Rule Execution in Graph-Based Incremental Interactive Integration Tools

Development processes in engineering disciplines are inherently complex. Throughout the development process, different kinds of inter-dependent design documents are created which have to be kept consistent with each other. Graph transformations are well suited for modeling the operations provided for maintaining inter-document consistency. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to rule execution for graph-based integration tools operating interactively and incrementally. Rather than executing a rule in atomic way, we break rule execution up into multiple phases. In this way, the user of an integration tool may be informed about all potential rule applications and their mutual conflicts so that he may take a judicious decision how to proceed.