Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
based system as it allows users of the applications and subsystems using the
components to know precisely the source of the error and thus to choose what to
do in response, preventing hard-crashes of the whole application. Components raise
and propagate exceptions and provide a customised message informing users which
component and class are the source of the error. If an unhandled exception occurs,
an informative message describes the error, and model and component source of the
exception, allowing for continuing execution of the client if the user chooses.
Tracing
The traceability of component behaviour is implemented in.NET versions using the
TraceSource class in an implementation that allows the client to set receivers of
the messages called listeners. Various levels of tracing (critical, error, warning,
information, and verbose) can be pooled in one or more listeners with all the traces
from other components and from the client. Traceability is used in components to
provide a log of execution shown at run-time in the APES stand-alone application.
Unit Tests
In computer programming, a unit test is a procedure used to verify that a particular
module of source code is working properly. The principle underlying unit tests is to
write test cases for all functions and methods so that whenever a change causes a
deterioration, the cause can be quickly identified and fixed. The goal of unit testing
is to isolate each part of the program and show that the individual parts are correct.
Unit testing provides a strict, written contract that the piece of code must satisfy.
Beyond the general benefits which derive from unit test implementation in software
development, implementing unit tests to test model implementation and make
available the relevant input-outputs in the documentation allows the user of
the components to have sample application results for the specific model.
Model and Software Design and User Documentation
Each component requires a help file which contains detailed documentation about
the models implemented, and information about the design and use of the component.
The test of documentation adequacy is that it should allow re-implementation of all
the models that comprise the component, although the characteristics of re-usability
of the component make it much easier to use it again rather than to duplicate it.
The code of each component should also be thoroughly documented, so that
