Traceability in a modeling environment

• US 8,627,272 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2007
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Xiaocang, Pillarisetti, Aravind, Aldrich, William J., Tuschner, Kai
• Primary Examiner(s): Nahar, Qamrun
• Application Number:
  US11/880,620
• Time in Patent Office: 2,360 Days
• Field of Search: 717/104, 717/105, 717/108, 717/110, 717/113
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3696 Methods or tools to render software testable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/355 Round-trip engineering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments employ a mapping among entities that are related to each other. The entities may include a graphical model, generated code, a generated report, a requirements document and/or an intermediate representation. The mapping may facilitate graphical identifications between parts of one entity that maps to part of another entity. The graphical identification may occur based on a selection of a part in one of the entities.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a first object, the first object including code that contains a first code portion;

identifying a second object, the second object including a graphical model containing a first graphical element;

identifying a first mapping between the first graphical element and the first code portion;

identifying a second graphical element, included in the graphical model, that corresponds to the first graphical element;

identifying a second mapping between the second graphical element and a second code portion included in the code;

receiving information associated with an edit to the first code portion; and

regenerating;

the first graphical element based on the first mapping and the information associated with the edit to the first code portion,

the second graphical element based on regenerating the first graphical element, and

the second code portion based on the second mapping and regenerating the second graphical element,

the identifying of the first object, the identifying of the second object, the identifying of the first mapping, the identifying of the second graphical element, the identifying of the second mapping, the receiving, and the regenerating being performed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, where identifying the first mapping includes:

providing, to a user, an interface to input tracing information to associate a change to the first graphical element with a change to the first code portion;

receiving the tracing information from the user; and

defining the first mapping based on the tracing information.

3. The method of claim 2, where the tracing information includes a modification of the first mapping.

4. The method of claim 1, where regenerating the first graphical element includes:

receiving, from a user, information related to modifying the first mapping; and

regenerating the first graphical element further based on the information related to modifying the first mapping.

5. The method of claim 1, where the second object further includes a section of a generated report associated with the graphical model, and

where the method further includes:

regenerating the section of the generated report based on the information associated with the edit to the first code portion.

6. The method of claim 5, where the generated report includes at least one of:

a coverage report,

a model checking report,

a code generation report, or

a profiling report.

7. The method of claim 1, where the first mapping is bidirectional, and where the method further comprises:

receiving information associated with a change to the first graphical element; and

modifying the first code portion based on the change to the first graphical element.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying a visual indication associated with modifying the first code portion.

9. The method of claim 1, where the graphical model includes a plurality of first graphical elements and the code includes a plurality of first code portions, and

where the first mapping includes at least one of:

a one-to-one first mapping between the first graphical element and the first code portion,

a many-to-one first mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and the first code portion,

a one-to-many first mapping between the first graphical element and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

a many-to-many first mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

an injective first mapping in which at least one the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to each of the plurality of first code portions,

a surjective first mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to at least one of the plurality of first code portions, or

a bijective first mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to a respective one of the plurality of first code portions.

10. The method of claim 1, where the first graphical element is one of a plurality of recurring first graphical elements included in the graphical model, and

where regenerating the first graphical element includes:

regenerating each of the plurality of recurring first graphical elements based on the information associated with the edit to the first code portion.

11. The method of claim 7, where the first code portion is one of a plurality of recurring first code portions contained in the code, and where modifying the first code portion includes:

modifying the plurality of recurring first code portions based on the change to the first graphical element.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the first object based on the second object.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the second object based on the first object.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

first mapping a requirements document to the graphical model, where a portion of the requirements document is mapped to the first graphical element; and

where regenerating the first graphical element includes;

updating the portion of the requirements document based on the information associated with the edit to the first code portion.

15. A system comprising:

a processor to;

identify a mapping of a first object to a second object,

the first object including code that contains a first code portion and a second code portion,

the second object including a graphical model containing a first graphical element and a second graphical element that corresponds to the first graphical element, and

the mapping including the first code portion being mapped to the first graphical element, and the second code portion being mapped to the second graphical element;

regenerate the first graphical element, the second graphical element, and the second code portion based on the mapping and an edit to the first code portion; and

cause a display to present a representation of the regenerated first graphical element and the regenerated second graphical element.

16. The system of claim 15, where the processor, when identifying the mapping, is further to:

receive tracing information, from a user, to associate a change to the first graphical element with a change to the first code portion, and

determine the mapping based on the tracing information.

17. The system of claim 16, where the tracing information includes a modification of the mapping.

18. The system of claim 15, where the processor, when regenerating the first graphical element, is further to:

receive, from at least one user, information related to modifying the mapping, and

regenerate the first graphical element further based the information.

19. The system of claim 15, where the second object further includes a section of a generated report that is mapped to the graphical model, and

where the processor is further to:

regenerate the section of the generated report based on the information associated with the edit to the first code portion.

