Skip to main content

Relating Feature Models to Other Models of a Software Product Line

A Comparative Study of FeatureMapper and VML*

  • Chapter
Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development VII

Abstract

Software product lines using feature models often require the relation between feature models in problem space and the models used to describe the details of the product line to be expressed explicitly. This is particularly important, where automatic product derivation is required. Different approaches for modelling this mapping have been proposed in the literature. However, a discussion of their relative benefits and drawbacks is currently missing. As a first step towards a better understanding of this field, this paper applies two of these approaches—FeatureMapper as a representative of declarative approaches and VML* as a representative of operational approaches—to the case study. We show in detail how the case study can be expressed using these approaches and discuss strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches with regard to the case study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Kienzle, J., Guelfi, N., Mustafiz, S.: Crisis management systems: A case study for aspect-oriented modeling. Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development 7, 1–22 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Clements, P., Northrop, L.: Software Product Lines: Practices and Patterns. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Pohl, K., Böckle, G., van der Linden, F.J.: Software Product Line Engineering: Foundations, Principles and Techniques. Springer, Heidelberg (September 2005)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. American Heritage: The American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kang, K., Cohen, S., Hess, J., Novak, W., Peterson, S.: Feature-oriented domain analysis (FODA) feasibility study. Technical Report CMU/SEI-90-TR-0211990, Software Engineering Institute (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Batory, D., Sarvela, J.N., Rauschmayer, A.: Scaling step-wise refinement. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 30(6), 355–371 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Czarnecki, K., Antkiewicz, M.: Mapping features to models: A template approach based on superimposed variants. In: Glück, R., Lowry, M. (eds.) GPCE 2005. LNCS, vol. 3676, pp. 422–437. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Haugen, Ø., Møller-Pedersen, B., Oldevik, J., Olsen, G., Svendsen, A.: Adding standardized variability to domain specific languages. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Software Product Line Conference (SPLC 2008), pp. 139–148. IEEE, Los Alamitos (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Heidenreich, F., Kopcsek, J., Wende, C.: FeatureMapper: Mapping Features to Models. In: Companion Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2008), pp. 943–944. ACM, New York (May 2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Morin, B., Perrouin, G., Lahire, P., Barais, O., Vanwormhoudt, G., Jézéquel, J.M.: Weaving variability into domain metamodels. In: Schürr, A., Selic, B. (eds.) MODELS 2009. LNCS, vol. 5795, pp. 690–705. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Zschaler, S., Sánchez, P., Santos, J., Alférez, M., Rashid, A., Fuentes, L., Moreira, A., Araújo, J., Kulesza, U.: VML* – a family of languages for variability management in software product lines [52]

    Google Scholar 

  12. Steinberg, D., Budinsky, F., Paternostro, M., Merks, E.: Eclipse Modeling Framework, 2nd edn. Pearson Education (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Heidenreich, F., Johannes, J., Karol, S., Seifert, M., Wende, C.: Derivation and Refinement of Textual Syntax for Models. In: Paige, R.F., Hartman, A., Rensink, A. (eds.) ECMDA-FA 2009. LNCS, vol. 5562, pp. 114–129. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Ziadi, T., Hélouët, L., Jézéquel, J.M.: Towards a UML Profile for Software Product Lines. In: van der Linden, F.J. (ed.) PFE 2003. LNCS, vol. 3014, pp. 129–139. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Loughran, N., Sánchez, P., Gámez, N., Garcia, A., Fuentes, L., Schwanninger, C., Kovacevic, J.: Survey on State-of-the-Art in Product Line Architecture Design. Technical Report Deliverable D2.1 (March 2007), AMPLE project http://www.ample-project.net

  16. Groher, I., Voelter, M.: XWeave: Models and aspects in concert. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Modeling (AOM 2007), pp. 35–40. ACM, New York (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Schauerhuber, A., Schwinger, W., Kapsammer, E., Retschitzegger, W., Wimmer, M., Kappel, G.: A survey on aspect-oriented modeling approaches. Technical report, Vienna University of Technology (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Heidenreich, F., Henriksson, J., Johannes, J., Zschaler, S.: On language-independent model modularisation [53] pp. 39–82

