A graphical approach for modeling time-dependent behavior of DSLs

Abstract

Domain specific languages (DSLs) play a cornerstone role in Model-Driven Software Development for representing models and metamodels. DSLs' abstract syntax are usually defined by a metamodel. In-place model transformations provide an intuitive way to complement metamod-els with behavioral specifications. In this paper we extend in-place rules with a quantitative model of time and with mechanisms that allow designers to state action properties, facilitating the design of real-time complex systems. This approach avoids making unnatural changes to the DSL metamodels to represent behavioral and time aspects. We present the graphical modeling tool we have built for visually specifying these timed specifications.