Model Transformation by Example

In advanced XML transformer tools, XSLT rules are generated automatically after relating simple source and target XML documents. In this paper, we generalize this approach for the design of model transformations: transformation rules are derived semi-automatically from an initial prototypical set of interrelated source and target models. These initial model pairs describe critical cases of the model transformation problem in a purely declarative way. The derived transformation rules can be refined later by adding further source-target model pairs. The main advantage of the approach is that transformation designers do not need to learn a new model transformation language, instead they only use the concepts of the source and target modeling languages.