Query-driven incremental synchronization of view models

Views are key concepts of domain-specific modeling in order to provide specific focus of the designers by abstracting from unnecessary details of the underlying abstract model. Usually, these views are represented as models themselves (view models), computed from the source model. However, the efficient maintenance of views when the source model changes is challenging, as recalculation from scratch has to be avoided to achieve scalability. In the paper, we propose an approach to define view models in a highly automated way, based on declarative model queries. The views are automatically populated in accordance with the lifecycle of regular model elements - however, their existence is entirely bound to the underlying abstract model. This means that view models are automatically and incrementally maintained. Our contribution can also be interpreted as extending the concepts of derived features to derived objects, specified and maintained by incremental queries.