Building Normalized Systems from Domain Models in Ecore

Abstract

Normalized Systems (NS) theory describes how to design and develop evolvable systems. It is applied in practice to generate enterprise information systems using NS Expanders from models of NS Elements. As there are various well-established modelling languages, the possibility to (re-)use them to create NS applications is desired. This paper presents a mapping between the NS metamodel and the Ecore metamodel as a representant of essential structural modelling. The mapping is the basis of the transformation execution tool based on Eclipse Modeling Framework and NS Java libraries. Both the mapping and the tool are demonstrated in a concise case study but cover all essential Ecore constructs. During the work, several interesting similarities of the two metamodels were found and are described, e.g., its meta-circularity or ability to specify data types using references to Java classes. Still, there are significant differences between the metamodels that prevent some constructs from being mapped. The issues with information loss upon the transformation are mitigated by incorporating additional options that serve as key-value annotations. The results are ready to be used for any Ecore models to create an NS model that can be expanded into an NS application.