Visual modeling

Models are written in a domain specific language (the Axini Modeling Language) using a text editor included in our web application. The models can be visualized to inspect the states and transitions of the underlying symbolic transition system. This aids modelers in understanding and reasoning about their models, which is valued greatly.

However, this is a one-way street: we cannot generate model text from the visualization. We are interested in visual modeling tools to make modeling easier for visually inclined users.

There are techniques that make it possible to keep textual and visual models in sync. For example, the Xtext textual editors can be used in sync with the Sirius diagram editors using the EMF framework. There are model driven tools from which we can draw inspiration such as: Jetbrains MPS, Xtext, EMF, LIonWeb, Archimate and UML.

A key challenge in visual modeling is having an intermediate (AST) representation that can be edited both textually and visually (this seems the way to go if you want to go back and forth between textual and visual). This representation must provide a middle ground between the high-level concepts of the textual language and the elements of the visual language. As a first step it is acceptable to start with a one-way translation from visual back to text if that's easier to achieve.

An important constraint for us is that the visual editor works in the browser.