usability
 The more general the interface, the greater the reusability but
it is then more complex and hence less usable.

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Changes for reusability

 Remove application-specific methods.

 Change names to make them general.
 Add methods to broaden coverage.
 Make exception handling consistent.
 Add a configuration interface for component adaptation.
 Integrate required components to reduce dependencies.

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Exception handling

 Components should not handle exceptions themselves,

because each application will have its own requirements
for exception handling.
 Rather, the component should define what exceptions can arise
and should publish these as part of the interface.
 In practice, however, there are two problems with this:
 Publishing all exceptions leads to bloated interfaces that are
harder to understand. This may put off potential users of the
component.
 The operation of the component may depend on local exception
handling, and changing this may have serious implications for
the functionality of the component.

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Legacy system components

 Existing legacy systems that fulfil a useful business

function can be re-packaged as components for reuse.
 This involves writing a wrapper component that
implements provides and requires interfaces then
accesses the legacy system.
 Although costly, this can be much less expensive than
rewriting the legacy system.

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Reusable components

 The development cost of reusable components may be

higher than the cost of specific equivalents. This extra
reusability enhancement cost should be an organization
rather than a project cost.
 Generic components may be less space-efficient and
may have longer execution times than their specific
equivalents.

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Component management

 Component management involves deciding how to

classify the component so that it can be discovered,
making the component available either in a repository or
as a service, maintaining information about the use of
the component and keeping track of different component
versions.
 A company with a reuse program may carry out some
form of component certification before the component is
made available for reuse.
 Certification means that someone apart from the developer
checks the quality of the component.

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CBSE with reuse

 CBSE with reuse process has to find and integrate

reusable components.
 When reusing components, it is essential to make trade-
offs between ideal requirements and the services
actually provided by available components.
 This involves:
 Developing outline requirements;
 Searching for components then modifying requirements
according to available functionality.
 Searching again to find if there are better components that meet
the revised requirements.
 Composing components to create the system.

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CBSE with reuse

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The component identification process

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Component identification issues

 Trust. You need to be able to trust the supplier of a

component. At best, an untrusted component may not
operate as advertised; at worst, it can breach your
security.
 Requirements. Different groups of components will
satisfy different requirements.
 Validation.
 The component specification may not be detailed enough to
allow comprehensive tests to be developed.
 Components may have unwanted functionality. How can you test
this will not interfere with your application?

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Component validation

 Component validation involves developing a set of test

cases for a component (or, possibly, extending test
cases supplied with that component) and developing a
test harness to run component tests.
 The major problem with component validation is that the
component specification may not be sufficiently detailed to allow
you to develop a complete set of component tests.
 As well as testing that a component for reuse does what
you require, you may also have to check that the
component does not include any malicious code or
functionality that you don’t need.

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Ariane launcher failure – validation failure?

 In 1996, the 1st test flight of the Ariane 5 rocket ended in

disaster when the launcher went out of control 37
seconds after take off.
 The problem was due to a reused component from a
previous version of the launcher (the Inertial Navigation
System) that failed because assumptions made when
that component was developed did not hold for Ariane 5.
 The functionality that failed in this component was not
required in Ariane 5.

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 Component composition

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Component composition

 The process of assembling components to create a

system.
 Composition involves integrating components with each
other and with the component infrastructure.
 Normally you have to write ‘glue code’ to integrate
components.

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Types of composition

 Sequential composition (1) where the composed

components are executed in sequence. This involves
composing the provides interfaces of each component.
 Hierarchical composition (2) where one component calls
on the services of another. The provides interface of one
component is composed with the requires interface of
another.
 Additive composition (3) where the interfaces of two
components are put together to create a new
component. Provides and requires interfaces of
integrated component is a combination of interfaces of
constituent components.

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Types of component composition

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Glue code

 Code that allows components to work together

 If A and B are composed sequentially, then glue code
has to call A, collect its results then call B using these
results, transforming them into the format required by B.
 Glue code may be used to resolve interface
incompatibilities.

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Interface incompatibility

 Parameter incompatibility where operations have the

same name but are of different types.
 Operation incompatibility where the names of operations
in the composed interfaces are different.
 Operation incompleteness where the provides interface
of one component is a subset of the requires interface of
another.

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Components with incompatible interfaces

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Adaptor components

 Address the problem of component incompatibility by

reconciling the interfaces of the components that are
composed.
 Different types of adaptor are required depending on the
type of composition.
 An addressFinder and a mapper component may be
composed through an adaptor that strips the postal code
from an address and passes this to the mapper
component.

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Composition through an adaptor

 The component postCodeStripper is the adaptor that

facilitates the sequential composition of addressFinder
and mapper components.

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An adaptor linking a data collector and a sensor

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Photo library composition

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Interface semantics

 You have to rely on component documentation to decide

if interfaces that are syntactically compatible are actually
compatible.
 Consider an interface for a PhotoLibrary component:

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Photo Library documentation

“This method adds a photograph to the library and associates the

photograph identifier and catalogue descriptor with the photograph.”

“what happens if the photograph identifier is already associated with a

photograph in the library?”

“is the photograph descriptor associated with the catalogue entry as well
as the photograph i.e. if I delete the photograph, do I also delete the
catalogue information?”

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The Object Constraint Language

 The Object Constraint Language (OCL) has been

designed to define constraints that are associated with
UML models.
 It is based around the notion of pre and post condition
specification – common to many formal methods.

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The OCL description of the Photo Library
interface

-- The context keyword names the component to which the conditions apply

context addItem

-- The preconditions specify what must be true before execution of addItem

pre: PhotoLibrary.libSize() > 0
PhotoLibrary.retrieve(pid) = null

-- The postconditions specify what is true after execution

post:libSize () = libSize()@pre + 1
PhotoLibrary.retrieve(pid) = p
PhotoLibrary.catEntry(pid) = photodesc

context delete

pre: PhotoLibrary.retrieve(pid) <> null ;

post: PhotoLibrary.retrieve(pid) = null

PhotoLibrary.catEntry(pid) = PhotoLibrary.catEntry(pid)@pre
PhotoLibrary.libSize() = libSize()@pre—1

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Photo library conditions

 As specified, the OCL associated with the Photo Library

component states that:
 There must not be a photograph in the library with the same
identifier as the photograph to be entered;
 The library must exist - assume that creating a library adds a
single item to it;
 Each new entry increases the size of the library by 1;
 If you retrieve using the same identifier then you get back the
photo that you added;
 If you look up the catalogue using that identifier, then you get
back the catalogue entry that you made.

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Composition trade-offs

 When composing components, you may find conflicts

between functional and non-functional requirements, and
conflicts between the need for rapid delivery and system
evolution.
 You need to make decisions such as:
 What composition of components is effective for delivering the
functional requirements?
 What composition of components allows for future change?
 What will be the emergent properties of the composed system?

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Data collection and report generation
components

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Key points

 CBSE is a reuse-based approach to defining and

implementing loosely coupled components into systems.
 A component is a software unit whose functionality and
dependencies are completely defined by its interfaces.
 Components may be implemented as executable
elements included in a system or as external services.
 A component model defines a set of standards that
component providers and composers should follow.
 The key CBSE processes are CBSE for reuse and CBSE
with reuse.

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Key points

 During the CBSE process, the processes of

requirements engineering and system design are
interleaved.
 Component composition is the process of ‘wiring’
components together to create a system.
 When composing reusable components, you normally
have to write adaptors to reconcile different component
interfaces.
 When choosing compositions, you have to consider
required functionality, non-functional requirements and
system evolution.

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