Semantic-element-based Defining Approach for Model Transformation Rules

In model-driven software development, it is a key technology that transform from platform independent models at higher abstract level to platform specific models at a lower level. The approach to create mapping rules is profoundly impacted with the gap between the source model and the target model. By abstractly analyzing the characteristic of syntax and semantics of modeling languages, an approach to define model transformation rules is proposed on the basis of semantic consistency. Firstly, the user must construct an abstract semantic model through an in-depth analysis of target platform. Secondly, the user build mapping relations from source model to target model via abstract target semantic model. This work is based on the idea of elements in source semantic domain being reconstructed in the target semantic domain. The approach can provide an effective support for validating mapping rules between different abstract level models. JavaEE is used as a target of the transformation to interpreting the process to define mapping rules.