DesCARTES

General Information

Tool Name

DesCARTES

Version

0.93

Group

ISYS Information Systems Research Unit - UCL Université catholique de Louvain

Web page (if available)

http://www.isys.ucl.ac.be/descartes

Main Purpose of the Tool

DesCARTES (Design CASE Tool for Agent-Oriented Repositories, Techniques, Environments and Systems) Architect a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Tool developed by the Information Systems Unit (ISYS) from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). It is designed to support various models edition: i* models (Strategic Dependency and Strategic Rationale models), NFR models, UML models, AUML models in the context of Tropos and I-Tropos developments. DesCARTES is a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment). The originality of the tool is that allows the development of the methodology analysis and design models as well as forward engineering capabilities and an integrated software project management module.

i* framework supported

Yu95
Tropos
Iterative Tropos

Availability of the tool

• ( ) For i* modelling only
• ( ) For development only
• (X) Both

Programming Language

Java

Platform Requirements

Linux (tested with kernel 2.6)
SunOS 2.9
Windows XP
MacOS (available soon)

Other technology needed

JDK
Eclipse
GEF
EMF

Current state of the tool

Working version is available to download on the website, new versions will be released continuously

Ongoing work

Extending the tool with other requirements and architectural frameworks as well as software and risk management modules.

i* Modelling Suitability

1. Does the tool allow SD modelling?

Yes

2. Does the tool allow SR modelling?

Yes

3. Does the tool allow working with SD & SR models jointly?

Yes, by means of expandable and collapsing elements

4. Does the tool allow the construction of the models graphically?

Yes, by means of dragging and dropping the elements into a drawing page from palettes or model tree.
Future versions will also support drawing elements from a graphics tablet

5. Does the tool allow the construction of the models textually?

No

6. Describe how the elements are modelled and their flexibility (i.e., the elements can be moved and reordered).

Users can change the name, size and type of an element. The element can also be moved, reordered, deleted, copied, pasted, highlighted, and labelled a symbolic attribute. All these actions are done graphically and by commands either on the menu bar or pop-up command window.

7. Describe how the dependency links are modelled and their flexibility (i.e., dependencies are modelled with straight lines that can not be redirected).

Users can change the size and type of a dependency link. The link can also be moved, reordered, deleted, copied, pasted, and highlighted. The link is modelled with astraight line that can be curved and rediredcted. Curved links can also be straightened.

8. Does the tool allow automatic organization of the elements?

No

9. Other modelling facilities provided by the tool:

• Can hide or unhide an element
• Can push an element into or move it from and expandable element
• Can drag and drop of model elements from the model tree to a diagram
• Can trace elements
• Can Scroll elements
• Can colorize elements
• Can design models from patterns

10. Does the tool check SD models?

Yes. Syntactic constraints and semantic constraints with respects to organizational styles and social design patterns

11. Does the tool check SR models?

Yes, Syntactic constraints

12. Other checks provided by the tool

• Organizational constraints with respect to styles and patterns

13. Does the tool allow working with two or more models at the same time?

Yes

14. Does the tool allow to group models in projects?

Yes,

15. Does the tool allow working with two or more projects at the same time?

Yes

16. What are the other functionalities that the tool provides?

• The diagrams can be exported to jpg, png, bmp and svg format pictures
• Eclipse provides easy integration with additional plug-ins
• Supports also agent UML-based class, sequence, activity, statechart component, deployment diagram
• Support enterprise models and project management features
• Can generate code, (SQL, JACK)

Usability

17. Rate the understandability of the user interface

• ( ) Internal use
• (X) Ready for public use
• ( ) Has been used publicly

If it is not ready for public use, mark one or more of the following:

• ( ) not in English
• ( ) writing not polished
• ( ) poor usability (colours, ...)
• ( ) others: please specify

Expected date for public use (if any):

18. Rate the quality of the user manual

• ( ) Inexistent
• (X) Internal use
• ( ) Ready for public use
• ( ) Has been used publicly

If user manual for internal use, mark one or more of the following:

• ( ) incomplete
• ( ) obsolete
• (X) not in English
• ( ) writing not polished
• ( ) others: please specify

Expected date for public use (if any):

19. Does the tool provides i* learning facilities?

No
If so, explain which ones (i.e., methodological guidance).

20. Does the tool provide any examples for the users?

Yes

21. Rate the difficulty of installing the tool

• ( ) Copy files and initializing paths
• (X) Copy files
• ( ) Executable installation file provided

Maturity of the Tool

22. Rate the maturity of the tool from the user point of view:

• ( ) Under Development
• (X) Prototype
• ( ) Ready for public use
• ( ) Has been used publicly

If not for public use, mark one or more of the following:

• ( ) incomplete
• ( ) occasional testing
• (X) non-exhaustive testing
• ( ) non-persistent data
• ( ) poor efficiency
• ( ) not portable
• ( ) others: please specify

Expected date for public use (if any):

23. Has the tool been used for any case study?

Yes, in Steel Industry, Health care and Transport Logistics

24. Has the tool been tested in large models?

Yes

25. Has the tool any drawback when working with very large models?

No

26. Which is approximately the maximum size of the model (in terms of actors and dependencies) the tool has been used for?

250

Extensibility and Interoperability

27. Does the tool allow importing files?

Yes, XML

28. Does the tool allow exporting files?

Yes, XML, SVG, BMP, PNG, JPG, SQL, JACK

29. Does the tool allow importing/exporting the data through an XML format?

Yes

30. Is the architecture of the tool published?

Yes, on the website (download section)

31. Does the tool allow the addition of other elements outside the i* framework of the tool?

Yes, the tool allows addition of agent UML diagrams, enterprise models

32. New functionalities can be added to the tool by means of:

• (X) PLUG-IN
• (X) Open-Source code
• ( ) import & export XML
• ( ) NONE

33. Rate the maturity of the tool from for open development:

• ( ) Under Development
• (X) Prototype
• ( ) Ready for public development use
• ( ) Has been used for public development

If not for public development use, mark one or more of the following:

• ( ) incomplete code
• ( ) no help provided
• ( ) non-persistent data
• (X) non-exhaustive testing
• ( ) poor efficiency
• ( ) not portable
• ( ) no development installation facilities provided
• ( ) others: please specify

Expected date for public development use (if any):

34. Is there any internal documentation for programmers?

Yes
If so, enumerate the facilities provided

• ( ) Requirements specification and design decisions available
• ( ) Interface conventions
• ( ) Code conventions
• ( ) Full commented code
• ( ) Examples
• (X) others: Developer Manuals, architecture class diagrams and internal reports in french