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Least-change bidirectional model transformation with QVT-R and ATL

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Abstract

QVT Relations (QVT-R) is the standard language proposed by the OMG to specify bidirectional model transformations. Unfortunately, in part due to ambiguities and omissions in the original semantics, acceptance and development of effective tool support have been slow. Recently, the checking semantics of QVT-R has been clarified and formalized. In this article, we propose a QVT-R tool that complies to such semantics. Unlike any other existing tool, it also supports meta-models enriched with OCL constraints (thus avoiding returning ill-formed models) and proposes an alternative enforcement semantics that works according to the simple and predictable “principle of least change.” The implementation is based on an embedding of both QVT-R transformations and UML class diagrams (annotated with OCL) in Alloy, a lightweight formal specification language with support for automatic model finding via SAT solving. We also show how this technique can be applied to bidirectionalize ATL, a popular (but unidirectional) model transformation language.

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Notes

  1. http://www.eclipse.org/atl/.

  2. Download and more information about Echo is available at http://haslab.github.io/echo and in the tool demo [33].

  3. http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/.

  4. http://www.eclipse.org/xtext/.

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded by ERDF—European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by national funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-020532. The first author is also sponsored by FCT grant SFRH/BD/69585/2010. The authors would also like to thank all anonymous reviewers for the valuable comments and suggestions.

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  1. HASLab, INESC TEC and Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Nuno Macedo & Alcino Cunha

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  1. Nuno Macedo
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  2. Alcino Cunha
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Correspondence to Nuno Macedo.

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Communicated by Prof. Gabriele Taentzer.

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Macedo, N., Cunha, A. Least-change bidirectional model transformation with QVT-R and ATL. Softw Syst Model 15, 783–810 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-014-0437-x

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