Generation of Simulation Views for Domain Specific Modeling Languages Based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework

The generation of tools for domain specific modeling languages (DSMLs) is a key issue in model-driven development. Various tools already support the generation of domain-specific visual editors from models, but tool generation for visual behavior modeling languages is not yet supported in a satisfactory way. In this paper we propose a generic approach to specify DSML environments visually by models and transformation rules based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF). Editing rules define the behavior of generated visual editors, whereas simulation rules describe a model's operational semantics. From a DSML definition (model and transformation rules), an Eclipse plug-in is generated, implementing a visual DSML environment including an editor and (possibly multiple) simulators for different simulation views on the model. We present the basic components of Tiger2, our EMF-based generation environment, along the environment generation process for a small DSML modeling the behavior of ants in an ant hill.