Streamlining the Development of Hybrid Graphical-Textual Model Editors for Domain-Specific Languages

Abstract

A domain-specific language (DSL) can have multiple syntaxes, that can be graphical or textual. When modelling the behaviour, complex expressions, and fine details of a domain, often it does not make sense to use a graphical syntax, as this can result in large, crowded diagrams, therefore in such cases, a textual syntax is often more appropriate. As such, the best of both worlds can be delivered by a DSL that has hybrid (part-graphical and part-textual) syntaxes. In this work, we address open challenges and apply model-driven engineering techniques to streamline the development of hybrid graphical-textual model editors for DSLs, by using as little hand-written code as possible.

Metadata

Item Type:

Article

Authors/Creators:

Predoaia, Ionut https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2009-4054
Kolovos, Dimitris https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1724-6563
Lenk, Matthias
García-Domínguez, Antonio https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4744-9150

Funding Information: The work in this paper has been funded by NetApp and through the HICLASS InnovateUK project (contract no. 113213). About the authors: Ionut Predoaia is a PhD candidate and Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York. He is also an R&D Software Engineer at NetApp, where he focuses on the development of model editors for system management and infrastructure automation. His current research revolves around model-based software engineering, domain-specific languages, model editors and infrastructure as code. You can contact the author at ionut.predoaia@york.ac.uk. Dimitris Kolovos is a Professor of Software Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, where he researches and teaches automated and model-driven software engineering. He is also an Eclipse Foundation committer, leading the development of the open-source Epsilon model-driven software engineering platform, and an editor of the Software and Systems Modelling journal. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and his research has been supported by the European Commission, UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), InnovateUK and by companies such as Rolls-Royce and IBM. You can contact the author at dimitris.kolovos@york.ac.uk. Matthias Lenk held the role of a Global Technology Strategist at NetApp, where he focused on cloud and data services for the automotive industry. His academic background is within model-driven software development and model transformations in the domain of VR/AR. You can contact the author at matthias.lenk@posteo.net. Antonio García-Domínguez is a Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science of the University of York. Antonio's main research interest is model-driven software engineering, with lines of work on scalable model management and runtime models for explainability of self-adaptive systems. In addition to over 60 publications across international conferences, journals, and book chapters, Antonio is a core contributor to the Eclipse Epsilon model management languages and tools, and leads the Eclipse Hawk model indexing project. You can contact the author at a.garcia-dominguez@york.ac.uk. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Journal of Object Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Keywords:

Code Generation, Domain-Specific Language, EMF, Graphical-Textual Modelling, Language Engineering, Model Editor, Sirius, Xtext

Dates: