Visual Specification of Metrics for Domain Specific Visual Languages

We present a Domain Specific Visual Language (DSVL) for the definition of metrics for other DSVLs. The metrics language has been defined using meta-modelling, and includes some of the more used types of product metrics. The goal is to make the definition of metrics for a DSVL easy, reducing or eliminating the necessity of coding. For this purpose, we rely on the use of visual patterns for the specification of the properties that should be measured in each metric type. These ideas have been implemented in the AToM tool, which allows the definition of DSVLs by means of meta-modelling. In this way, with the new extension, the DSVL designer is able to define a metrics suite for a DSVL. Then, an environment is generated where a number of widgets allow taking actual measures of the defined metrics on the models. We present some illustrative examples using the hypermedia design language Labyrinth.