Partial loading of XMI models

XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) is an OMG-standardised model exchange format, which is natively supported by the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) and the majority of the modelling and model management languages and tools. Whilst XMI is widely supported, the XMI parser provided by EMF is inefficient in some cases where models are readonly (such as input models for model query, model-to-model transformation, etc) as it always requires loading the entire model into memory. In this paper we present a novel algorithm, and a prototype implementation (SmartSAX), which is capable of partially loading models persisted in XMI. SmartSAX oérs improved performance, in terms of loading time and memory footprint, over the default EMF XMI parser. We describe the algorithm in detail, and present benchmarking results that demonstrate the substantial improvements of the prototype implementation over the XMI parser provided by EMF

The Epsilon Pattern Language

We present the Epsilon Pattern Language (EPL), a textual language that supports expressing and detecting patterns on models conforming to arbitrary metamodels and captured using diverse modelling technologies. EPL provides out-of-the-box integration with existing languages that target a wide range of related model management activities (such as model validation, model-to-model and model-to-text transformation), thus enabling code reuse and seamless runtime interoperability across complex Model-Driven Engineering workflows. We discuss the syntax and semantics of EPL, its supporting development tools, and demonstrate how instances of patterns detected using EPL can be consumed and further processed by other model management programs

Engineering model transformations with transML

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10270-011-0211-2Model transformation is one of the pillars of model-driven engineering (MDE). The increasing complexity of systems and modelling languages has dramatically raised the complexity and size of model transformations as well. Even though many transformation languages and tools have been proposed in the last few years, most of them are directed to the implementation phase of transformation development. In this way, even though transformations should be built using sound engineering principles—just like any other kind of software—there is currently a lack of cohesive support for the other phases of the transformation development, like requirements, analysis, design and testing. In this paper, we propose a unified family of languages to cover the life cycle of transformation development enabling the engineering of transformations. Moreover, following an MDE approach, we provide tools to partially automate the progressive refinement of models between the different phases and the generation of code for several transformation implementation languages.This work has been sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with project METEORIC (TIN2008-02081), and by the R&D program of the Community of Madrid with projects “e-Madrid" (S2009/TIC-1650). Parts of this work were done during the research stays of Esther and Juan at the University of York, with financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant refs. JC2009-00015, PR2009-0019 and PR2008-0185)

Saying Hello World with Epsilon - A Solution to the 2011 Instructive Case

Epsilon is an extensible platform of integrated and task-specific languages for model management. With solutions to the 2011 TTC Hello World case, this paper demonstrates some of the key features of the Epsilon Object Language (an extension and reworking of OCL), which is at the core of Epsilon. In addition, the paper introduces several of the task-specific languages provided by Epsilon including the Epsilon Generation Language (for model-to-text transformation), the Epsilon Validation Language (for model validation) and Epsilon Flock (for model migration).Comment: In Proceedings TTC 2011, arXiv:1111.440

SIGMA: Scala Internal Domain-Specific Languages for Model Manipulations

International audienceModel manipulation environments automate model operations such as model consistency checking and model transformation. A number of external model manipulation Domain-Specific Languages (DSL) have been proposed, in particular for the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF). While their higher levels of abstraction result in gains in expressiveness over general-purpose languages, their limitations in versatility, performance, and tool support together with the need to learn new languages may significantly contribute to accidental complexities. In this paper, we present Sigma, a family of internal DSLs embedded in Scala for EMF model consistency checking, model-to-model and model-to-text transformations. It combines the benefits of external model manipulation DSLs with general-purpose programming taking full advantage of Scala versatility, performance and tool support. The DSLs are compared to the state-of-the-art Epsilon languages in non-trivial model manipulation tasks that resulted in 20% to 70% reduction in code size and significantly better performance

Towards flexible parsing of structured textual model representations

Existing parsers for textual model representation formats such as XMI and HUTN are unforgiving and fail upon even the smallest inconsistency between the structure and naming of metamodel elements and the contents of serialised models. In this paper, we demonstrate how a fuzzy parsing approach can transparently and automatically resolve a number of these inconsistencies, and how it can eventually turn XML into a human-readable and editable textual model representation format for particular classes of models

Pinset : A DSL for extracting datasets from models for data mining-based quality analysis

Data mining techniques have been successfully applied to software quality analysis and assurance, including quality of modeling artefacts. Before such techniques can be used, though, data under analysis commonly need to be formatted into two-dimensional tables. This constraint is imposed by data mining algorithms, which typically require a collection of records as input for their computations. The process of extracting data from the corresponding sources and formatting them properly can become error-prone and cumbersome. In the case of models, this process is mostly carried out through scripts written in a model management language, such as EOL or ATL. To improve this situation, we present Pinset, a domain-specific language devised for the extraction of tabular datasets from software models. Pinset offers a tailored syntax and built-in facilities for common activities in dataset extraction. For evaluation, Pinset has been used on UML class diagrams to calculate metrics that can be employed as input for several fault-prediction algorithms. The use of Pinset for this calculations led to more compact and high-level specifications when compared to equivalent scripts written in generic model management languages

VirtualEMF: a Model Virtualization Tool

International audienceSpecification of complex systems involves several heterogeneous and interrelated models. Model composition is a crucial (and complex) modeling activity that allows combining different system perspectives into a single cross-domain view. Current composition solutions fail to fully address the problem, presenting important limitations concerning efficiency, interoperability, and/or synchronization. To cope with these issues, in this demo we introduce VirtualEMF: a model composition tool based on the concept of a virtual model, i.e., a model that do not hold concrete data, but that redirects all its model manipulation operations to the set of base models from which it was generated

Aligning OCL with Domain-Specific Languages to Support Instance-Level Model Queries

The Object Constraint Language (OCL) provides a set of powerful facilities for navigating and querying models in the MOF metamodelling architecture. Currently, OCL queries can be expressed only in the context of MOF metamodels and UML models. This adds an additional burden to the development and use of Domain Specific Languages, which can also benefit from an instance-level querying mechanism. In an effort to address this issue, we report on ongoing work on defining a rigorous approach for aligning the OCL querying and navigation facilities with arbitrary Domain Specific Languages to support instance-level queries. We present a case-study that demonstrates the usefulness and practicality of this approach