Maintenance and analysis of visual programs - an industrial case

A domain-specific visual language, Function Block Language (FBL), is used in Metso Automation for writing automation control programs. The same engineering environment is used for both forward and reverse engineering activities, providing convenient support for the maintenance and evolution of FBL programs. Various data and program analysis methods are applied to study the FBL programs stored in project library archives. From the large amount of programs, the analysis can be focused to certain kinds of programs. Using metadata stored in a database enables this. The application of the provided analysis methods further aids the reverse engineering, re-engineering, and reuse activities. Software and data reverse engineering techniques are traditionally used to support program and data comprehension, respectively. In our research, we have successfully used corresponding techniques to analyze visual programs written in FBL in real-world projects at Metso Automation.