A Tool for Extracting Model Clones From a Conceptual Schema

In this paper the authors present an overview of techniques and tools that enable the effective evaluation and refactoring of a Web application’s conceptual schema. Moreover, based on the introduction of the notion of model clones (in a previous work), as partial conceptual schemas that are repeated within a broader application model and the notion of model smells, as certain blocks in the Web applications model that imply the possibility of refactoring, this paper illustrates a methodology and a tool for detecting and evaluating the existence of potential model clones, in order to identify problems in an application’s conceptual schema by means of efficiency, consistency, usability and overall quality. The methodology can be deployed either in the process of designing an application or in the process of reengineering it. Evaluation is performed according to a number of inspection steps. At first level the compositions used in the hypertext design are evaluated, followed by a second level evaluation concerning data manipulation and presentation to the user.