Apparatus and Methods for Displaying and Determining Dependency Relationships Among Subsystems in a Computer Software System

A method for managing, in a computer system, design of a Spring Framework software system containing a set of configuration files, the method comprising:

• in a first computer process, parsing the set of Spring Framework configuration files to produce a stored representation of the Spring Framework software system including subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems;
• in a second computer process, for each specific Spring Framework configuration file of the set, creating a partition that, in turn, contains a further partition for each Spring Bean that is specified in such Spring Framework configuration file, so as to establish a hierarchy of partitions in accordance with the structure of the set of Spring Framework configuration files;
• and
• providing a graphical output from the computer system, based on the stored representation, in which appears a display of the hierarchy of partitions within a dependency structure matrix, such matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships among subsystems.

A method for managing, in a computer system, design of a software system containing a plurality of domains, the method comprising:

• in a first computer process, extracting atoms and dependencies from the software system for a first one of the domains and a second one of the domains;
• in a second computer process, generating a hierarchy of partitions for each of the first and second domains based on the extracted atoms and dependencies;
• in a third computer process, with respect to atoms associated with both the first and the second domains, merging partitions of the first and second domains into a merged partition containing such atoms;
• storing a representation of the software system based on results of the first, second, and third computer processes;
• and
• providing a graphical output, from the computer system, based on the stored representation of the software system, in which appears a display of the merged partition in a hierarchy within a dependency structure matrix, such matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships in the merged partition.

A method for displaying dependency relationships among subsystems of a software system, the method comprising:

• in a first computer process, parsing the software system (i) to produce a stored representation of the software system including subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems and (ii) to provide a graphical output, from the computer system, based on the stored representation of the software system, in which appears a display of the subsystems in a hierarchy within a dependency structure matrix, such dependency structure matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships among subsystems;
• providing a user input, through a graphical interface, for marking, in the dependency structure matrix, at least one subsystem according to a proposed scheme;
• in a third computer process, identifying related subsystems that are in a direct or indirect dependency relationship with the at least one marked subsystem to produce a modified stored representation including the related subsystems, the at least one marked subsystem, and dependency relationships among them;
• and
• providing a graphical output, from the computer system, based on the modified stored representation, in which appears a display of the related subsystems and the at least one marked subsystem in a hierarchy within a modified dependency structure matrix, such modified matrix graphically indicating dependency relationships only among the related subsystems and the at least one marked subsystem.

An apparatus, implemented in a computer system, for managing design of a database system, the database system having a set of schemata, the apparatus comprising:

• an input for receiving the database system to be managed;
• a dependency extractor, coupled to the input, and a partitioner, coupled to the dependency extractor, the dependency extractor and the partitioner collectively querying the database system to produce a representation of the database system including atoms therein and dependency relationships among the atoms, according to a structure of the database system;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the dependency extractor and the partitioner, that stores the representation of the database system;
• a graphical interface that receives a user input of a new rule governing a dependency relationship among at least two specific atoms;
• a design rules storage arrangement that stores design rules associated with the database system;
• a rule engine, coupled to the system representation storage arrangement and to the design rules storage arrangement, that creates, modifies, and evaluates the design rules;
• and
• a display output, such output coupled to the system representation storage arrangement and to the rule engine, that provides a graphical display of the stored representation of the database system and visual indication, in the graphical display, of atoms with respect to which the new rule has been applied;
• wherein at least one of the graphical interface and the graphical display is in the form of a dependency structure matrix.

An apparatus, implemented in a computer system, for managing design of a software system, the software system comprising subsystems from a plurality of domains, the apparatus comprising:

• an input that receives the software system to be managed;
• a first dependency extractor, coupled to the input, that extracts atoms and dependencies among the atoms, of a first subsystem in a first domain;
• a second dependency extractor, coupled to the input, that extracts atoms and dependencies among the atoms, of a second subsystem in a second domain;
• a partitioner, coupled to the first and the second dependency extractors, that creates partitions for each of the first and the second domains based on the respectively extracted atoms and dependencies,
• a merge manager that merges the partitions for each of the first and second domains into merged partitions having atoms associated with both the first and the second domains,
• wherein the dependency extractors, the partitioner, and the merge manager collectively produce a representation of the software system including the subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems and including the atoms and dependency relationships among the atoms;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the dependency extractor, the partitioner, and the merge manager, the system representation storage arrangement storing the representation of the software system;
• and
• a display output coupled to the system representation storage arrangement, such output configured to provide a graphical display, based on the representation of the software system stored in the system representation storage arrangement, of the subsystems in a hierarchy within a dependency structure matrix, the dependency structure matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships among subsystems.

