Student Thesis STUD-2309

BibliographyRohm, Tobias: Spar-File Manager for the Stuttgarter Workflow machine.
University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology, Student Thesis No. 2309 (2011).
58 pages, english.
CR-SchemaD.2.2 (Software Engineering Design Tools and Techniques)
D.2.3 (Software Engineering Coding Tools and Techniques)
D.2.6 (Software Engineering Programming Environments)
D.3.4 (Programming Languages Processors)
E.5 (Data Files)
H.2.3 (Database Management Languages)
H.4.1 (Office Automation)
Abstract

This study thesis belongs to a project of the Universtiy Stuttgart, the Stuttgarter Workflow Machine (SWoM). The aim of the project is to develop a state-of-the-art of science and (IT-) technology workflow management system.

The realization of the project follows a two-level programming model. The model distinguishes two parts. The first part covers the aspects of (business) process models that determine the sequence in which the different activities are carried (programming in the large). The second part deals with the individual components that implement these activities (programming in the small).

Web services based on a service-oriented architecture framework are used as foundation. Therefore the process uses web services and is provided as a web service. The necessary information to run an actual instance of a business process can encompass various files. All of them are in XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) and well defined by corresponding XML Schemas.

The abstract interfaces are described by XML documents in the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Process models are described using the Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL). The Stuttgarter Workflow Machine implements actual (partly) the WS-BPEL specification a de-facto standard for workflow management.

Furthermore to deploy instances of a process model on a workflow machine like the Stuttgarter Workflow machine deployment information is provided by SWoM Process Deployment Descriptor files (SPDD).

The purpose of the study thesis was to develop a tool supporting the selection, editing and composition of the appropriate files. Eventually the aggregated files should be packaged in a ZIP compressed SPAR file (SWoM Process Archive).

The document contains first a brief discussion of workflow management aspects and the related process model description files. Furthermore it describes the design,and concrete implementation of the tool.

The program was created as an Eclipse plug-in. The final product is a rich client platform (RCP) application. Arbitrary files can be aggregated in structured projects and exported into ZIP archives.The application provides a professional graphical user interface. Internal (XML- and Text-) and external editors (installed on the underlying operating system) are supported.

As a Eclipse plug-in the implementation can serve as a basis for further enhancements. Therefore the study thesis covers considerations about meaningful extensions concerning consistency, file management and eventually the seamless integration of the tool into a workflow management system.

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Department(s)University of Stuttgart, Institute of Architecture of Application Systems
Superviser(s)Roller, Dieter H.
Entry dateMarch 25, 2011
   Publ. Computer Science