Dynamic Updates of Graphical Components in the .NET Framework

Abstract:
Modern software has to operate in highly dynamic environments. In order to provide acceptable application-level quality-of-service parameters, applications must be adapted to underlying resource availabilities and other properties of their environment. Dynamic reconfiguration provides a powerful mechanism to realize these adaptation. Besides changes in the application structure and used algorithms, adaptation strategies must also face changes in the graphical representation of user interfaces. In this paper we introduce our Adapt.Net framework for building adaptive applications, focusing on dynamic updates of user interface components in the .NET framework. We use aspect-oriented programming to integrate synchronization logic - required for dynamic reconfiguration - transparently for the developer into application components. State transfer between old and new component version is implemented by cloning objects of the component’s object graph member-wise.