A View-based Approach to System Modeling Based on Open Graph Transformation Systems

The idea of a combined reference model- and view-based specification approach has been proposed recently in the software engineering community. In this chapter we present a specification technique based on open graph transformation systems (in the double-pushout approach) by a new loose semantics for rule-based systems, which allows to model the interaction between different views, and by explicit frame conditions which restrict these interactions to an interface of open types. On this background, formal notions of view and view relation are developed and the behavior of views is described by the loose semantics. Based on the assumption that dependencies between different views are faithfully described by a common reference model, a construction is developed for the automatic integration of views. The views and the reference model are kept consistent manually, which is the task of a model manager. All concepts and results are illustrated at the well-known example of banking system.