Model interoperability via Model Driven Development

Among the factors that contribute to the inherent complexity of the software development process is the gap between the design and the formal analysis domains. Software design is often considered a human oriented task while the analysis phase draws on formal representation and mathematical foundations. An example of this dichotomy is the use of UML for the software design phase and Petri Nets for the analysis; a separation of concerns that leads to the creation of heterogeneous models. Although UML is widely accepted as a language that can be used to model the structural and behavioural aspects of a system, its lack of mathematical foundations is seen as a serious impediment to rigorous analysis. Petri Nets on the other hand have a strong mathematical basis that are well suited for formal analysis; they lack however the appeal and the ease-of-use of UML. A pressing concern for software developers is how to bridge the gap between these domains and allow for model interoperability and the integration of different toolsets across them, and thus reduce the complexity of the software development process. The aim of this paper is to present a Model Driven Development (MDD) model transformation which supports a seamless transition between UML and Petri Nets. This is achieved by model interoperability from UML Sequence Diagrams to Petri Nets and supported by tool integration. The model transformation framework allows a software system to be designed in terms of UML Sequence Diagrams and subjected to formal analysis by taking advantage of the strong mathematical framework of Petri Nets. The behaviour of a Personal Area Network will be used to illustrate the proposed approach and to highlight model interoperability and tool integration through the design, the transformation and the analysis phases.     

MDA概念和技术在仿真系统开发中的应用研究

模型驱动架构(MDA)集成了统一建模语言(UML)、元对象机制(MOF)、可扩展标记语言(XML)和基于XML的元数据交换(XMI)等一系列标准,强调模型在软件开发中的重要作用.简要分析了建模与仿真和软件工程领域的若干典型模型开发与运行过程,将仿真系统的开发过程划分为需求工程、分析、设计、实现和试验五个主要阶段;探讨了模型驱动架构(MDA)的概念和技术(包括模型、建模技术、模型变换技术、代码自动生成技术等)在仿真系统开发各个阶段的应用;以交通仿真为例,给出了部分建模与仿真结果,展示了仿真系统开发过程与MDA相结合的可行性,表明了在MDA工具的支持下,MDA概念和技术的应用可以提高仿真系统的开发效率.     

处理动态行为描述的MDA模型转换技术

模型驱动体系结构MDA(Model Driven Architecture)是OMG组织为解决不同中间件平台间的集成问题而提出的一种开放的、供应商中立的软件开发方法。在MDA框架中,开发者首先构建平台无关模型PIM(Platform Independent Model),然后根据到特定平台或实现语言的映射规则/方法,从平台无关模型转换生成平台相关模型PSM(Platform Specific Model),最终生成应用程序代码。采用了UML类图在平台无关层来描述模型的静态结构,并使用动作语言对模型的动态行为进行描述;选择Java EE作为目标平台,制定出相应的转换规则,实现了从动态行为描述到目标代码的转换。使用这样的方法得到的PSM只需要很少的后期处理就可以在平台上直接运行。研究工作较好地解决了当前大部分MDA模型转换工具不能处理动态行为模型转换的问题。     

Towards an ontology-based retrieval of UML Class Diagrams

Context

Software Reuse has always been an important area amongst software companies in order to increase their productivity and the quality of their products, but code reuse is not the only answer for this. Nowadays, reuse techniques proposals include software designs or even software specifications. Therefore, this research focuses on software design, specifically on UML Class Diagrams. A semantic technology has been applied to facilitate the retrieval process for an effective reuse.

Objective

This research proposes an ontology-based retrieval technique by semantic similarity in order to support effective retrieval process for UML Class Diagrams. Since UML Class Diagrams are a de facto standard in the design stages of a Software Development Process, a good technique is needed to reuse them, i.e. reusing during the design stage instead of just the coding stages.

Method

An application ontology modeled using UML specifications was designed to compare UML Class Diagram element types. To measure their similarity, a survey was conducted amongst UML experts. Query expansion was improved by a domain ontology supporting the retrieval phase. The calculus of minimal distances in ontologies was solved using a shortest path algorithm.

