Efficient Generation of Graphical Model Views via Lazy Model-to-Text Transformation

Dimitris Kolovos; Alfonso De La Vega; Justin Cooper

doi:10.1145/3365438.3410943

Efficient Generation of Graphical Model Views via Lazy Model-to-Text Transformation

Dimitris Kolovos, Alfonso De La Vega, Justin Cooper

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Producing graphical views from software and system models is often desirable for communication and comprehension purposes, even when graphical model editing capabilities are not required -- because the preferred editable concrete syntax of the models is text-based, or for models extracted via reverse engineering. To support such scenarios, we present a novel approach for efficient rule-based generation of transient graphical views from models using lazy model-to-text transformation, and an implementation of the proposed approach in the form of an open-source Eclipse plugin named Picto. Picto builds on top of mature visualisation software such as Graphviz and PlantUML and supports, among others, composite views, layers, and multi-model visualisation. We illustrate how Picto can be used to produce various forms of graphical views such as node-edge diagrams, tables and sequence-like diagrams, and we demonstrate the efficiency benefits of lazy view generation approach against batch model-to-text transformation for generating views from large models.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ACM/IEEE 23rd International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS ’20)
Publisher	ACM
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3365438.3410943
Publication status	Published - 16 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Access to Document

10.1145/3365438.3410943

Efficient Generation of Graphical Model Views via Lazy Model-to-Text Transformation
This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.
Accepted author manuscript, 2.05 MB

Cite this

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title = "Efficient Generation of Graphical Model Views via Lazy Model-to-Text Transformation",

abstract = "Producing graphical views from software and system models is often desirable for communication and comprehension purposes, even when graphical model editing capabilities are not required -- because the preferred editable concrete syntax of the models is text-based, or for models extracted via reverse engineering. To support such scenarios, we present a novel approach for efficient rule-based generation of transient graphical views from models using lazy model-to-text transformation, and an implementation of the proposed approach in the form of an open-source Eclipse plugin named Picto. Picto builds on top of mature visualisation software such as Graphviz and PlantUML and supports, among others, composite views, layers, and multi-model visualisation. We illustrate how Picto can be used to produce various forms of graphical views such as node-edge diagrams, tables and sequence-like diagrams, and we demonstrate the efficiency benefits of lazy view generation approach against batch model-to-text transformation for generating views from large models.",

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N2 - Producing graphical views from software and system models is often desirable for communication and comprehension purposes, even when graphical model editing capabilities are not required -- because the preferred editable concrete syntax of the models is text-based, or for models extracted via reverse engineering. To support such scenarios, we present a novel approach for efficient rule-based generation of transient graphical views from models using lazy model-to-text transformation, and an implementation of the proposed approach in the form of an open-source Eclipse plugin named Picto. Picto builds on top of mature visualisation software such as Graphviz and PlantUML and supports, among others, composite views, layers, and multi-model visualisation. We illustrate how Picto can be used to produce various forms of graphical views such as node-edge diagrams, tables and sequence-like diagrams, and we demonstrate the efficiency benefits of lazy view generation approach against batch model-to-text transformation for generating views from large models.

AB - Producing graphical views from software and system models is often desirable for communication and comprehension purposes, even when graphical model editing capabilities are not required -- because the preferred editable concrete syntax of the models is text-based, or for models extracted via reverse engineering. To support such scenarios, we present a novel approach for efficient rule-based generation of transient graphical views from models using lazy model-to-text transformation, and an implementation of the proposed approach in the form of an open-source Eclipse plugin named Picto. Picto builds on top of mature visualisation software such as Graphviz and PlantUML and supports, among others, composite views, layers, and multi-model visualisation. We illustrate how Picto can be used to produce various forms of graphical views such as node-edge diagrams, tables and sequence-like diagrams, and we demonstrate the efficiency benefits of lazy view generation approach against batch model-to-text transformation for generating views from large models.

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