Sample Scenarios

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Ada-Audit can be invoked either from a command line or from within Ada-ASSURED.

Scenario 1

Here is a typical command-line invocation:

aa-audit -gnat -G demo_library

What happens is:

The STYLE table is updated for all Ada source files in the gnat library demo_library that have been modified since STYLE was last updated.
The updated STYLE table is displayed in an HTML browser.
An Ada-ASSURED window is opened, if necessary, to serve as a control panel.

Ada-ASSURED menu Tools/Ada-Audit/View contains commands for changing the view of the STYLE table. Ada-ASSURED menu Tools/Ada-Audit/Find invokes a command that restricts attention to a subset of the facts.

At any time while reviewing the database:

You can print the current view by invoking command Print (menu: File/Print) in the HTML browser.
You can save the current view as an HTML file by invoking the Save As command (menu: File/Save As) in the HTML browser. This file can be loaded later into any HTML browser without using Ada-Audit. It can also be incorporated into other HTML documents. Note, however, that the current view of the table is frozen in the HTML file and cannot be changed later.
You can save the current table in a file format that permits it to be reloaded later. For example, you may wish to record a snapshot of the database for later comparison. Command audit-save (menu: Tools/Ada-Audit/Save Audit) saves the table, and command audit-load (menu: Tools/Ada-Audit/Load Audit) restores it. Once the table has been restored from the file, it can be manipulated at will.

The Ada-Audit session is terminated by executing command exit (menu: File/Exit) from the Ada-ASSURED window.

Scenario 1 updates a persistent record of the STYLE table that is associated with the given library. If no Ada source files change between subsequent invocations of Scenario 1, the STYLE table will be up to date and will not need updating.

Scenario 2

The updating process of Scenario 1 requires time proportional to the number of files changed since the previous update. You may wish to do this updating periodically rather than on demand, as in Scenario 1.

The command-line invocation:

aa-audit -update_only -gnat -G demo_library

just updates the STYLE table to be consistent with respect to the current Ada source files, and omits invocation of the browsers. For example, you might wish to invoke this command nightly, or as part of a check-in process.

When the -update_only flag is used, Ada-ASSURED will be invoked in batch mode and no window will appear.

Scenario 3

Suppose you wish to review the database "as is" without performing an update. The command-line invocation:

aa-audit -view_only -gnat -G demo_library

omits the updating and just loads whatever table resulted from the most recent update for the given library.

Senario 4

Instead of loading Ada-Audit with the facts for a whole library, you can view just the facts pertinent to a list of files. The command-line

aa-audit -f f1.a f2.a f3.a

updates the STYLE table for files f1.a, f2.a, and f3.a, and displays the STYLE table with the facts associated with these files. The -view_only and -update_only options also work with a list of files.

Senario 5

If you have a long list of files to be audited, you may wish to list their paths in a separate file, one per line. The command-line

aa-audit -l filelist

updates the STYLE table for all files whose paths are given in file filelist, and displays the STYLE table with the facts associated with these files.

Senario 6

Audits can be invoked from within Ada-ASSURED by executing command audit-library-or-files (menu: Tools/Audit/Library or Files). If the audit of a library is requested, the default vendor information is based on Ada-ASSURED's compiler preferences (menu: Options/Compiler Preferences).

If a user is using Ada-ASSURED interactively, then performing an audit will use the running Ada-ASSURED process unless the -update_only flag is used.

Senario 7

Interactive users of Ada-ASSURED can set the STYLE table based on the contents of files currently in edit buffers:

Command audit-current-buffer (menu: Tools/Ada-Audit/Audit/Current Buffer) sets the table with facts about the Ada source code contained in the current edit buffer.
Command audit-all-buffers menu: Tools/Ada-Audit/Audit/All Buffers) sets the table with facts about the Ada source code contained in all edit buffers of syntactic category compilation.