A computer program product for use on a computer system for managing design of a database system, the database system having a set of schemata, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, which, when loaded into the computer system, establishes an apparatus, implemented in the computer system, the apparatus comprising:

• an input for receiving a database system to be managed;
• a dependency extractor, coupled to the input, and a partitioner, coupled to the dependency extractor, collectively querying the database system to produce a representation of the database system including the database elements and dependency relationship among the database elements, according to a structure of the database system;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the partitioner and the dependency extractor, that stores the database system representation;
• a graphical interface configured to receive a user input of a new rule governing a dependency relationship among at least two of the database elements;
• a design rules storage arrangement that stores design rules associated with the database system;
• a rule engine, coupled to the system representation storage arrangement and to the design rules storage arrangement, that creates, modifies, and evaluates the design rules;
• and
• a display output, such output coupled to the system representation storage arrangement and to the rule engine, that is configured to provide a graphical display of the stored representation of the database system and visual indication, in the graphical display, of the database elements with respect to which the new rule has been applied;
• wherein at least one of the graphical interface and the graphical display is in the form of a dependency structure matrix.

A computer program product for use on a computer system for managing, in a computer system, design of a Spring Framework software system containing a set of configuration files, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, which, when loaded into the computer system, establishes an apparatus, implemented in the computer system, the apparatus comprising:

• an input for receiving the Spring Framework software system to be managed;
• a dependency extractor and a partitioner, collectively parsing the set of Spring Framework configuration files and creating partitions for each Spring Framework configuration file of the set and each Spring Bean specified in that Spring Framework configuration file to produce a representation of the Spring Framework software system including subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the partitioner and the dependency extractor, that stores the representation of the software system;
• and
• a display output, coupled to the system representation storage arrangement, that provides a graphical display, based on the representation stored in the system representation storage arrangement, of the subsystems in a hierarchy of partitions within a dependency structure matrix, such matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships among subsystems.

A computer program product for use on a computer system for managing design of a software system which is comprised of subsystems from a plurality of domains, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, which, when loaded into the computer system, establishes an apparatus, implemented in the computer system, the apparatus comprising:

• an input that receives the software system to be managed;
• a first dependency extractor, coupled to the input, that extracts atoms and dependencies among the atoms, of a first subsystem in a first domain;
• a second dependency extractor, coupled to the input, that extracts atoms and dependencies among the atoms, of a second subsystem in a second domain;
• a partitioner, coupled to the first and the second dependency extractors, that creates partitions for each of the first and the second domains based on the respectively extracted atoms and dependencies,
• a merge manager that merges the partitions for each of the first and second domains into merged partitions having atoms associated with both the first and the second domains,
• wherein the dependency extractors, the partitioner, and the merge manager collectively produce a representation of the database system including the subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems as well as the atoms and dependency relationships among the atom;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the dependency extractors, the partitioner, and the merge manager, the system representation storage arrangement storing the representation of the software system;
• and
• a display output coupled to the system representation storage arrangement, such output configured to provide a graphical display, based on the representation of the software system stored in the system representation storage arrangement, of the subsystems in a hierarchy within a dependency structure matrix, such matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships among subsystems.

A computer program product for use on a computer system for displaying relationships among subsystems of a software system, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, which, when loaded into the computer system, establishes an apparatus, implemented in the computer system, the apparatus comprising:

• an input for receiving a software system to be analyzed;
• a dependency extractor, coupled to the input, and a partitioner, coupled to the dependency extractor, the dependency extractor and a partitioner collectively parsing the software system to produce a representation of the software system including subsystems and dependency relationships among the subsystems, according to a structure of the software system;
• a system representation storage arrangement, coupled to the dependency extractor and the partitioner, that stores the representation of the software system;
• a display output, coupled to the system representation storage arrangement, that is configured to provide a graphical display of the stored representation of the database system in a hierarchy within a dependency structure matrix;
• a graphical interface, configured to receive a user input for marking, in the dependency structure matrix, of at least one subsystem according to a proposed scheme;
• wherein the dependency extractor and partitioner are further configured to produce a modified representation of the software system, including only the at least one marked subsystem and related subsystems that are in direct or indirect relationship with the at least one marked subsystem, and dependency relationships among the at least one marked subsystem and the related subsystems;
• and
• wherein a display output is further configured to provide a graphical output, from the computer system, based on the modified stored representation, in which appears a display of the related subsystems and the at least one marked subsystem in a hierarchy within a modified dependency structure matrix, such modified matrix graphically indicating the dependency relationships only among the related subsystems and the at least one marked subsystem.