Model transformation co-evolution: A semi-automatic approach

Abstract

Model transformations are precious and effortful outcomes of Model-Driven Engineering. As any other artifact, transformations are also subject to evolution forces. Not only are they affected by changes to transformation requirements, but also by the changes to the associated metamodels. Manual co-evolution of transformations after these metamodel changes is cumbersome and error-prone. In this setting, this paper introduces a semi-automatic process for the co-evolution of transformations after metamodel evolution. The process is divided in two main stages: at the detection stage, the changes to the metamodel are detected and classified, while the required actions for each type of change are performed at the co-evolution stage. The contributions of this paper include the automatic co-evolution of breaking and resolvable changes and the assistance to the transformation developer to aid in the co-evolution of breaking and unresolvable changes. The presented process is implemented for ATL in the CO-URE prototype. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.