    Google Scholar 

  19. Whittle, J., Jayaraman, P., Elkhodary, A., Moreira, A., Araújo, J. (eds.): MATA: A Unified Approach for Composing UML Aspect Models Based on Graph Transformation [53], pp. 191–237.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Fuentes, L., Nebrera, C., Sánchez, P.: Feature-oriented model-driven software product lines: The TENTE approach. In: Yu, E., Eder, J., Rolland, C. (eds.) CAiSE 2009, pp. 67–72 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Greenwood, P., Bartolomei, T.T., Figueiredo, E., Dósea, M., Garcia, A.F., Cacho, N., Sant’Anna, C., Soares, S., Borba, P., Kulesza, U., Rashid, A.: On the impact of aspectual decompositions on design stability: An empirical study. In: Ernst, E. (ed.) ECOOP 2007. LNCS, vol. 4609, pp. 176–200. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  22. Lahire, P., Morin, B., Vanwormhoudt, G., Gaignard, A., Barais, O., Jézéquel, J.M.: Introducing variability into aspect-oriented modeling approaches. In: Engels, G., Opdyke, B., Schmidt, D.C., Weil, F. (eds.) MODELS 2007. LNCS, vol. 4735, pp. 498–513. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Beuche, D., Papajewski, H., Schröder-Preikschat, W.: Variability Management with Feature Models. Science of Computer Programming 53(3), 333–352 (2004)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  24. Ziadi, T., Jézéquel, J.M.: Software product line engineering with the UML: Deriving products. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Software Product Line Conference (SPLC 2006), pp. 557–588 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Botterweck, G., O’Brien, L., Thiel, S.: Model-driven derivation of product architectures. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2007), pp. 469–472 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Sánchez, P., Loughran, N., Fuentes, L., Garcia, A.: Engineering languages for specifying product-derivation processes in software product lines. In: Gašević, D., Lämmel, R., Van Wyk, E. (eds.) SLE 2008. LNCS, vol. 5452, pp. 188–207. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Krueger, C.W.: Gears white papers (2006), http://www.biglever.com/learn/whitepapers.html

  28. Bakal, M., Krueger, C.W.: The rhapsody/gears bridge - spl for mdd. In: Proc. of the 11th Int. Conference on Software Product Lines (SPLC) - Workshops, Kyoto, Japan, pp. 139–140 (September 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Groher, I., Voelter, M.: Aspect-Oriented Model-Driven Software Product Line Engineering [53], pp. 111–152

    Google Scholar 

  30. Kienzle, J., Abed, W.A., Klein, J.: Aspect-Oriented Multi-View Modelling. In: Proc. of the 8th Int. Conference on Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD), Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, March 2009, pp. 87–98 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Heidenreich, F., Şavga, I., Wende, C.: On Controlled Visualisations in Software Product Line Engineering. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Visualisation in Software Product Line Engineering (ViSPLE 2008), collocated with the 12th International Software Product Line Conference (SPLC 2008) (September 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  32. The FeatureMapper Project Team: FeatureMapper (July 2009), http://www.featuremapper.org

  33. The Topcased Project Team: TOPCASED (July 2009), http://www.topcased.org

  34. Heidenreich, F., Wende, C.: Bridging the gap between features and models. In: 2nd Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Product Line Engineering (AOPLE 2007) co-located with the 6th International Conference on Generative Programming and Component Engineering, GPCE 2007 (2007), http://www.softeng.ox.ac.uk/aople/

  35. Object Management Group: UML 2.2 infrastructure specification. OMG Document (February 2009), http://www.omg.org/spec/UML/2.2/

  36. Zschaler, S., Kolovos, D.S., Drivalos, N., Paige, R.F., Rashid, A.: Domain-specific metamodelling languages for software language engineering. [52]

