A Systematic Approach for Structuring Exception Handling in Robust Component-Based Software

This article addresses the systematic incorporation of exception handling into component-based systems. By "component-based", one can infer "object-oriented" since the use of libraries of classes, such ast STL and JCL, can be seen as the use of components, building blocks, while constructing large-scale software systems. Read this article in its entirety to get a sense of how to put exception handling to good use.

5. Case Study

5.1 System Description

The CMS manages the complaints of the users about a section of a road. Information about roads and their sections are stored in a centralized database by the GIS Subsystem. Users register complaints through a form at the website of the project, selecting the desired road section. In this process, the system presents any information about existing complaints for the selected road section. If a complaint is successfully registered, it is recorded in the database and the user receives a complaint id that can later be used to inquire about the complaint status. If the complaint cannot be registered by the system, an error message is presented to the user.

Part of the layered architecture of the CMS is presented in Figure 8.

 


 

The component's stereotype indicates the architectural layer to which it belongs. The presentation layer component RegisterComplaint uses the IComplaintRegistrationinterface, provided by the ComplaintRegistration component of the system layer. The ComplaintRegistration component, on its turn, requires services provided by the ComplaintMgr, RoadMgr, SectionMgr and UserMgr components of the business layer. The ComplaintMgrConn and UserMgrConn connectors mediate the interaction between the ComplaintRegistrationcomponent and those components of the business layer. Components of the business layer use a database management system to store and retrieve persistent information.

The case study was conducted by following the systematic approach described in Section 4.4. For clarity's sake, in this section we focus on the Register Complaint use case.