Case Tools Notes

COMPUTER-AIDED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) is the scientific s cientific application of a set of tools and methods to a software system which is meant to result in high-quality, defect-free, and maintainable software products. It also refers to methods for the development of information of information systems together with automated tools that can be used in the software development process. According to Rogers Pressman, Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools assist software engineering managers and practitioners in every activity associated with the software process. They automate project management activities, manage all work products produced throughout the process, and assist engineers in their analysis, design, coding and testing work. CASE tools can be integrated within a sophisticated environment .

CASE tools are a class of software of software that automate many of the activities involved in various life cycle phases. For example, when establishing the functional requirements of a proposed application, prototyping tools can be used to develop graphic models of application screens to assist end users to visualize how an application will look after development. Subsequently, system designers can use automated design tools to transform the prototyped functional requirements into detailed design documents. Programmers can then use automated code generators to convert the design documents into code. Automated tools can be used collectively, as mentioned, or individually. For example, prototyping tools could be used to define application requirements that get passed to design technicians who convert the requirements into detailed designs in a traditional manner using flowcharts and narrative documents, without the assistance of automated design software. Types of CASE tools are:                   

Business process engineering tools Process modeling and management tools Project planning tools Risk analysis tools Project management tools Requirement tracing tools Metrics management tools Documentation tools System software tools Quality assurance tools Database management tools Software configuration management tools Analysis and design tools PRO/SIM tools Interface design and development tools prototyping tools programming tools Web development tools Integration and testing tools

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Static analysis tools Dynamic analysis tools Test management tools Client/Server testing tools Re-engineering tools Architecture of CASE tools: USER INTERFACCE

TOOL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

OBJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

REPOSITORY

Case tools follows the layered architecture described above. Layer 1 is the user interface whose function is to help the user to interact with core of the system. It provides a graphical user interface to users using which interaction with the system become easy. Layer 2 depicts tool management system (TMS) which constitutes multiple tools of different category using which automation of the development process can be done. TMS may include some tools to draw diagrams or to generate test cases. Layer 3 represents object management system (OMS) which represents the set of objects generated by the users .Group of design notations, set of test cases (test suite) are treat ed as the objects. Layer4 represents a repository which stores the objects developed by the user. Layer 4 is nothing but a database which stores automation files.