Builder's Guide for WaterBeans Components

WaterBeans is a proof-of-feasibility system for building software applications through a process of assembling (composing) prefabricated software components. WaterBeans was originally developed as a proof of feasibility that software component technology could be used to develop software applications in the domain of water-quality modeling. (In particular, WaterBeans supports modeling and simulating the hydrology of urban storm water sewage and runoff.) WaterBeans includes a component model for component developers, a visual composition environment for importing and assembling components into applications, and several families of components. One family of components supports modeling and simulating urban sewage systems. Another family of components was developed to prove the generality of WaterBeans; this family of components allows visualization and manipulation of digital waveforms. This report documents the programming interface for component developers. It also provides a brief description of the composition environment.