On automating inference of OCL constraints from counterexamples and examples

Abstract

Within model-based approaches, defining domains and domain restrictions for conceptual models or metamodels is significant. Recently, a domain is often presented as a class diagram, and domain restrictions are expressed using the Object Constraint Language (OCL). An effective method to define a domain is based on a description of the domain at the instance and example level. So far such a method has often focused on the generation of structure aspects, but have omitted the inference of OCL restrictions that could complement the domain structure and improve the precision of the domain. This paper proposes an approach to automating the inference of OCL restrictions from a domain description in terms of counterand examples. Candidates are generated by a problem solving, and irrelevant ones are eliminated using the user feedback on generated counter- and examples. Our approach is realized with the support tool InferOCL.