Using a Lightweight Workflow Engine in a Plugin-Based Product Line Architecture

摘要

This paper presents a software product line architecture where applications are assembled by installing a set of plugins on a common software base. In this architecture, the software base embeds a lightweight workflow engine that guides the main flow of control and data of the application. This architecture eliminates the problem of scattered flow of data and control and facilitates plugin substitution. This architecture is currently being used to build a biomedical engineering research application on top of the Eclipse platform.