Introduction
$UPCOMING_NAME is a proposed sub-project
under the top-level project Eclipse SOA
Tools Platform (STP). This proposal is in the Project Proposal Phase (as
defined in the Eclipse Development Process document) and is written to declare
the intent and scope of the $UPCOMING_NAME sub-project. This proposal is
written to solicit additional participation and input from the Eclipse
community. You are invited to comment on and join the project. Please send all
feedback to the Eclipse STP
forum until a proper newsgroup is established.
Background
The
Eclipse SOA Tools Platform project contains tools for designing, building,
configuring and deploying SOA applications. The current STP Intermediate Model component
bridges different existing Eclipse STP editors (such as BPMN and SCA) through a
common SOA metamodel. Users can transport SOA
artifacts between editors by invoking transformations to and from the
Intermediate Model instance. This ensures that elements such as services and
processes are shared across the different perspectives of various SOA
stakeholders, thus minimizing duplication and the risk for errors when building
complex SOA systems.
The
aim of this proposal is to extend the scope of the existing STP-IM component to
better editor coverage while at the same time ensuring a seamless experience by
reducing the need for manual transformations. In addition the proposal aims at
providing functionality for connecting SOA editors to runtime projects and
components in order to bridge the gap between SOA design and runtime.
Description
The
purpose of the $UPCOMING_NAME proposal is to create a project that can serve as
a central Eclipse SOA modeling container useful for a wide variety of existing
and upcoming SOA editors, runtime and platforms. By employing a simple and
easily extendable SOA metamodel as its core, the $UPCOMING_NAME
will provide a consistent, always-in-sync representation of common SOA
artifacts in an Eclipse workspace.
Additionally,
by providing connectivity to runtime projects and SOA repositories, the $UPCOMING_NAME
instance will be kept in sync with evolutions of these artifacts at runtime,
updating properties such as QoS parameters in its
model.
The
following are a simplified list of the envisaged functionalities:
- Transformations between different Eclipse Editors
- Keeping a synchronized version of SOA artifacts within
a SOA-oriented workspace using a builder-type approach
- Updating model information in SOA editors with
runtime data (from monitoring)
- Feeding model information to deployment tools
(potentially using SCA as format) and runtime tools (useful for interpreting
monitoring data).
- Obtaining information from SOA repositories (such
as lists of services or governance information)
Project Scope
The
$UPCOMING_NAME project will focus on integrating existing and upcoming Eclipse
projects related to SOA editors, runtime and deployment tools. In
addition, $UPCOMING_NAME will add
support for integration with monitoring projects (in particular the upcoming eBAM proposed project) and repositories (in particular the
upcoming repository project proposal). It primarily targets the scope of the
existing Eclipse STP project and the upcoming Eclipse SOA TLP.
Out of Scope
The
proposal does not aim at providing a runtime project, or a runtime monitoring
tool. It does not envisage the creation of live views of SOA systems but rather
the enablement of efficient utilization of a large variety of tools and editors
for building SOA systems.
Proposed Components
The
following initial components will comprise the $UPCOMING_NAME:
- Core -
the Core Metamodel and API (initial existing
code in STP-IM): contains the SOA elements and their inter-relations,
enabling the storing of distilled SOA elements used by different editors
and tools.
- Branches
- the Transformation Plug-ins (initial existing code in STP-IM): contain
the logic required to move and convert information between editors, tools
and the core metamodel instance.
- Phloem -
the Builder (tentative initial contribution in STP-IM bugzilla)
ensures the constant updating of SOA artifacts in the core as well as in
the corresponding editors and tools (e.g. when saving a diagram, update
the appropriate artifacts in the core while also enabling the update of
the corresponding artifact in related editors or tools).
- Leaves -
the Editor Extensions (initial existing code in STP-IM), extensions and
improvements to editors and tools for adding $UPCOMING_NAME-specific
functionality at design time (e.g. views allowing the enrichment of
certain SOA elements in the core or configuration menus for customizing
the amount of information to be moved to/from the core).
- Roots -
the Runtime Connections: for moving information to and from runtime tools
and repositories when needed in order to have a “living” core, providing a
good reality snapshot. This can be useful when diagrams are out of sync or
when aggregated monitoring information is required to update graphical
elements. Also for generating deployment information in a common format that
could be based on SCA for instance.
Relationship with other Eclipse projects
The Policy Editor sub-project will be build on top of the
Eclipse Platform and will have relationships with other Eclipse projects.
- Eclipse SOA Tools Project
- BPMN Modeler Project
- SCA Tools Project
- Eclipse BPEL Project
- Java Workflow Tooling Project
- Swordfish
- EBAM (upcoming proposal)
- Other runtime projects
- SOA Industrial Working Group to provide useful
feedback and requirements throughout the project’s evolution.
Other projects will be added to this list as necessary.
Organization
We propose that this sub-project will take place under the
top level project STP.
Proposed initial committers
- Adrian Mos, INRIA (lead) - STP-IM component committer
- Andrea Zoppello,
Engineering - STP-IM component committer
- Gianfranco Boccalon,
Engineering
- Luca Rossato, Engineering
- Luca Barozzi, Engineering
- Fy Ravoajanahary,
INRIA
- Juan Cadavid, INRIA
Initial Code Contributions
The initial code contribution will be the currently existing
STP Intermediate Model component.
Interested Parties
·
Stéphane Drapeau,
Obeo
·
Oisín Hurley, Progress Software
·
Oliver Wold, SOPERA
·
Vincent Zurczak, EBM WebSourcing
·
Antoine Toulmé, Intalio
·
Marc Dutoo, OpenWide
·
Paul Brebner, NICTA