Model synchronization based on triple graph grammars: correctness, completeness and invertibility

in Software and Systems Modeling (2013)

Triple graph grammars (TGGs) have been used successfully to analyze correctness and completeness of bidirectional model transformations, but a corresponding formal approach to model synchronization has ... [more ▼]

Triple graph grammars (TGGs) have been used successfully to analyze correctness and completeness of bidirectional model transformations, but a corresponding formal approach to model synchronization has been missing. This paper closes this gap by providing a formal synchronization framework with bidirectional update propagation operations. They are generated from a given TGG, which specifies the language of all consistently integrated source and target models. As our main result, we show that the generated synchronization framework is correct and complete, provided that forward and backward propagation operations are deterministic. Correctness essentially means that the propagation operations preserve and establish consistency while completeness ensures that the operations are defined for all possible inputs. Moreover, we analyze the conditions under which the operations are inverse to each other. All constructions and results are motivated and explained by a running example, which leads to a case study, using concrete visual syntax and abstract syntax notation based on typed attributed graphs. [less ▲]

From State- to Delta-Based Bidirectional Model Transformations: The Symmetric Case

in Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (2011)

From state- to delta-based bidirectional model transformations: the symmetric case

Report (2011)

Success and efficiency of software and system design fundamentally relies on its models. The more they are based on formal methods the more they can be automatically transformed to execution models and ... [more ▼]

Success and efficiency of software and system design fundamentally relies on its models. The more they are based on formal methods the more they can be automatically transformed to execution models and finally to implementation code. This paper presents model transformation and model integration as specific problem within bidirectional model transformation, which has shown to support various purposes, such as analysis, optimization, and code generation. The main purpose of model integration is to establish correspondence between various models, especially between source and target models. From the analysis point of view, model integration supports correctness checks of syntactical dependencies between different views and models. The overall concept is based on the algebraic approach to triple graph grammars, which are widely used for model transformation. The main result shows the close relationship between model transformation and model integration. For each model transformation sequence there is a unique model integration sequence and vice versa. This is demonstrated by a quasi-standard example for model transformation between class models and relational data base models. [less ▲]