Colin Hardy

The use, limitations and customization of structured systems development methods in the United Kingdom

Abstract Established structured systems development methods are getting larger, but often only implicitly support customization for particular projects. This paper examines the consequences of this situation, and makes reference to a survey carried out in the first half of 1994 into the use of methods and their customization. The results of this survey suggest that structured methods are not as widely used as they might be. Most departments customize their methods, but gain knowledge of this process through experience. Structured method users do not have more confidence in their method than in-house method users. It is argued that this may be the result of poor support for the customization process.

MetaMOOSE-an object-oriented framework for the construction of CASE tools

Abstract This paper describes certain problems which can occur when attempting to build complex CASEtools with facilities not envisaged by the Metatool builders. A solution, based upon an object oriented approach combined with an interpreted OO language has been used to build the MetaMOOSE MetaCASE tool. MetaMOOSE uses an object model to describe the entities and behaviour of the SE development process. Use of the Itcl language gives platform independence and speeds the tool development cycle. A persistent object database ensures integration of the resulting CASE tools. In addition, the successful use of MetaMOOSE to construct a full lifecycle CASE toolset (MOOSE) and its subsequent use in real world engineering projects is described.

Providing Masters Level Computing Students with Real-Life Learning Experiences Via Capstone Projects

Within academic programmes real-life learning experiences can be provided in a number of ways: internships/placements, group projects and individual projects. A comparison is made between the mechanisms that can be employed in programmes with a duration of several years compared with intensive taught masters programmes which have a total duration of 12 to 14 months. Details are presented of the range of taught masters programmes in computing that are offered at the University of Sunderland with emphasis on practical parameters and assessment. Actual problems and challenges that have had to be addressed in a changing academic climate are detailed. Finally some overall conclusions and outstanding questions are presented.

Developing situationally specific methods through stakeholder collaboration

Software development methods can only be used effectively where there is a close match between the method being used and the situational application. There are two key features that need to be considered by those concerned with formalising the development of situational methods: (i) the stakeholder input and (ii) the method engineering process. The method presented, MEWSIC (Method Engineering With Stakeholder Input and Collaboration), formalises the development of situational methods so that links to quality assurance processes is retained. MEWSIC accounts for the number of stakeholders who have a legitimate interest in the success of the project but distinguishes between those who provide input that informs the method engineering process and those who carry out this process. A description of MEWSIC is given bringing out the collaborative nature of the approach. The authors then discuss MEWSICs place within software engineering (particularly in relation to method engineering approaches and quality assurance mechanisms).

Installing the environment

This chapter provides an overview of the methodology related to the installation of the components of different software. To begin ASP.NET, development of an operating system, that is capable of supporting ASP.NET development, is needed. To support this development, the operating system must have the .NET framework installed. Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Home or Professional) supports the .NET framework. The .NET framework is an extension to the operating system that enables ASP.NET programs to be created. The next step is to obtain a copy of the Web Matrix development environment. Web Matrix is a sophisticated, easy to use and convenient development environment that is useful for beginners and professional developers alike. The final item of software that is needed is an SQL Server or Microsoft Server Database Engine (MSDE). A copy of MSDE is required to install on the computer in order to create databases and link to ASP.NET programs.

Introduction to VB.NET

This chapter introduces the usage of code to enrich a Web page as well as to allow interaction between the user and the system along with the introduction of programming language VB.NET. This variant of Visual Basic (VB) allows developers with experience in VB to migrate into the development of dynamic web pages within ASP.NET. VB.NET is the most approachable language to the programmers and this is the most important reason behind the usage of it. Web Matrix creates Web pages based on forms, and as a result, on the time of creating objects on the form, ASP.NET delimiters appear. These delimiters must frame all embedded ASP.NET statements used on the form, whether they are server controls or VB.NET statements. VB.NET remembers the object and its value and should a method be run subsequently that creates the Textbox, then the Text property of that object is assigned the appropriate value in HTML.

Interacting with the user using ASP.NET forms

This chapter introduces the different ASP.NET forms that can be used to interact with the web page user. The chapter examines the different controls and illustrates examples of their use. Forms have been an integral part of standard HTML development since Web pages were first developed. However, while forms could be created using HTML, the information entered by the user via the form had to be processed using a third party script operating under the common gateway interface (CGI). With the advent of ASP.NET, a new set of form controls have been developed that can enable the processing of form data in an easy manner. CGI programs were written in a variety of programming languages such as C, C++, and PERL and were completely separate from the Web pages that invoked them; there were a number of resource and security issues inherent with the use of C++ and PERL. With the advent of dynamic Web languages such as ASP.NET, the ability to process form data was encapsulated together within the same Web pages that displayed the form for the user to complete. This design proved to be far more efficient in terms of computer resources and reduced the security issues.

Installing and creating a database

This chapter focuses on the design and implementation of databases within Web Matrix along with utilization of databases within the ASP.NET environment. This includes not only the data that are going to be used but also the order in which this occurs. At the heart of most dynamic Web sites is a database that stores the details to be displayed to the users, as they require them. One of the most common reasons for developing a database for use on the Web is to allow products to be bought by users. Web Matrix supports SQL databases, principally the one created by Microsoft, SQL Server (MSDE). In the absence of SQL Server, this is not a problem as a cut-down version of it called Microsoft SQL Server Data Engine (MSDE) is available from the ASP.NET web site. MSDE is a free to download from the Web Matrix download page. Both Microsoft SQL Server and MSDE are not databases in their own right but rather are environments that allow for creating databases.

Finding your way around Web Matrix

This chapter examines the Web Matrix tool and illustrates the methods of using different components of the same. There are a large number of different controls on the Toolbox and while they perform different functions, they can all be placed on the Document window in the same way. The Toolbox consists of four separate lists of controls and it can access these by clicking on different tabs—HTML elements, Web controls, custom controls, and snippets. Clicking the All tab displays both the HTML and the ASP.NET code and is simply a combination of the HTML and Code views. The Code extends both off the bottom and off the right of the window and two scrollbars are added to the window to enable to view all of the Codes and HTML. The Workspace component is located in the top right of the Web Matrix tool and enables access to the directories and files on the computer as well as accessing the Microsoft SQL databases. The Workspace component can be used to access the existing ASP.NET scripts that are created in the same way as the Windows File Explorer can be used to locate and access documents.

Basic HTML elements

This chapter examines some basic elements of Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), which can be used within the Web Matrix tool to construct the web pages. When a new document is created in Web Matrix, it already has a number of HTML elements included within it, but in the Design view these are not visible. In the processes of creating a new document called html.aspx and clicking on the HTML tab of the document window, it is found that although no controls are added to the document, there are still some HTML elements that are automatically created. Several HTML elements including start tag, heading section, body element, form element, and text paragraphs can be used with the Web Matrix tool and each of these elements impose their effect on the design of an ASP.NET web page. In addition to text, HTML permits to incorporate an image into documents. Web pages require images to be in one of a limited choice of formats. The three most commonly used image standards for Web pages are JPEG (JPG), GIF, and PNG.