Conceptualization and implementation of UML sequence diagrams in a GLSP-based UML modeling tool

Abstract

The sequence diagram (SD) plays a significant role in software development and business organization. It defines processes and systems interactions with a precise temporal semantic. The temporal semantics bring about additional complexity, making SD modeling tools bothersome. Available SD modeling tools struggle to provide a functional yet user-friendly palette of interaction behaviors. This difficulty results in divergent implementations and modeling behaviors, causing widespread poor usability. The reliance of tools on long-established technologies further hinders more efficient tool functions and design. Switching to modern web technologies could unlock more advanced modeling interactions. Doing so as part of an open-source project allows the adoption of implementations in other diagrams and enables future adaptions and improvements of the tool. This thesis analyses the most noted SD modeling tools and derives a systematic overview of their functionalities and implemented behaviors. Based on this, an SD modeling tool with its respective interactions and editing behaviors is conceptualized to fulfill the semantic requirements and ensure usability. The concept is realized as an artifact developed on the Graphical Language Server Platform (GLSP), adding the support for SDs to the open-source UML modeling editor bigUML currently in development. The tool features essential SD modeling behaviors with the addition of specialized functionalities, rendering the modeling process more reactive and dynamic. It combines robust modeling functionalities and the convenience of web-based features. The implementation of the concepts is assessed against the conceptualized requirements, and the resulting artifact undergoes evaluation through a defined modeling process, enabling a comparison with existing solutions.