Integrating modeling tools in the development lifecycle with OSLC: A case study

Abstract

Models play a central role in a model driven development process. They realize requirements, specify system design, abstract source code, drive test cases, etc. However, for a modeling tool to be most effective, it needs to integrate its data and workflows with other tools in the development lifecycle. This is often problematic as these tools are usually disparate. OSLC is an emerging specification for integrating lifecycle tools using the principles of linked data. In this paper, we describe how OSLC can be used to integrate MOF-based modeling tools with other lifecycle tools. We demonstrate this in a case study involving an EMF-based modeling tool. We show how we made the tool conform to the OSLC specification and discuss how this enabled it to integrate seamlessly with other lifecycle tools to support some key end-to-end development lifecycle workflows. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.