Development of process visualization systems:: An object-oriented approach

In this paper a process visualization development system and its associated development methodology are presented. This methodology is optimized to systems that have complex structure and are built of large number of components belonging to relatively small number of types. In order to handle the complexity, the input requirements of the method are as close to the "native language" of the application as possible. The elements of the native language are assumed to include engineering drawings and manuals describing the operation of the component types the system is built of. Graphics techniques are used to supply the engineering drawings into the development system while not only the required visual appearance is described but the structure of the underlying system is also defined, The elements of engineering drawings are dynamized to animate the graphics presentation, to reflect the current state of the monitored system. Component manuals are transformed to interface and state definitions from which a code generator generates a C++ class for each component type. This C++ class must be tuned to reflect the operation of a single component type. From these definitions the development system automatically builds up the complete visualization program, providing easy and fast application development. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.