From UML to Alloy and back again

Shah, Seyyed; Anastasakis, Kyriakos; Bordbar, Behzad

doi:10.1145/1656485.1656489

Cited by 35 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…There are several approaches and tools aiming to validate models enriched with OCL constraints [27] relying upon different logic formalisms such as constraint logic programming [17,18,13], SAT-based model finders (like Alloy) [53,3,15,36,54], first-order logic [8], constructive query containment [45], higher-order logic [12,28], or rewriting logics [20]. Some of these approaches (like e.g.…”

Section: Validation Of Ocl Enriched Metamodelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of these approaches (like e.g. [18,15,36,53]) offer bounded validation (where the search space needs to be restricted explicitly) in order to execute the validation and thus results can only be considered within the given scope, others (like [12,8]) allow unbounded verification (which normally results in increased level of interaction and decidability issues).…”

Section: Validation Of Ocl Enriched Metamodelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Formal validation of domain-specific languages with derived features and well-formedness constraints

et al. 2015

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Despite the wide range of existing tool support, constructing a design environment for a complex domain-specific language (DSL) is still a tedious task as the large number of derived features and well-formedness constraints complementing the domain metamodel necessitate special handling. Such derived features and constraints are frequently defined by declarative techniques (such graph patterns or OCL invariants).However, for complex domains, derived features and constraints can easily be formalized incorrectly resulting in inconsistent, incomplete or ambiguous DSL specifications. To detect such issues, we propose an automated mapping of EMF metamodels enriched with derived features and well-formedness constraints captured as graph queries in EMF-IncQuery or (a subset of) OCL invariants into an effectively propositional fragment of first-order logic which can be efficiently analyzed by back-end reasoners.On the conceptual level, the main added value of our encoding is (1) to transform graph patterns of the EMF-IncQuery framework into FOL and (2) to introduce approximations for complex language features (e.g. transitive closure or multiplicities) which are not expressible in FOL. On the practical level, we identify and address relevant challenges and scenarios for systematically validating DSL specifications. Our approach is supported by a tool and it will be illustrated on analyzing a DSL in the avionics domain. We also present initial performance experiments for the validation using Z3 and Alloy as back-end reasoners.

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Section: Validation Of Ocl Enriched Metamodelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Validation Of Ocl Enriched Metamodelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formal validation of domain-specific languages with derived features and well-formedness constraints

et al. 2015

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“…For example, Cabot et al in [6] developed a tool called UMLtoCSP to do the formalization. Also Shah et al in [31] used UMLtoAlloy and Alloy Analyzer to do the formalization and model checking respectively. Another group of authors used MDE tools to do the transformation.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Providing modeller friendly feedback to report the model checking results has been addressed only a few times in the literature. The authors in [6,31] proposed presenting the model checking results (e.g., counterexample) as an object diagram that represents a snapshot of the system during the error. Alternatively, Mrugalla et al in [21] presents the counter-example as sequence and timing diagrams.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrated framework for checking the behaviour of fUML models using CSP

Abdelhalim

Schneider

Treharne

2012

Int J Softw Tools Technol Transfer

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Transforming UML models into a formal representation to check certain properties has been addressed many times in the literature. However, the lack of automatic formalization for executable UML models and provision of model checking results as modellerfriendly feedback has inhibited the practical use of such approaches in real life projects. In this paper we address those issues by performing the automatic formalization of the fUML (Foundational subset for executable UML) models into CSP without any interaction with the modeller, who should be isolated from the formal methods domain. The formal analysis provides the modeller with a UML sequence diagram that represents the model checking result in the case where an error has been found in the model. This work also considers the formalization of systems that depend on asynchronous communication between components in order to allow checking of the dynamic concurrent behaviour of systems.We have designed a comprehensive framework that is implemented as a plugin to MagicDraw (the CASE tool we use) that we call Compass. The framework depends on Epsilon as a model transformation tool that utilizes the Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approach. It also implements an optimization approach to be able to model check concurrent systems using FDR2, and at the same time comply with the fUML inter-object communication mechanism. In order to validate our frame-

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“…Nearly every software engineer understands at least the UML core concepts, while other more specialized modeling languages first need to be explained from the scratch. This central role of the UML can also be observed by looking for transformation approaches from UML to more formal and specialized languages or tools such as the Alloy [24] language, SAT [25] or model checkers [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

OCL-Based Runtime Monitoring of Applications with Protocol State Machines

Hamann

Hofrichter

Gogolla

2012

Modelling Foundations and Applications

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Abstract. This paper presents an approach that enables users to monitor and verify the behavior of an application running on a virtual machine (like the Java virtual machine) at an abstract model level. Models for object-oriented implementations are often used as a foundation for formal verification approaches. Our work allows the developer to verify whether a model corresponds to a concrete implementation by validating assumptions about model structure and behavior. In previous work, we focused on (a) the validation of static model properties by monitoring invariants and (b) basic dynamic properties by specifying pre-and postconditions of an operation. In this paper, we extend our work in order to verify and validate advanced dynamic properties, i. e., properties of sequences of operation calls. This is achieved by integrating support for monitoring UML protocol state machines into our basic validation engine.

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From UML to Alloy and back again

Cited by 35 publications

References 15 publications

Formal validation of domain-specific languages with derived features and well-formedness constraints

Formal validation of domain-specific languages with derived features and well-formedness constraints

An integrated framework for checking the behaviour of fUML models using CSP

OCL-Based Runtime Monitoring of Applications with Protocol State Machines

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