Evaluating the Multi-variant Model Transformation of UML Class Diagrams to Java']Java Models

When the two disciplines, software product line engineering (SPLE) and model-driven software engineering (MDSE), come together multi-variant model transformations (MVMTs) are almost indispensable tool support. Variability annotations are boolean expressions used in annotative SPL engineering (SPLE) for expressing in which products model elements are visible. Developing the SPL in a model-driven way requires various model representations, e.g., Java models for generating the source code. Although model transformations are the key essence of MDSE and can be used to generate these representations from already existing (model) artifacts, they suffer from not being able to handle the variability annotations automatically. Thus, the developer is forced to annotate target models manually contradicting the goal of both disciplines, MDSE and SPLE, to increase productivity. Recently, approaches have been proposed to solve the problem using, e.g., traces, to propagate annotations without changing the transformation itself. In this paper we utilize a generic framework allowing to evaluate whether the target model of arbitrary (reuse-based) MVMTs was annotated correctly. In particular, for two different product lines we illuminate the transformation of UML class diagrams to Java models from which we finally can generate source code. On the one hand, we examine the quality of different post-processing annotation propagation strategies, on the other hand, the scalability of the framework itself.