Blended Graphical and Textual Modelling of UML-RT State-Machines: An Industrial Experience

The ever increasing complexity of modern software systems requires engineers to constantly raise the level of abstraction at which they operate to suppress the excessive complex details of real systems and develop efficient architectures. Model Driven Engineering has emerged as a paradigm that enables not only abstraction but also automation. UML, an industry de-facto standard for modelling software systems, has established itself as a diagram-based modelling language. However, focusing on only one specific notation limits human communication and the pool of available engineering tools. The results of our prior experiments support this claim and promote the seamless use of multiple notations to develop and manipulate models. In this paper we detail our efforts on the provision of a fully blended (i.e., graphical and textual) modelling environment for UML-RT state-machines in an industrial context. We report on the definition of a textual syntax and advanced textual editing for UML-RT state-machines as well as the provision of synchronization mechanisms between graphical and textual editors.