Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

AspectOCL: Extending OCL for Crosscutting Constraints

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Modelling Foundations and Applications (ECMFA 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 9153))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Constraints play an important role in Model Driven Software Engineering. Industrial systems commonly exhibit crosscutting behaviors in design artifacts. While modeling of crosscutting behaviors has been addressed in literature, the modeling of crosscutting constraints remains a problem. Presence of crosscutting constraints makes it difficult to maintain constraints defined on the models of large-scale industrial systems. Multiple elements in a model may share common crosscutting constraints with minor variation. Aspect orientation is well-established approach to model crosscutting behavior. Current OCL specification does not support writing crosscutting constraints separately as aspects. In this paper, we propose an extension of OCL language that brings benefits of aspect orientation to OCL constraints. In our language, crosscutting constraints are specified as aspects, which can be woven in OCL constraints. We demonstrate our proposed language through application on a published open source case study. Results show that specifying crosscutting constraints as aspects can reduce the number of constraints to be specified.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 44.99
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. Völter, M., Stahl, T., Bettin, J., Haase, A., Helsen, S.: Model-driven software development: technology, engineering, management. John Wiley & Sons (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Brambilla, M., Cabot, J., Wimmer, M.: Model-driven software engineering in practice. Synthesis Lectures on Software Engineering 1, 1–182 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Warmer, J.B., Kleppe, A.G.: The Object Constraint Language: Precise Modeling With Uml (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Specification, O.M.G.A.: Object Constraint Language (May 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ali, S., Yue, T., Zohaib Iqbal, M., Panesar-Walawege, R.K.: Insights on the use of OCL in diverse industrial applications. In: Amyot, D., Fonseca i Casas, P., Mussbacher, G. (eds.) SAM 2014. LNCS, vol. 8769, pp. 223–238. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ali, S., Iqbal, M.Z., Arcuri, A., Briand, L.: Generating Test Data from OCL Constraints with Search Techniques. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 39(10), 1376–1402 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gray, J., Bapty, T., Neema, S., Tuck, J.: Handling crosscutting constraints in domain-specific modeling. Communications of the ACM 44, 87–93 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lengyel, L., Levendovszky, T., Mezei, G., Forstner, B., Charaf, H.: Metamodel-based model transformation with aspect-oriented constraints. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science 152, 111–123 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Murphy, G.C., Walker, R.J., Baniassad, E.L.A., Robillard, M.P., Lai, A., Kersten, M.A.: Does aspect-oriented programming work? Communications of the ACM 44, 75–77 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ali, S., Yue, T., Briand, L.C.: Does Aspect-Oriented Modeling Help Improve the Readability of UML State Machines? Software & Systems Modeling, Springer 13(3), 1189–1221 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Clarke, S., Baniassad, E.: Aspect-oriented analysis and design. Addison-Wesley Professional (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Laddad, R.: AspectJ in Action: Practical Aspect-Oriented Programming. Manning Publications (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Elrad, T., Filman, R.E., Bader, A.: Aspect-oriented programming: Introduction. Communications of the ACM 44, 29–32 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mguni, K., Ayalew, Y.: An Assessment of Maintainability of an Aspect-Oriented System. International Scholarly Research Notices (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ali, S., Briand, L.C., Hemmati, H.: Modeling Robustness Behavior Using Aspect-Oriented Modeling to Support Robustness Testing of Industrial Systems. Software and Systems Modeling 11(4), 633–670 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Khan, M.U., Iqbal, M.Z., Ali, S.: A Heuristic-Based Approach to Refactor Crosscutting Behaviors in UML State Machines. In: 2014 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME), pp. 557–560. IEEE (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  17. France, R., Ray, I., Georg, G., Ghosh, S.: Aspect-oriented approach to early design modelling. IEE Proceedings-Software 151, 173–185 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Steinberg, D., Budinsky, F., Merks, E., Paternostro, M.: EMF: eclipse modeling framework. Pearson Education (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Wilson, B.: EU-Rent Car Rentals Case Study. Model Systems & Brian Wilson Associates (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Tairas, R., Cabot, J.: Cloning in DSLs: experiments with OCL. In: Sloane, A., Aßmann, U. (eds.) SLE 2011. LNCS, vol. 6940, pp. 60–76. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Cabot, J., Gogolla, M.: Object constraint language (OCL): a definitive guide. In: Bernardo, M., Cortellessa, V., Pierantonio, A. (eds.) SFM 2012. LNCS, vol. 7320, pp. 58–90. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  22. Costal, D., Gómez, C., Queralt, A., Raventós, R., Teniente, E.: Improving the definition of general constraints in UML. Softw Syst Model 7, 469–486 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. http://eclipse.org/Xtext/

  24. Wimmer, M., Schauerhuber, A., Kappel, G., Retschitzegger, W., Schwinger, W., Kapsammer, E.: A survey on UML-based aspect-oriented design modeling. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 43, 28 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Richters, M., Gogolla, M.: Aspect-oriented monitoring of UML and OCL constraints. In: AOSD Modeling With UML Workshop, 6th International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language (UML), San Francisco, USA. Citeseer (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Dou, W., Bianculli, D., Briand, L.: OCLR: a more expressive, pattern-based temporal extension of OCL. In: Van Cabot, J., Rubin, J. (eds.) ECMFA 2014. LNCS, vol. 8569, pp. 51–166. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Hearnden, D., Raymond, K., Steel, J.: MQL: a powerful extension to OCL for MOF queries. In: Proceedings Seventh IEEE International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference, 2003. pp. 264–276. IEEE (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Störrle, H.: MOCQL: a declarative language for ad-hoc model querying. In: Van Gorp, P., Ritter, T., Rose, L.M. (eds.) ECMFA 2013. LNCS, vol. 7949, pp. 3–19. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  29. Rumpe, B.: ≪ Java≫ OCL Based on New Presentation of the OCL-Syntax. In: Clark, T., Warmer, J. (eds.) ECMFA 2013. LNCS, vol. 2263, pp. 189–212. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  30. Aldawud, O., Elrad, T., Bader, A.: UML profile for aspect-oriented software development. In: Proceedings of Third International Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Modeling. Citeseer (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Usman, M., Iqbal, M.Z., Khan, M.U.: A model-driven approach to generate mobile applications for multiple platforms. In: 21st Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC), pp. 111–118 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Jilani, A.A., Iqbal, M.Z., Khan, M.U.: A search based test data generation approach for model transformations. In: Di Ruscio, D., Varró, D. (eds.) ICMT 2014. LNCS, vol. 8568, pp. 17–24. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Frias, L., Queralt, A., Ramon, A.O.: EU-Rent car rentals specification (2003)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Software Quality Engineering and Testing Lab (QUEST), National University of Computer and Emerging Science, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Uzair Khan, Numra Arshad, Muhammad Zohaib Iqbal & Hafsa Umar

  2. Software Verification and Validation Lab, Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Muhammad Zohaib Iqbal

Authors
  1. Muhammad Uzair Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Numra Arshad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muhammad Zohaib Iqbal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hafsa Umar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Uzair Khan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universität Marburg FB Mathematik, Marburg, Germany

    Gabriele Taentzer

  2. Ericsson Canada Inc, Ottawa, Canada

    Francis Bordeleau

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Khan, M.U., Arshad, N., Iqbal, M.Z., Umar, H. (2015). AspectOCL: Extending OCL for Crosscutting Constraints. In: Taentzer, G., Bordeleau, F. (eds) Modelling Foundations and Applications. ECMFA 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9153. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21151-0_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21151-0_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21150-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21151-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation