A coupled model of water, heat and mass transfer using object orientation to improve flexibility and functionality

The challenge of our software development is to introduce user-friendly document-orientation and graphical features that are typical in Windows software and to retain the possibility of easily extending existing legacy Fortran code. Keys to this development were the use of five development tools and our special management of shared memory. Numerical development of the code was thus continued in Fortran while the newly introduced multiple-document interface allows the new graphical features that are considered more user friendly (e.g. tool bar, status bar, animation, etc.) can be further refined and adjusted using Visual C++6.0 and the MS Visual Studio. Object orientation makes it possible to include modules with different type of dependencies that restrict the user interface to the specific use of the model. A large number of sub-models are combined and all input/output data have been adapted to an object-oriented standard. Multiple-run features and built-in links to a common database are new important features. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.