Domain-Specific Meta-Model Extensions and Meta-Data Management in Repository Systems

Building applications in a flexible and extensible manner is a key requirement in a database environment. We argue that adaptability and extensibility can be guaranteed by the utilizing the concepts meta-modeling, notion building and reflection, which require the use of repositories. We present an approach, in which domain knowledge and meta-framework are combined to produce extended meta-schema. This combination facilitates application design. We show how the extended meta-schemata can be deployed into a repository and thus enforce structural consistency on objectlevel models and discuss how reflection techniques can be used to create meta-aware application programs.