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Publications

Publications by Jácome Costa Cunha

2012

Extension and Implementation of ClassSheet Models

Authors
Cunha, J; Fernandes, JP; Mendes, J; Saraiva, J;

Publication
2012 IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON VISUAL LANGUAGES AND HUMAN-CENTRIC COMPUTING (VL/HCC)

Abstract
In this paper we explore the use of models in the context of spreadsheet engineering. We review a successful spreadsheet modeling language, whose semantics we further extend. With this extension we bring spreadsheet models closer to the business models of spreadsheets themselves. An addon for a widely used spreadsheet system, providing bidirectional model-driven spreadsheet development,

2011

Embedding and Evolution of Spreadsheet Models in Spreadsheet Systems

Authors
Cunha, J; Mendes, J; Saraiva, J; Fernandes, JP;

Publication
2011 IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON VISUAL LANGUAGES AND HUMAN-CENTRIC COMPUTING (VL/HCC 2011)

Abstract
This paper describes the embedding of ClassSheet models in spreadsheet systems. ClassSheet models are well-known and describe the business logic of spreadsheet data. We embed this domain specific model representation on the (general purpose) spreadsheet system. By defining such an embedding, we provide end users a model-driven engineering spreadsheet developing environment. End users can interact with both the model and the spreadsheet data in the same environment. Moreover, we use advanced techniques to evolve spreadsheets and models and to have them synchronized. In this paper we present our work on extending a widely used spreadsheet system with such a model-driven spreadsheet engineering environment.

2010

Automatically inferring classsheet models from spreadsheets

Authors
Cunha, J; Erwig, M; Saraiva, J;

Publication
Proceedings - 2010 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2010

Abstract
Many errors in spreadsheet formulas can be avoided if spreadsheets are built automatically from higher-level models that can encode and enforce consistency constraints. However, designing such models is time consuming and requires expertise beyond the knowledge to work with spreadsheets. Legacy spreadsheets pose a particular challenge to the approach of controlling spreadsheet evolution through higher-level models, because the need for a model might be overshadowed by two problems: (A) The benefit of creating a spreadsheet is lacking since the legacy spreadsheet already exists, and (B) existing data must be transferred into the new model-generated spreadsheet. To address these problems and to support the model-driven spreadsheet engineering approach, we have developed a tool that can automatically infer ClassSheet models from spreadsheets. To this end, we have adapted a method to infer entity/relationship models from relational database to the spreadsheets/ClassSheets realm. We have implemented our techniques in the HAEXCEL framework and integrated it with the ViTSL/Gencel spreadsheet generator, which allows the automatic generation of refactored spreadsheets from the inferred ClassSheet model. The resulting spreadsheet guides further changes and provably safeguards the spreadsheet against a large class of formula errors. The developed tool is a significant contribution to spreadsheet (reverse) engineering, because it fills an important gap and allows a promising design method (ClassSheets) to be applied to a huge collection of legacy spreadsheets with minimal effort. © 2010 IEEE.

2009

Discovery-based Edit Assistance for Spreadsheets

Authors
Cunha, J; Saraiva, J; Visser, J;

Publication
2009 IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON VISUAL LANGUAGES AND HUMAN-CENTRIC COMPUTING, PROCEEDINGS

Abstract
Spreadsheets can be viewed as a highly flexible end-users programming environment which enjoys wide-spread adoption. But spreadsheets lack many of the structured programming concepts of regular programming paradigms. In particular, the lack of data structures in spreadsheets may lead spreadsheet users to cause redundancy. loss, or corruption of data during edit actions. In this paper, we demonstrate how implicit structural properties of spreadsheet data can be exploited to offer edit assistance to spreadsheet users. Our approach is based on the discovery of functional dependencies among data items which allow automatic reconstruction of a relational database schema. From this schema. new formulas and visual objects are embedded into the spreadsheet to offer features for auto-completion, guarded deletion, and controlled insertion. Schema discovery and spreadsheet enhancement are carried out automatically in the background and do not disturb normal user experience.

2012

A Quality Model for Spreadsheets

Authors
Cunha, J; Fernandes, JP; Peixoto, C; Saraiva, J;

Publication
2012 EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE QUALITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (QUATIC 2012)

Abstract
In this paper we present a quality model for spreadsheets based on the ISO/IEC 9126 standard that defines a generic quality model for software. To each of the software characteristics defined in the ISO/IEC 9126, we associate an equivalent spreadsheet characteristic. Then, we propose a set of spreadsheet specific metrics to assess the quality of a spreadsheet in each of the defined characteristics. To obtain the normal distribution of expected values for a spreadsheet in each of the proposed metrics, we have executed them in the widely used EUSES spreadsheet corpus. Then, we quantify each characteristic of our quality model after computing the values of our metrics, and we define quality scores for the different ranges of values. Finally, to automate the quality assessment of a given spreadsheet, according to our quality model, we have integrated the computation of the metrics it includes in both a batch and a web-based tool.

2012

MDSheet: A Framework for Model-Driven Spreadsheet Engineering

Authors
Cunha, J; Fernandes, JP; Mendes, J; Saraiva, J;

Publication
2012 34TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (ICSE)

Abstract
In this paper, we present MDSHEET, a framework for the embedding, evolution and inference of spreadsheet models. This framework offers a model-driven software development mechanism for spreadsheet users.

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