Extracting frame conditions from operation contracts

Philipp Niemann, Frank Hilken, Martin Gogolla, Robert Wille

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

In behavioral modeling, operation contracts defined by pre-and postconditions describe the effects on model properties (i.e., model elements such as attributes, links, etc.) that are enforced by an operation. However, it is usually omitted which model properties should not be modified. Defining so-called frame conditions can fill this gap. But, thus far, these have to be defined manually-a time-consuming task. In this work, we propose a methodology which aims to support the modeler in the definition of the frame conditions by extracting suggestions based on an automatic analysis of operation contracts provided in OCL. More precisely, the proposed approach performs a structural analysis of pre-and postconditions together with invariants in order to categorize which class and object properties are clearly 'variable' or 'unaffected'-and which are 'ambiguous', i.e. indeed require a more thorough inspection. The developed concepts are implemented as a prototype and evaluated by means of several example models known from the literature.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2015 ACM/IEEE 18th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2015 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages266-275
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781467369084
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Nov 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event18th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2015 - Ottawa, Canada
Duration: 30 Sep 20152 Oct 2015

Publication series

Name2015 ACM/IEEE 18th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2015 - Proceedings

Conference

Conference18th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2015
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityOttawa
Period30/09/152/10/15

Keywords

  • Adaptation models
  • Analytical models
  • Computational modeling
  • Context
  • Contracts
  • Prototypes
  • Unified modeling language

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