Towards Enabling Domain-Specific Modeling Language Exchange Between Modeling Tools

Domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) enable various stakeholders in solving complex modeling problems that are related to their domains. However, as challenges in domain-specific modeling grow in complexity, consistent exchange of domain-specific information between various stakeholders across projects becomes a challenge, as such stakeholders often use a variety of modeling tools suited for their needs. Stakeholders often live within specific modeling tools relevant for developing and using their DSMLs, therefore there is little consideration for generalizing these domain-specific concepts across modeling tools. Further, there also exists a certain lack of exchanging domain-specific constructs effectively for such tools. To solve this challenge, we propose a bi-directional exchange mechanism between Enterprise Architect (EA) and MagicDraw, two commercially established modeling, that allows exchanging individually created DSMLs and their constructs, essential in promoting tool interoperability. As DSMLs represent domain-specific peculiarities within a single area, the proposed exchange mechanism evaluates with a simple illustrative example the applicability of DSML information exchange by extracting and translating these peculiarities across modeling tools. The approach is demonstrated by developing individual extensions to the mentioned tools that support the seamless exchange of domain-specific constructs. Ultimately, the paper presents a first step towards enabling DSML exchange between all the concerned stakeholders and fosters the engineering of DSMLs across modeling tools.