Encapsulating windows-based software applications into reusable components with design patterns

Reusing software by integrating Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) applications into a software system is maturing in practice. Our previous work [1] presented a component wrapping approach to convert Windows-based COTS applications into CORBA objects. A formal and generalized representation of the conversion process for a Windows-based COTS application into a reusable software component would be useful and desirable for applying such software reuse to COTS-based system development. This study addresses a pattern-based representation of our experience. The patterns in this study offer clear documentation and sufficient information for a software developer to develop a COTS-based software system rapidly. An example system, Graphic Mechanical Part Management System (GMPMS) assembling two COTS applications under MS-DOS and MS-Windows 2000/XP, respectively, is also developed in this study to reveal how the patterns are utilized.