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Validation of Derived Features and Well-Formedness Constraints in DSLs

By Mapping Graph Queries to an SMT-Solver

  • Conference paper
Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 8107))

Abstract

Despite the wide range of existing generative 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. Incremental model queries as provided by the EMF-IncQuery framework can (i) uniformly specify derived features and well-formedness constraints and (ii) automatically refresh their result set upon model changes. However, for complex domains, derived features and constraints can be formalized incorrectly resulting in incomplete, ambiguous or inconsistent 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 into an effectively propositional fragment of first-order logic which can be efficiently analyzed by the Z3 SMT-solver. Moreover, overapproximations are proposed for complex query features (like transitive closure and recursive calls). Our approach will be illustrated on analyzing a DSL being developed for the avionics domain.

This work was partially supported by the CERTIMOT (ERC_HU-09-01-2010-0003), the TÁMOP (4.2.2.C-11/1/KONV-2012-0001) projects, a collaborative project with Embraer and the János Bolyai Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Measurement and Information Systems, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1117, Budapest, Magyar tudósok krt. 2, Hungary

    Oszkár Semeráth, Ákos Horváth & Dániel Varró

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  1. Oszkár Semeráth
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  2. Ákos Horváth
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  3. Dániel Varró
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Departamento de Informática, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Ana Moreira

  2. Institut für Mathematik, fortiss / Technische Universität München, Guerickestraße 25, 80805, München, Germany

    Bernhard Schätz

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Alabama, Box 870290, 35487-0290, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Jeff Gray

  4. ETSI Informática, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, Bulevar Louis Pasteur 35, 29071, Málaga, Spain

    Antonio Vallecillo

  5. School of Computing and Information Sciences, College of Engineering and Computing, Florida International University, 33199, Miami, FL, USA

    Peter Clarke

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Semeráth, O., Horváth, Á., Varró, D. (2013). Validation of Derived Features and Well-Formedness Constraints in DSLs. In: Moreira, A., Schätz, B., Gray, J., Vallecillo, A., Clarke, P. (eds) Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. MODELS 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8107. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41533-3_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41533-3_33

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41532-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41533-3

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