Improving the accuracy of UML metamodel extensions by introducing induced associations |
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Authors: | Xavier Burgués Xavier Franch Josep M Ribó |
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Affiliation: | (1) Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), c/ Jordi Girona 1-3 (Campus Nord, Omega), 08034 Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain;(2) Universitat de Lleida (UdL), C. Jaume II, 69, 25001 Lleida, Catalunya, Spain |
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Abstract: | In the process of extending the UML metamodel for a specific domain, the metamodel specifier introduces frequently some metaassociations
at MOF level M2 with the aim that they induce some specific associations at MOF level M1. For instance, if a metamodel for
software process modelling states that a “Role” is responsible for an “Artifact”, we can interpret that its specifier intended
to model two aspects: (1) the implications of this metaassociation at level M1 (e.g., the specific instance of Role “TestEngineer”
is responsible for the specific instance of Artifact “TestPlans”); and (2) the implications of this metaassociation at level
M0 (e.g., “John Doe” is the responsible test engineer for elaborating the test plans for the package “Foo”). Unfortunately,
the second aspect is often not enforced by the metamodel and, as a result, the models which are defined as its instances may
not incorporate it. This problem, consequence of the so-called “shallow instantiation” in Atkinson and Kühne (Procs. UML’01,
LNCS 2185, Springer, 2001), prevents these models from being accurate enough in the sense that they do not express all the
information intended by the metamodel specifier and consequently do not distinguish metaassociations that induce associations
at M1 from those that do not. In this article we introduce the concept of induced association that may come up when an extension
of the UML metamodel is developed. The implications that this concept has both in the extended metamodel and in its instances
are discussed. We also present a methodology to enforce that M1 models incorporate the associations induced by the metamodel
which they are instances from. Next, as an example of application we present a quality metamodel for software artifacts which
makes intensive use of induced associations. Finally, we introduce a software tool to assist the development of quality models
as correct instantiations of the metamodel, assuring the proper application of the induced associations as required by the
metamodel. |
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Keywords: | Metamodelling MOF Shallow instantiation UML extension Software quality Metaassociations |
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