Entry points, Data Entities, End points, Excluded Items - Browser
There are various sub-nodes in the [Templates] and System parent nodes:
Entry points
The Entry Points node allows you to set up sets that govern the detection of the application's User Interaction elements as defined in the OMG-compliant Automated Function Points:
External Input
External Output
External Inquiries
The algorithm picks up all the application objects defined as Entry Points and explores a call graph to determine all the Data Entities managed by the transaction.
Your sets should therefore target "client" side objects such as (but not limited to) Windows, Property Pages and Forms.
Note that CAST uses a predefined list of Transaction entry points (defined in the Templates node), which can be seen in the By Type node. Object types that appear in this list are always considered Entry Points (e.g.: C# forms / VB.NET forms / VB forms etc.).
Data Entities
The Data Entities node allows you to create sets that govern the selection and Function Point value computation of the persistence Data Entities. Your sets should target server side object types such as (but not limited to) objects that store data.
Note that CAST uses a predefined list of built-in types for Data Entities (defined in the Templates node), which can be seen in the Built-in parameters node - Right hand panel. Object types that appear in this list are always considered Data Entities (e.g.: SQL Tables etc.) and have predefined Function Point values that cannot be modified.
End points
The End Points node is optional (objects that match any sets defined in this node are NOT included in the results) and can be used in the following situations:
- whenever the application to be counted is analyzed without its Data Entities. You can use it to set up sets for situations when the database code has not been delivered and/or cannot be analyzed by the CAST Management Studio.
- whenever you want to define a set for objects that are considered as Data Entities, but you do not want these objects to be included in the Function Point calculation.
This is achieved by setting up sets that are equivalent to the missing Data Entities so that the Function Point engine computes the Transactions starting from the Entry Points and stopping at the End Points.
Your sets should not target the same type of objects that you would target in the Data Entities node - instead, you need to target objects that replicate actual storage objects, or objects that have a replicate or an external communication function.
Excluded Items
The Excluded Items node allows you to exclude certain objects (based on naming, inheritance, type and free definition) from the other nodes (Data Entities, End points, Entry points nodes). For example, it is often necessary to exclude temporary tables from the Data Entities node - using this node you can do so. This eliminates the need to constantly delete results returned by the CAST Transaction Configuration Center that always match the same pattern.
Using Excluded Items in specific situations
Data functions/transaction contributing to values in the AFP section
Data functions / transaction functions will still contribute to values in the AFP section in the following situations:
- The setup configuration rule matching the(se) object(s) is no longer present
- The setup configuration rule has changed and no longer matches the objects
This is because these Data functions / Transactions have already been calibrated (i.e. merged / deleted / ignored) and a Compute action will not remove these items from the values in the AFP section to prevent losing the specific calibration that has been applied. Therefore, if you need to prevent these objects contributing to values in the AFP section, you can:
- Create an excluded-item rule to exclude these items
- Run the Compute action
- Disable or remove the excluded-item rule you created
Right hand panel
When one of the above sub-nodes is selected, the right hand panel will display the total number of sets you have defined for that particular node:
Please see the Right hand panel section for more information about using this panel.