Results

The case study shows the domain ontology importance in the UML Class Diagram retrieval process as well as the importance of an element type expansion method, such as an application ontology. A correlation between the query complexity and retrieved elements has been identified, by analyzing results. Finally, a positive Return of Investment (ROI) was estimated using Poulin’s Model.

Conclusion

Because Software Reuse has not to be limited to the coding stage, approaches to reuse design stage must be developed, i.e. UML Class Diagrams reuse. This approach proposes a technique for UML Class Diagrams retrieval, which is one important step towards reuse. Semantic technology combined with information retrieval improves the retrieval results.     

基于MDA与UML扩展的安全软件开发方法

为提高软件安全性,提出一种基于模型驱动架构(MDA)与统一建模语言(UML)扩展机制的安全软件开发方法。采用UML扩展机制建立系统安全相关的平台无关模型,将软件的安全性分析提前到设计的早期;利用MDA方法进行软件安全属性的建模,降低后期开发的风险与成本。图书管理系统实例验证了该方法的有效性。     

On challenges of model transformation from UML to Alloy

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the de facto language used in the industry for software specifications. Once an application has been specified, Model Driven Architecture (MDA) techniques can be applied to generate code from such specifications. Since implementing a system based on a faulty design requires additional cost and effort, it is important to analyse the UML models at earlier stages of the software development lifecycle. This paper focuses on utilizing MDA techniques to deal with the analysis of UML models and identify design faults within a specification. Specifically, we show how UML models can be automatically transformed into Alloy which, in turn, can be automatically analysed by the Alloy Analyzer. The proposed approach relies on MDA techniques to transform UML models to Alloy. This paper reports on the challenges of the model transformation from UML class diagrams and OCL to Alloy. Those issues are caused by fundamental differences in the design philosophy of UML and Alloy. To facilitate better the representation of Alloy concepts in the UML, the paper draws on the lessons learnt and presents a UML profile for Alloy.     

集成安全分析的模型驱动软件开发方法研究

提出了一种集成安全分析的软件设计与开发新方法,该方法以MDA为基础框架,使用VMLsec建立软件安全属性的平台无关模型,使得在软件设计的早期就能够囊括更多的安全需求,从而降低后期开发的风险与成本,提高软件的复用性.     

UML辅助化工过程模拟软件设计

面向对象技术是目前获得广泛应用的软件设计方法，在化工过程模拟领域也有大量应用。UML(United Model Language，统一建模语言)采用图形方式和基于静态样式的软件设计方式进行软件开发，可有效地解决化工模拟软件开发过程中软件开发人员与化工专业人员交流困难的问题，并可提高软件的复用程度和开发效率，是一种有效的面向对象的辅助设计工具。文中利用UML建立了化工过程单元和化工过程系统的对象模型。实践分析表明，利用UML辅助化工过程模拟软件设计可有效降低软件分析设计的难度，提高软件设计的质量和速度。     

基于MDA的UML模型转换技术——从顺序图到状态图

为了实现不同中间件平台之间的集成和互操作,OMG提出了一个标准的基于模型的体系结构:MDA。MDA将应用模型划分成与平台无关的模型(PIM)和与平台有关的模型(PSM),并定义了PIM和PSM之间的4种映射关系。该文主要对PIM到PIM之间的映射进行了研究。该映射实质上是PIM模型的精化,其主要方面是分析模型和设计模型之间的转换。MDA使用UML来描述各种模型。UML是一种可视化的通用的面向对象的建模语言。UML顺序图主要用于需求分析,而状态图在系统设计阶段起重要作用。该文介绍了一种从UML顺序图中合成状态图的方法,合成的过程基本上是自动完成的,只需要很少的用户交互,从而为PIM模型的精化提供有力的支持。     

面向软件模糊自适应的UML用例扩展

现有统一建模语言(UML)设施及一般软件自适应工具难以直接支持软件模糊自适应(SFSA)需求分析与设计阶段的建模,为此,提出一种基于UML用例扩展的SFSA需求分析与设计方法--Fuzzy Case。该方法结合SFSA的概念模型,应用UML扩展机制引入新的构造型和标记值,建立了Fuzzy Case的一般模型;同时定义了Fuzzy Case的语法结构,并用对象约束语言(OCL)定义了其语义描述,形成了完整的SFSA建模设施。实例验证表明,与传统方法相比,Fuzzy Case能更清晰地表达SFSA的结构,准确定义软件的内部语义,建模过程更加简单方便,能有效提高SFSA的开发效率。     

