Management of Heterogeneous Software Artifacts Through a Common Representation

A computer program product for managing a configuration of heterogeneous software artifacts through a common central configuration representation, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code configured to add a plurality of software artifacts from an initial software solution to a heterogeneous configuration tool;
• computer usable program code configured to utilize the heterogeneous configuration tool to extract out artifact-level configuration parameters of selected software artifacts from the heterogeneous configuration tool, wherein at least two of the selected software artifacts are of different artifact types;
• computer usable program code configured to present all extracted artifact-level configuration parameters, of the selected software artifacts, in a single representation;
• computer usable program code configured to map a subset of the presented extracted artifact-level configuration parameters to a set of solution-level parameters;
• computer usable program code configured to expose the set of solution-level parameters to a subsequent software solution, wherein the extracted artifact-level configuration parameters from the initial software solution are never directly exposed or manipulatable by the subsequent software solution;
• computer usable program code configured to set, for the subsequent software solution, parameters for one or more of the solution-level parameters;
• computer usable program code configured to map the parameters for the subsequent software solution back to the artifact-level configuration parameters of the initial software solution;
• and
• computer usable program code configured to apply the artifact-level configuration parameters to the subsequent software solution.

A method for managing a configuration of heterogeneous software artifacts through a common central configuration representation, the method comprising:

• adding a plurality of software artifacts from an initial software solution to a heterogeneous configuration tool;
• utilizing the heterogeneous configuration tool to extract out artifact-level configuration parameters of selected software artifacts from the heterogeneous configuration tool, wherein at least two of the selected software artifacts are of different artifact types;
• presenting all extracted artifact-level configuration parameters, of the selected software artifacts, in a single representation;
• mapping a subset of the presented extracted artifact-level configuration parameters to a set of solution-level parameters;
• partitioning development of a subsequent software solution into multiple configuration stages;
• at each of the multiple configuration stages, hiding less than all of the solution-level parameters in order to prevent the solution-level parameters from being altered by a developer of the subsequent software solution;
• setting, for the subsequent software solution, parameters for one or more of the solution-level parameters;
• and
• mapping the parameters for the subsequent software solution back to the artifact-level configuration parameters of the subsequent software solution.