Table of Contents

List of Figures xvii List of Tables xxv Foreword xxvii Preface xxix About the Authors xxxv Chapter 1 Domain-Specific Development 1 Introduction 1

Domain-Specific Development 2

Examples 4

Benefits 10

Languages 11

Textual DSLs 15

Graphical DSLs 20

Aspects of Graphical DSLs 23

DSLs in Visual Studio 27

The Customization Pit 32

UML 34

Summary 40

Chapter 2 Creating and Using DSLs 41 Introduction 41

Process: Incremental Development of DSLs 41

Creating a DSL in Visual Studio 57

A Second DSL: The Project Definition DSL 77

Architecture of the DSL Tools 78

Summary 85

Chapter 3 Domain Model Definition 87 Introduction 87

The Domain Model Designer 88

The In-Memory Store 89

Domain Classes 92

Domain Relationships 98

Generating a Designer with No Shapes 108

The Generated Code 109

More about Domain Classes 115

More about Domain Properties 119

More on Domain Relationships and Roles 122

More about the Store 129

Summary 131

Chapter 4 Presentation 133 Introduction 133

Graphical Notation--Overview 134

Diagram and Editor 137

Shapes 146

Connectors 164

Decorators 167

Customizing the Graphical Notation in Code 173

Explorer 180

Properties Window 188

Summary 195

Chapter 5 Creation, Deletion, and Update Behavior 197 Introduction 197

Element Creation 197

Connection Builders 216

Element Deletion 229

Summary 234

Chapter 6 Serialization 237 Introduction 237

Saving and Loading Models and Diagrams 238

Model XML File Format 239

Elements and Properties 242

Relationships 243

Cross-Referencing 245

Diagram XML File Format 251

Versioning and Migration 254

The XML Schema 257

Customization 258

Generated Serialization Code 264

Summary 273

Chapter 7 Constraints and Validation 275 Introduction 275

Choosing Hard or Soft Constraints? 277

Soft Constraints in the DSL Tools 280

Hard Constraints in the DSL Tools 295

Rules 296

Putting Together Hard and Soft Constraints 299

Summary 307

Chapter 8 Generating Artifacts 309 Introduction 309

Artifact Generation Styles 311

Complex Relationships and Round-Tripping 321

The Templatization Process 325

Syntax of a Text Template 341

Problems of Large-Scale, Real-World Artifact Generation 349

Advanced Customizations 351

Summary 366

Chapter 9 Deploying a DSL 369 Introduction 369

Files Needed to Install a Designer 370

Getting Started--Creating a Setup Project 373

Setup Project Contents 376

Customizing Setup 377

The .dslsetup Format 378

Refreshing the Installation Files 387

Package Load Key 388

Deploying Text Templates for Code Generation 390

Summary 396

Chapter 10 Advanced DSL Customization 397 Introduction 397

Tools for Customization 397

Responding to Changes 402

DSL Shell Architecture 426

How to Add a Menu Command 429

Building the DSL Diagram into Another Interface 435

Implementing Copy and Paste 437

Shape Containers 442

Summary 453

Chapter 11 Designing a DSL 455 Introduction 455

Identifying Variability 456

Developing the Domain Model 460

Developing the Notation 468

Defining Validation Constraints 475

Developing and Evolving the Framework 479

Testing 484

Evolving a DSL 489

What Makes a Good DSL? 491

Summary 498

Conclusion 499

Index 503

Promotional Information

Domain Specific Languages (DSL) and Domain-Driven Design (DDD) are two related concepts that have been kicking around the edges of the software engineering world for a few years, but have recently started to move much more towards center stage. A DSL is a language specially geared to working within a particular area of interest: it might be a vertical domain such as telephone design, or a horizontal one like workflow. Some well-known examples of DSLs are HTML and SQL. What is radically new is the idea of creating your own DSL for your own project. Microsoft has actually been at the forefront of promoting the use of DSLs, and has recently announced the Microsoft DSL Tools. The Microsoft DSL Tools will help developers create their own languages more easily, and work together very closely with Visual Studio Team System. This book's authors are the main designers of the Microsoft DSL Tools. They've written a book that is straightforwardly focused on understanding and using these tools; it intends to provide a detailed yet readable reference to the tools.

About the Author

Steve Cook joined Microsoft in 2003 to work on the DSL Tools. Previously, he was a Distinguished Engineer at IBM, which he represented in the UML 2.0 specification process at the OMG. He has worked in the IT industry for 30 years, as architect, programmer, author, consultant, and teacher. He was one of the first people to introduce object-oriented programming into the UK, and has concentrated on languages, methods, and tools for modeling since the early 1990s.

Gareth Jones is a lead developer in the DSL Tools team. He's been at Microsoft since 1997 doing various developer jobs such as building bespoke enterprise solutions, running the development of Microsoft UK's small business portal, and managing a consultancy team. Before joining Microsoft, he spent seven years leading development projects in the intelligence analysis, simulation, and aerospace industries.

Stuart Kent joined Microsoft in 2003 to work on the DSL Tools. Previously, he was an academic and consultant, with a reputation in modeling and model-driven development. He has over 50 publications to his name and made significant contributions to the UML 2.0 and MOF 2.0 specifications. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Software and Systems Modeling, and on the steering committee for the MoDELS series of conferences. He has a Ph.D. in computing from Imperial College, London.

Alan Cameron Wills was a methodology consultant for almost a decade, and used to get very frustrated when people asked about good tools to support the methods. So he was very pleased to join Microsoft in 2003 to help in the DSL Tools project. He has a Ph.D. in computer science, and was joint creator of the Catalysis approach to component-based development. He gets excited about software factories, photography, sailing, and hills.