Dissertaç ˜ao de Mestrado Mestrado em Engenharia Informática Jo ...

5
Framework Evaluation
Chapter 3 presented the proposed application configuration framework and Chapter 4 covered
the process of implementing the framework. This chapter provides us with the validation of
the tool, carried after the implementation phase had ceased.
First, Section 5.1 shows the functional validation of the tool by explaining how the require-
ments identified in Section 3.1 are met. Then, Section 5.2 presents the operational validation
by checking the integrity of the tool and examining the configuration process step by step. Fi-
nally, Section 5.3 provides the performance validation by testing the tool behaviour in different
scenarios (i.e., configuration of a very big and very small configuration file).
5.1 Functional Validation
In Section 3.1, some functional and non-functional requirements of the tool were identified.
This section presents the ways in which these requirements are met.
1. The user must be able to convert a configuration file syntax from its original syntax to
a generic one, independently of the application.
The user is able to summon the tool from a terminal and pass it multiple configuration file
locations. The tool, in turn, produces abstract trees for the configuration files, and then the
configuration files in a structured, generic format.
Non-functional requirements:
Performance: The generated file with the generic syntax must be as simple as possible.
The information regarding the original syntax is factorized by the code generator in a Meta-
data field.
2. The user must be able to define grammars for configuration file languages.
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