An approach for Denning and validating property preservation constraints for model transformation

Model transformation is an important task in model-driven development of software systems. Model properties should be preserved during the model transformation process, e.g., the interfaces in a software model. Thus, model transformation should satisfy certain constraints to avoid damaging these model properties. However, no complete solution for defining and validating these constraints has been presented. In this paper, we propose an approach for formalizing transformation constraints, transformation rules, and their semantic interpretation models using OWL and description logic, and validating the constraints through inductive logic. We also present an algorithm to automatically validate whether a model transformation satisfies certain constraints. A motivating example is presented to illustrate our approach.