基于UML的软件Markov链使用模型构造研究

软件统计测试要求基于软件使用模型产生测试例对软件系统进行测试,并根据测试结果评价软件可靠性,是高可靠软件测试的重要组成部分.由于统一建模语言(unified modeling language,简称UML)已经成为事实上的面向对象标准建模语言,因此,从软件UML模型构造软件使用模型就成为面向对象软件统计测试的关键.为此,定义了加入统计测试约束的UML用例图、序列图以及用例执行顺序关系,为基于UML的软件统计测试提供了一个形式化描述基础.在此基础上,给出一个从软件UML模型构造软件Markov链使用模型的算法,并给出了自动化支持工具UMGen的类图结构,基于一个卫星控制系统,说明了所提出方法的有效性.     

CM-Builder: A Natural Language-Based CASE Tool for Object-Oriented Analysis

Graphical CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools provide considerable help in documenting the output of the Analysis and Design stages of software development and can assist in detecting incompleteness and inconsistency in an analysis. However, these tools do not contribute to the initial, difficult stage of the analysis process, that of identifying the object classes, attributes and relationships used to model the problem domain. This paper describes an NL-Based CASE tool called Class Model Builder (CM-Builder) which aims at supporting this aspect of the Analysis stage of software development in an Object-Oriented framework. CM-Builder uses robust Natural Language Processing techniques to analyse software requirements texts written in English and constructs, either automatically or interactively with an analyst, an initial UML Class Model representing the object classes mentioned in the text and the relationships among them. The initial model can be directly input to a graphical CASE tool for further refinement by a human analyst. CM-Builder has been quantitatively evaluated in blind trials against a collection of unseen software requirements texts and we present the results of this evaluation, together with the evaluation method. The results are very encouraging and demonstrate that tools such as CM-Builder have the potential to play an important role in the software development process.     

Model Driven Performance Analysis of Enterprise Information Systems

This paper describes the particular motivation for performance analysis in the domain of Enterprise Information Systems (EISs) and argues that the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a suitable framework for integrating formal analysis techniques with engineering methods appropriate to the domain. The MDA permits natural and economical modelling of design and analysis domains and the relationships between them, supporting both manual and automatic analysis. It incorporates the Unified Modelling Language (UML), which is extensively used to capture system designs. We present our general modelling approach and outline its use in relating models of Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) applications, annotated using standard profiles, to analysable formal models.     

Towards the systematic measurement of ATL transformation models

The Model‐Driven Engineering paradigm is aimed at raising the abstraction level of Software Engineering approaches through the systematic use of models as primary artifacts, not only in software design and development, but also to understand, interact, configure, and modify the runtime behavior of software. It tries to overcome the wall between the documentation and the real state of the implementation. For that matter, our long‐term goal seeks to reach a higher degree of interoperability among available meta‐modeling technologies through bridges among technological spaces (TS bridges). The proposed system provides several ATL (ATLAS Transformation Language) transformations that enable the application of measuring operations over ATL transformation models and rules, and the generation of different complementary end‐user models, such as SVG charts and (X)HTML reports. For this work, we have evaluated a set of meta‐modeling TS bridges among UML, MOF, Ecore, KM3, and Microsoft DSL Tools. These results provide quantitative measurements of the declarative and imperative constructs of these transformations and relative quality factors as well. In addition to this, all the top‐level results extracted from the measurement of these TS bridges are merged into one unique model in order to assist in performing a comparative study among them. This comparative study suggests that it is feasible to apply automatic transformations over transformation models, i.e. meta‐transformations. In this regard, there are many open research trends towards complete management, validation, optimization, and inference of TS bridges between complementary meta‐modeling technologies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

