Cool:gen

CIS 764, Fall 2007 Presentation

By Mandar Haridas

Outline

What is Cool:gen? Why is it required? Comparison with Similar Products Features Conclusion

What is Cool:gen ?

Model Driven Application Tool

Supports development of web based applications, enterprise wide client-server applications as well as more traditional applications (mainframe)

Enterprise-designed tool that generates code (e.g. ASP, JAVA, COBOL etc.) for the complete solution, including application logic, communications infrastructures, web servers, and browser interfaces.

Maintenance occurs in the model’s code (Information Engineering Facility IEF), not the generated code.

What is it used for ?

Cool:gen provides an environment of application development tools linked together by an underlying framework that provides flexibility in development.

It also includes a set of Encyclopedia tools that provide model management, public interfaces to third-party products and reverse engineering of non- Cool:gen applications.

Deployment options include choosing operating systems, languages, middleware, and databases

Intended to shield the developer from the complexities of building complete multi-tier cross-platform applications.

Comparison with JDeveloper & RationalRose

JDeveloper works only with Oracle. Cool:gen works with DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and Informix

JDeveloper generates Java code. Cool:gen writes code in native syntax (Information Engineering Facility, IEF). This code can be translated into Java, C, Cobol, VB etc

IEF code is more “English like”. Hence it is ideal to be used in Design Modeling Phase.

Design features of Rational Rose are more extensive than that of Cool:gen. Cool:gen’s code generation capabilities are however unmatchable.

Cool:gen Toolset

Data Model in Cool:gen

Page Flow Diagram Feature (Dialog Design)

IEF Model

Generation Defaults for Java code

Generation possible for different DBMS

Features and Benefits ….

Ensures integrity and consistency in total delivery process at all times.

Provides 100% generation of data, complex logic, communications and presentation application components from high-level graphically rich specifications.

Provides applications for a variety of platforms, operating systems, databases and languages.

Provides technology independence to guard against environmental lock-in and to support portability and interoperability among the multiple environments.

Some Statistics

Use of Cool:gen results in the following gains(compared to applications in which it is not used)

Development Productivity Ratio: 2.1 to 5.1

Design Errors (in numbers): 50% to 75% less

Design Error Corrections: 50% Fix < 1 hour

Manual Coding: Zero

Conclusion

Provides a uniform integrated structured

Model/framework to develop new applications, provides a sound approach for organizations to quickly transition to new platforms without deep technical expertise on the new target environment and without rewriting code

With Cool:gen, maintenance of applications is very easy as every process is defined during the design stage and any changes in the design will automatically reflect in the end product. No manual coding required.

Accelerated systems development: It uses state-of-the-art multi-platform GUI controls and RAD tools to deliver powerful applications fast.

References

Title Source/Date Link

Information Engineering Facility

Wikipedia,October 6 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Engineering_Facility

Experiences with Advantage Gen 6.5 Beta 2

Michel Coudron,November 18 2002

http://www.coolprofs.nl/publishnew/publicaties/coolprofs_6_5_beta_experiences_edge.pdf

Cool:gen Product Component Template

November 1, 2005

http://www.oa.missouri.gov/itsd/cio/architecture/domains/application/PC-AllFusionARC.pdf

Cool:gen History Ecube Systems

http://www.ecubesystems.com/coolgen.htm

Thank You

Questions ???