A. Kusel, W. Schwinger, M. Wimmer, W. Retschitzegger: Common Pitfalls of Using QVT Relations - Graphical Debugging as Remedy, Fourth IEEE International workshop UML and AADL, Potsdam, 02.06.2009 - 04.06.2009, in: 14th IEEE International Conference on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems (ICECCS 2009), IEEE Computer Society, (2009), ISBN: 978-0-7695-3702-3, pages 329 - 334. Doi: 10.1109/ICECCS.2009.24


OMG´s Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) has emerged as a new approach for the development of software. For this, the Query/View/Transformation (QVT) standard plays a central role, since it allows for the specification of model transformations. Nevertheless, until now, QVT-tool support in general and debugging support in particular in the context of MDA are rather limited, supposable being a reason,
that the adoption of QVT in practice has not yet been achieved. We therefore propose graphical debugging for the QVT Relations language based on TROPIC – a model transformation approach on the basis of Coloured Petri Nets. By enabling debugging on the TROPIC level, one gains several advantages when developing transformations. Firstly, debugging can take place at a high level of abstraction.
Secondly, it serves for explicating the operational semantics of a transformation. Thirdly, it provides a homogenous representation of all transformation artifacts. As a first step towards QVT debugging, this paper aims at a deeper understanding of the operational semantics of QVT, classifying common pitfalls by using QVT and discussing how they may be identified at the TROPIC level.

Common Pitfalls of Using QVT Relations – Graphical Debugging as Remedy