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Transformation from CIM to PIM: A Feature-Oriented Component-Based Approach

Abstract. Model Transformation is a crucial part of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). However, most of the current researches only focus on the transforma-tion from PIM to PSM, and pay little attention to the CIM-to-PIM transforma-tion. One of the results is that converting CIM to PIM will depend much on de-signers ’ personal experience or creativity, and thus the quality of PIM can not be well controlled. This paper presents a feature-oriented component-based ap-proach to the CIM-to-PIM transformation. In this approach, features and com-ponents are adopted as the key elements of CIM and PIM, respectively. One important characteristic of this approach is that it provides a method to decom-pose the n-to-n relations between features and components into two groups of 1-to-n relations. The other important characteristic is that this approach pro-poses a way to create components by clustering responsibilities which are op-erationalized from features. These two characteristics partially resolve two ba-sic problems related to the CIM-to-PIM transformation: one is the traceability problem between CIM and PIM, the other is the problem of CIM-based PIM construction.

Using UML-Based Feature Models and UML Collaboration Diagrams to Information Modelling for Web-Based Applications

Web oriented software technology has provided access to information serving environments for a broad audience. This situation requires webbased software applications which satisfy increasing variety of requirements of the broad audience. Such variability can be found in requirements for information but also for environment which is serving the information. In this paper, we discuss a method which utilizes the UML-based feature modelling to support the need to model the variability. The information and environment configurations are modelled as common and variable features of application domain and environment concepts. Separation of feature models into application domain and environment allows us to select several configurations of environments to deliver particular information. The UML collaboration diagrams model collaborations between the application domain and environment concept and feature instances as an abstraction for presented information fragments in a web application

Feature-based composition of software architectures

Abstract. In Software Product Lines variability refers to the definition and utilization of differences between several products. Feature Diagrams (FD) are a well-known approach to express variability, and can be used to automate the derivation process. Nevertheless, this may be highly complex due to possible interactions between selected features and the artifacts realizing them. Deriving concrete products typically involves the composition of such inter-dependent software artifacts. This paper presents a feature-based composition approach to automatically derive a product architecture from a given feature configuration. The proposed approach relies on the combination of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and Aspect-Oriented Modeling (AOM) techniques. We introduce a metamodel to reify each feature as a high-level aspect model. Product derivation is achieved by weaving the set of aspect models corresponding to a particular feature configuration. The weaving strategy is derived from an in-depth cross-analysis of both the feature interactions and the aspect model dependencies.

Process support for product line application engineering.

The derivation of products from a software product line is a time-consuming and expensive activity. Despite recognition that an effective process could alleviate many of the difficulties associated with product derivation, existing approaches have different scope, emphasize different aspects of the derivation process and are frequently too specialized to serve as a general solution. In response to a need for methodological support, we developed Pro-PD (Process model for Product Derivation). Pro-PD was iteratively developed and evaluated through four research stages involving academic and industrial sources. This paper illustrates how Pro-PD provides systematic support by using product derivation preparation as an example