Towards 2D Traceability in a Platform for Contract Aware Visual Transformations with Tolerated Inconsistencies

Abstract

Today's model-driven engineering tools focus on the automatic transformation of software models and lack essential support for interacting with developers. This paper presents some lessons learned from building a standard compliant platform for the visual development of interactive consistency maintenance software. Based on an established requirements engineering case study, the paper illustrates the need for developer interaction and the controlled tolerance of inconsistencies. This motivates the role of traceability links in two dimensions: links between application models allow one to maintain consistency incrementally and tolerate inconsistencies in a controlled manner. In the other dimension, links between transformation models enable the refinement of declarative descriptions of consistency contracts into constructive transformations. Such transformations can be generated automatically from the contracts but tend to be optimized subtly by a transformation expert.

Model-Driven Development of Model Transformations

“…In our ongoing work, we are comparing the hybrid transformation language approach presented in this chapter with an approach that maps fully declarative transformation models on operational transformation models [259]. The ambiguities discussed in this chapter can then be resolved at the level of the operational transformation models.…”

“…Interestingly, the case study also challenges a fully declarative formalism, such as Triple Graph Grammars (TGGs), on various aspects. For example, the implementation of a transformation that supported a realistic developer interaction process required us to add control structures between TGG rules (or implement them on a lower level of abstraction [259]). Subsections 10.2.1 and 10.2.2 present these challenges in more detail.…”

“…Therefore, convenient navigation should be provided from TGG rules to the derived Story Diagrams and back. In [259] we proposed the use of traceability links to manage this complexity.…”

“…The advantage of the approach from [259] is that TGG rules remain simple by handling ambiguities only at the level of the derived operational rules. The disadvantage of [259] that without a proper traceability tool, it is hard to understand the complete semantics of a set of TGG rules.…”

“…The advantage of the approach from [259] is that TGG rules remain simple by handling ambiguities only at the level of the derived operational rules. The disadvantage of [259] that without a proper traceability tool, it is hard to understand the complete semantics of a set of TGG rules. It should be noted that the emerging QVT standard [197] proposes a two-level transformation language architecture as well which makes [259] applicable in that context too.…”