20. The system of claim 19, where the generated report includes at least one of:

a coverage report,

a model checking report,

a code generation report, or

a profiling report.

21. The system of claim 15, where the mapping is bidirectional, and where the processor is further to:

receive information associated with a change to the first graphical element; and

modify the first code portion based on the change to the first graphical element.

22. The system of claim 21, where the processor is further to:

display a visual indication associated with modifying the first code portion.

23. The system of claim 15, where graphical model includes a plurality of first graphical elements and the code includes a plurality of first code portions, and

where the mapping includes at least one of:

a one-to-one mapping between the first graphical element and the first code portion,

a many-to-one mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and the first code portion,

a one-to-many mapping between the first graphical element and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

a many-to-many mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

an injective mapping in which at least one the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to each of the plurality of first code portions,

a surjective mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to at least one of the plurality of first code portions, or

a bijective mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to a respective one of the plurality of first code portions.

24. The system of claim 15, where the first graphical element is one of a plurality of recurring first graphical elements included in the graphical model, and

where the processor, when regenerating the first graphical element, is further to:

regenerate each of the plurality of recurring first graphical elements based on the information associated with edit to the first code portion.

25. The system of claim 21, where the first code portion is one of a plurality of recurring first code portions contained in the code, and where the processor, when modifying the first code portion, is further to:

modifying the plurality of recurring first code portions based on the change to the first graphical element.

26. The system of claim 15, where the processor is further to generate the first object based on the second object.

27. The system of claim 15, where the processor is further to generate the second object based on the first object.

28. The system of claim 15, where the processor is further to:

map a requirement documents to the graphical model, where a portion of the requirements document is mapped to the first graphical element; and

where the processor, when regenerating the first graphical element, is further to;

update the portion of the requirements document based on the information associated with edit to the first code portion.

29. A non-transitory memory device comprising:

one or more instructions, executable by at least one processor, to;

identify a first object, the first object including code containing a first code portion and a second code portion;

identify a second object, the second object including a graphical model that comprises a first graphical element and a second graphical element;

receive, from a user, an indication of a first mapping between the first code portion and the first graphical element and an indication of a second mapping between the second code portion and the second graphical element;

receive, from the user, information associated with an edit to at least one of the first code portion or the first graphical element; and

regenerate the second code portion and the second graphical element based on the indication of the first mapping, the indication of the second mapping, and the information associated with the edit to the at least one of the first code portion or the first graphical element.

30. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the edit includes a change to the first code portion, and

where the one or more instructions are further executable by the at least one processor to:

regenerate the first graphical element based on the change to the first code portion.

31. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the second object further includes a section of a generated report associated with the graphical model, and

where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor to:

regenerate the section of the generated report based on the information associated with the edit to the at least one of the first code portion or first graphical element.

32. The non-transitory memory device of claim 31, where the generated report includes at least one of:

a coverage report,

a model checking report,

a code generation report, or

a profiling report.

33. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the edit includes a change to the first graphical element, and

where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor, when regenerating the first code portion and the first graphical element, to:

regenerate the first code portion based on the change to the first graphical element.

34. The non-transitory memory device of claim 33, where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor to:

display a visual indication associated with regenerating the first code portion.

35. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where graphical model includes a plurality of first graphical elements and the code includes a plurality of first code portions, and

where the first mapping includes at least one of:

a one-to-one first mapping between the first graphical element and the first code portion,

a many-to-one first mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and the first code portion,

a one-to-many first mapping between the first graphical element and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

a many-to-many first mapping between two or more of the plurality of first graphical elements and two or more of the plurality of first code portions,

an injective first mapping in which at least one the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to each of the plurality of first code portions,

a surjective first mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to at least one of the plurality of first code portions, or

a bijective first mapping in which each of the plurality of first graphical elements is mapped to a respective one of the plurality of first code portions.

36. The non-transitory memory device of claim 30, where the first graphical element is one of a plurality of recurring first graphical elements included in the graphical model, and

where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor, when regenerating the first graphical element, to:

regenerate each of the plurality of recurring first graphical elements based on the change to the first code portion.

37. The non-transitory memory device of claim 33, where the first code portion is one of a plurality of recurring first code portions contained in the code, and where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor, when regenerating the first code portion, to:

regenerate each of the plurality of recurring first code portions based on the change to the first graphical element.

38. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor to:

generate the first object based on the second object.

39. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor to:

generate the second object based on the first object.

40. The non-transitory memory device of claim 29, where the one or more instructions are further executable by at least one processor to:

map a requirements document to at least one of the code or graphical model, where a portion of the requirements document is mapped to at least one of the first graphical element or the first code portion; and

update the portion of the requirements document based on the information associated with the edit to the at least one of the first code portion or first graphical element.