Objects, Components, and Frameworks with UML The Catalysis ...

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“Frameworks” as Components
❒ A large-grain component designed with “plug-points”
❒ Application will “plug” domain objects into plug-points
❒ “Plug-in” based on interface, sub-class, delegation, etc.
Shipper
ship (shipment, receiver)
product shipment
plug in
customer product
(supply return) (vendor) (service)
Order Taker
order (item, buyer)
plug in
Customer
receiver buyer
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customer
The most flexible components are “frameworks” i.e. components that provide the skeleton of some business or
application function, but do so in a manner which permits “plugging-in” of customization pieces to adapt the
component to a specific use.
The illustration shows how a Shipper component may be adapted to ship any Shipment to any Receiver. It can be
customized to ship product shipments to customers, or to ship returned supplies to vendors. Seemingly trivial, this
example is actually very typical of the unnecessary dependencies built into many legacy systems, in which it might
be an impossible task to use the same shipping component to handle both customers and vendors.
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