Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
Model-Driven Evolution of Software Architectures - Software and ...
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186 Chapter8. Visualisation<strong>of</strong>DSMLs<br />
Ourapproachfocusesonvisualisation<strong>of</strong>DSMLmodels.Itdoesnot<strong>of</strong>fer<br />
visualeditingformodelsconformingtocomplexmetamodels. Whenthat<br />
isrequired,editorshavetobedevelopedspecifically.Technologytopartly<br />
generatesucheditorsisprovidedintheEclipseGraphicalEditingFramework<br />
1 (GMF)usingEMF. Basedonthespecification<strong>of</strong>aconcretesyntax<br />
<strong>and</strong>theabstractsyntaxspecifiedbyametamodelthisplugincangenerateaneditor.However,inthecasethatonlyvisualisationisrequired,our<br />
approach<strong>of</strong>fersalightweightalternative.<br />
Anotheralternativeistosimplymanuallycreatedocumentationinstead<br />
<strong>of</strong>automaticallyasinourapproach.Inthatcasethediagramscorrespondingtosomes<strong>of</strong>twaremodelsarecreated(drawn)manuallyusingmodelling<br />
ormoregenerictools. Obviously,consistencybecomesanissuewithsuch<br />
anapproach.<br />
8.7 RelatedWork<br />
Fondement<strong>and</strong>Baar[2005]presentanapproachtospecify(graphical)concretesyntaxbyextendingmetamodels.Basedonthisapproachtoolscould<br />
bedevelopedto(partly)generatecorrespondingeditors. Instead,wetake<br />
advantage<strong>of</strong>existingUMLtools.<br />
Medvidovicetal.[2002]investigatetheuse<strong>of</strong> UMLinthedomain<strong>of</strong><br />
s<strong>of</strong>twarearchitecture. Moreinparticular,theyinvestigatehowmodelling<br />
constructsusedinADLs(i.e.,atype<strong>of</strong>DSML)canberepresentedusingUML.<br />
TheyconsidertwoapproachesforusingUMLtomodels<strong>of</strong>twarearchitectures:(1)useUML‘as-is’,<strong>and</strong>(2)useUML’sextensionmechanisms.<br />
They<br />
concludethatUMLhasanumber<strong>of</strong>limitationswhenusedtomodels<strong>of</strong>twarearchitectures.<br />
Thelack<strong>of</strong>architecturalmodellingconstructsmakes<br />
itnecessarytoadoptspecificinterpretations<strong>of</strong>UMLmodelelementsorto<br />
relyonOCLtoconstraintheuse<strong>of</strong>modelconstructs. Inthischapterwe<br />
investigatedathirdstrategythatisbasedonthedefinition<strong>of</strong>metamodels<br />
forADLs<strong>and</strong>theirmappingtoUMLusingmodeltransformations.<br />
FivestrategiesforrepresentingarchitecturalstructureinUMLaredescribedbyGarlanetal.[2002].Theyconcludethatthereisnosinglebest<br />
waytodothis. Furthermore,theyidentifyatrade-<strong>of</strong>fbetweencompleteness<strong>and</strong>legibility:strategiesthatassigndifferentUMLmodelelementsfor<br />
eachADLconstruct(completeness)tendtobeveryverbose<strong>and</strong>hencepoorly<br />
readable(legibility).One<strong>of</strong>theirrecommendationstosolvethis,istocontinuetouseADLsbuttoprovidemappingstoobject-orientednotations.Inthecurrentchapterwespecifiedsuchmappingsusingmodeltransformations,whichmakesthemautomated.<br />
1 http://www.eclipse.org/gmf(June2007)
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