A tool for automatically selecting optimal model transformation chains

Developing model transformations can be a complex task and as such advanced reuse mechanisms are increasingly recognised as necessary for increasing both development productivity and quality of model transformations. Creating a new transformation by chaining existing ones is one of the possible ways to reuse existing transformations. However, chaining transformations can be an error prone and strenuous task especially in case of multiple potential chains. In this paper the CITRIC tool is presented as a solution to mitigate the problem of characterizing the multitude of transformation chains that can be defined by composing existing model transformations to bridge source and target metamodels that are of interest for the modeler. The tool is based on well-established algorithms, and it is able to support modelers when multiple transformation chains are available. The optimal chain is automatically selected based on two quality criteria i.e., metamodel coverage and information loss. © 2018 Association for Computing Machinery.