    Google Scholar 

  37. Alférez, M., Kulesza, U., Weston, N., Araujo, J., Amaral, V., Moreira, A., Rashid, A., Jaeger, M.C.: A metamodel for aspectual requirements modelling and composition. AMPLE Deliverable D1.3 (2007), http://ample.holos.pt/gest_cnt_upload/editor/File/public/AMPLE_WP1_D13.pdf

  38. Efftinge, S.: openArchitectureWare 4.1 Xtend language reference (August 2006), http://www.openarchitectureware.org/pub/documentation/4.1/r25_extendReference.pdf

  39. Anquetil, N., Kulesza, U., Mitschke, R., Moreira, A., Royer, J.C., Rummler, A., Sousa, A.: A model-driven traceability framework for software product lines. Journal Software and Systems Modeling (2009) (Published on-line first, June 29, 2009)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Loughran, N., Sánchez, P., Garcia, A., Fuentes, L.: Language support for managing variability in architectural models. In: Pautasso, C., Tanter, É. (eds.) SC 2008. LNCS, vol. 4954, pp. 36–51. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  41. Fleurey, F., Baudry, B., Ghosh, S., France, R.: A generic approach for automatic model composition. In: Aspect Oriented Modeling (AOM) Workshop colocated with MoDELS 2007 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Czarnecki, K., Helsen, S., Eisenecker, U.: Staged configuration using feature models. In: Nord, R.L. (ed.) SPLC 2004. LNCS, vol. 3154, pp. 266–283. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Janota, M., Botterweck, G.: Formal approach to integrating feature and architecture models. In: Fiadeiro, J.L., Inverardi, P. (eds.) FASE 2008. LNCS, vol. 4961, pp. 31–45. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  44. Thaker, S., Batory, D., Kitchin, D., Cook, W.: Safe composition of product lines. In: Proc. 6th Int’l Conf. Generative Programming and Component Engineering (GPCE 2007), pp. 95–104 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Apel, S., Kästner, C.: An overview of feature-oriented software development. Journal of Object Technology (JOT) 8(5), 49–84 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  46. France, R.B., Ghosh, S., Dinh-Trong, T.T., Solberg, A.: Model-Driven Development Using UML 2.0: Promises and Pitfalls. IEEE Computer 39(2), 59–66 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Heidenreich, F.: Towards systematic ensuring well-formedness of software product lines. In: Proc. 1st Workshop on Feature-Oriented Software Development. ACM Press, New York (October 2009)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Czarnecki, K., Pietroszek, K.: Verifying Feature-Based Model Templates Against Well-Formedness OCL Constraints. In: Jarzabek, S., Schmidt, D.C., Veldhuizen, T.L. (eds.) Proc. 5th Int’l Conf. Generative Programming and Component Engineering (GPCE 2006), pp. 211–220. ACM, New York (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  49. ViSPLE organisers: International Workshop Series on Visualisation in Software Product Line Engineering (ViSPLE) (2008–2009)

    Google Scholar 

  50. Heidenreich, F., Johannes, J., Zschaler, S.: Aspect orientation for your language of choice. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Modeling (AOM at MoDELS 2007) co-located with the 10th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MoDELS 2007) (October 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Şavga, I., Heidenreich, F.: Refactoring in feature-oriented programming: Open issues. In: Proc. Workshop on Modularization, Composition, and Generative Techniques for Product Line Engineering, Department of Informatics and Mathematics, University of Passau, pp. 41–46 Technical Report MIP-0802 (October 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Gray, J., van den Brand, M. (eds.): Proc. 2nd Int’l Conf. on Software Language Engineering (SLE 2009). Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Katz, S., Ossher, H. (eds.): Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development VI. LNCS, vol. 5560. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Heidenreich, F. et al. (2010). Relating Feature Models to Other Models of a Software Product Line. In: Katz, S., Mezini, M., Kienzle, J. (eds) Transactions on Aspect-Oriented Software Development VII. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6210. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16086-8_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16086-8_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-16085-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-16086-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics