This paper presents a data-agnostic testing technique for multi-dimensional databases (OLAP cubes), with a fault-model, a test-coverage-model, a test automation technique and a technique for tests generation. The test generation is mostly suitable for systems with little or no transformation between the data loaded from the source, relational system and the data loaded into the target, analytical one, while the faults and coverage model discussions are broadly applicable. We present the main design considerations for the proposed testing approach and describe the implementation of the framework for test automation and of the test generation tool. The gains in tests maintainability, reliability and failure analysis effort are assessed in comparison with a record-and-replay technique using as show-case the test suites for the OLAP cubes delivered out-of-the-box with the Business Intelligence modules of the Microsoft Dynamics AX® Enterprise Resource Planning system.

In this paper we propose a systematic strategy for migrating crosscutting concerns in existing object-oriented systems to aspect-oriented programming solutions. The proposed strategy consists of four steps: mining, exploration, documentation and refactoring of crosscutting concerns. We discuss in detail a new approach to refactoring to aspect-oriented programming that is fully integrated with our strategy, and apply the whole strategy to an object-oriented system, namely the JHotDraw framework. Moreover, we present a method to semi-automatically perform the aspect-introducing refactorings based on identified crosscutting concern sorts which is supported by a prototype tool called sair . We perform an exploratory case study in which we apply this tool on the same object-oriented system and compare its results with the results of manual migration in order to assess the feasibility of automated aspect refactoring. Both the refactoring tool sair and the results of the manual migration are made available as open-source, the latter providing the largest aspect-introducing refactoring available to date. We report on our experiences with conducting both case studies and reflect on the success and challenges of the migration process.

Understanding crosscutting concerns is difficult because their underlying relations remain hidden in a class-based decomposition of a system. Based on an extensive investigation of crosscutting concerns in existing systems and literature, we identified a number of typical implementation idioms and relations that allow us to group such concerns around so- called "sorts". In this paper, we present SoQueT, a tool that uses sorts to support the consistent description and documentation of crosscutting relations using pre-defined, sort- specific query templates.

Aspect mining is a reverse engineering process that aims at finding crosscutting concerns in existing systems. This article proposes an aspect mining approach based on determining methods that are called from many different places, and hence have a high fan-in , which can be seen as a symptom of crosscutting functionality. The approach is semiautomatic, and consists of three steps: metric calculation, method filtering, and call site analysis. Carrying out these steps is an interactive process supported by an Eclipse plug-in called FINT. Fan-in analysis has been applied to three open source Java systems, totaling around 200,000 lines of code. The most interesting concerns identified are discussed in detail, which includes several concerns not previously discussed in the aspect-oriented literature. The results show that a significant number of crosscutting concerns can be recognized using fan-in analysis, and each of the three steps can be supported by tools.

Refactoring software to apply aspect oriented solutions requires a clear understanding of what are the potential crosscutting concerns and which aspect solutions to replace them with. This process can benefit from the recognition of recurring generic concerns and their reusable aspect solutions. In this paper, we propose a classification of crosscutting concerns in sorts based on the analysis of various refactoring efforts. We discuss how sorts help concern understanding and refactoring, how they support the identification of crosscutting concerns, and how they can contribute to the evolution of aspect languages.