Automated generation of product use case scenaries in product line development

Abstract

Use case scenarios are powerful techniques for modeling requirements, and use case scenarios embody use cases in that scenarios represent complete execution paths of the system for corresponding use cases. Therefore, use case scenarios can be modeled to consider the system``s behaviors and the result of refined requirements. The use case scenario is usually used for a single product. However, the software product line, a new paradigm in software engineering, brings new issues when using use case scenarios for product lines. In product lines, systems share common characteristics called common features. In addition, each product has its own unique set of features called variability. Due to the combination of diverse variation points and variants in product lines, the variation points or variants interact with each other. Therefore, in order to reuse use cases in a product line, use cases need to represent variability. In other words, the use cases for a single product cannot be used since they are for the product line or products of a product line. To address the technical issues of using use case scenarios in product lines, this dissertation introduces four techniques in the generation of use case scenarios for product lines. First, it provides a systematic way to map between use case scenarios and OVM (Orthogonal Variability Model). Next, it proposes an algorithm for automatically selecting product use case scenarios from the OVM. Last, it proposes an automated use case scenario generation mechanism from the OVM and the tagged use case scenarios. By proposing theses approaches, the following contributions will be made: This approach makes a product use case selection automated, resulting in the generation of use case scenarios becoming very fast and easy. In addition, the approach eliminates possible defects human beings can create during application engineering. Besides, this approach identifies hidden dependency among product use case scenarios. Depen...