A Component Library Management System and Browser

This report describes a component library management system (LMS) that is implemented with the OCT database. The LMS consists of a user-extensible component library and, a browser that enables the user to search through component lists with the help of a graphical user interface. The LMS provides a query mechanism that allows the user to search for components by attributes and quickly identify parts that meet a design requirement. The LMS also provides a link between the browser and FAST (an ARPA-sponsored electronic parts broker) procurement data, so that designers can automatically generate electronic orders for parts to FAST.Although commercial library browsing tools exist (such as Cahners Computer-Aided Product Selection CAPS), these tools cannot process the component data or generate procurement requests. In this report we discuss the trade-offs between relational database systems and object oriented database system for implementing the LMS and describe the use of OCT in our implementation. We also present a flexible and extensible browser datastructure that has been created for rapid on-line access of the OCT component library information. Finally, we identify the limitations of the current implementation and propose some possible solutions and future work.