针对应用系统ER模型的MDA模型转换方法

MDA是由OMG提出的一种以模型为主要开发产品的软件开发方法。开发人员首先建立与具体技术平台的实现细节无关的高抽象程度的平台无关模型（Platform Independent Model，PIM）。然后，开发人员可以通过模型转换，将高层次的模型逐渐转换成为包含了实现细节的平台相关模型（Platform Specific Model，PSM），直到最终的代码。模型转换的有效性决定了MDA开发方法的效率。模型转换的难点不在于模型的语法映射，而是保证转换过程中模型语义的一致。本文采用E1）C）C作为平台无关模型的描述方法。EDOC是OMG制定的、和具体应用平台无关的、适用于企业分布式系统建模的标准。本文针对EDOC中的实体关系模型建立了从这些模型到J2EE平台模型以及目标代码的模型转换规则。我们还在转换规则中引入了多个设计模式。软件开发人员可以根据对软件的非功能性需求，应用这些规则来选择不同的设计模式，将平台无关的ER模型转换成为J2EE平台上的模型。     

Secure business process model specification through a UML 2.0 activity diagram profile

Business processes have become important resources, both for an enterprise's performance and to enable it to maintain its competitiveness. The languages used for business process representation have, in recent years, been improved and new notations have appeared. However, despite the wide acceptance of the importance of business process security, to date the business analyst perspective in relation to security has hardly been dealt with. Moreover, security requirements cannot be represented in modern business process modeling notations.In this paper, we present an extension of UML 2.0 activity diagrams which will allow security requirements to be specified in business processes. Our proposal, denominated as BPSec (Business Process Security), is Model Driven Architecture compliant since it is possible to obtain a set of UML artifacts (Platform Independent Model-PIM) used in software development from a Secure Business Process model specification (Computation Independent Model-CIM). We also present the application of our approach to an example based on a typical health care institution, in which our M-BPSec method is employed as a framework for the use of our UML extension.     

How are UML class diagrams built in practice? A usability study of two UML tools: Magicdraw and Papyrus

Software modeling is a key activity in software development, especially when following any kind of Model Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) process. In this context, standard modeling languages, like the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and tools for supporting the modeling activities become essential.The aim of this study is to analyze how modelers build UML models and how good modeling tools are in supporting this task. Our goal is to draw some useful lessons that help to improve the (UML) modeling process both by recommending changes on the tools themselves and on how UML is taught so that theory and practice of UML modeling are better aligned.Our study employs two research approaches. The main one is an empirical experiment (which analyzes screen recordings registered by undergraduate students during the construction of a UML class diagram). An analytical analysis complements the previous experiment. The study focuses on the most frequent type of UML diagram, the class diagram, and on two tools widely used by the modeling community: MagicDraw and Papyrus.     

基于元模型的HBase数据模型转换方法

模型驱动架构方法（MDA）可以减少需求变更对软件开发的影响,提高软件开发效率和系统的可移植性、可维护性。本文在MDA思想的基础上,建立平台无关模型和平台相关模型的元模型,在元模型层次上提出UML类图模型到HBase数据模型的转换思想。最后,在ATL模型转换框架中实现UML类图模型到HBase数据模型的转换,证明了自动生成数据库目标模型和MDA在软件开发中的可行性。      

The COMPLEX methodology for UML/MARTE Modeling and design space exploration of embedded systems

The design of embedded systems is being challenged by their growing complexity and tight performance requirements. This paper presents the COMPLEX UML/MARTE Design Space Exploration methodology, an approach based on a novel combination of Model Driven Engineering (MDE), Electronic System Level (ESL) and design exploration technologies. The proposed framework enables capturing the set of possible design solutions, that is, the design space, in an abstract, standard and graphical way by relying on UML and the standard MARTE profile. From that UML/MARTE based model, the automated generation framework proposed produces an executable, configurable and fast performance model which includes functional code of the application components. This generated model integrates an XML-based interface for communication with the tool which steers the exploration. This way, the DSE loop iterations are efficiently performed, without user intervention, avoiding slow manual editions, or regeneration of the performance model. The novel DSE suited modelling features of the methodology are shown in detail. The paper also presents the performance model generation framework, including the enhancements with regard the previous simulation and estimation technology, and the exploration technology. The paper uses an EFR vocoder system example for showing the methodology and for demonstrative results.