Visual Patterns in the VLEli System

Visual languages have an important role in modelling systems, in specification of software, and in specific application domains. A processor for a visual language consists of a graphical frontend attached to phases that analyse and transform the visual programs. Hence, the construction of a visual language processor requires a wide range of conceptual and technical knowledge: from issues of visual design and graphical implementation to aspects of analysis and transformation for languages in general. We present a powerful toolset that incorporates such knowledge up to a high specification level. Visual editors are generated by identifying certain patterns in the language structure and selecting a visual representation from a set of precoined solutions. Visual programs are represented by attributed abstract trees. Hence, further phases of processing the visual programs can be generated by state-of-the-art tools for language implementation. We demonstrate that ambitious visual languages can be implemented with reasonable small effort and with rather limited technical knowledge. The approach is suitable for a large variety of visual language styles.

Authors and Affiliations

1. University of Paderborn, Fürstenallee 11, 33102, Paderborn, Germany

   Matthias T. Jung, Uwe Kastens, Christian Schindler & Carsten Schmidt

Editors and Affiliations

1. Fachrichtung Informatik, Universität des Saarlandes, Postfach 15 11 50, 66041, Saarbrücken, Germany

   Reinhard Wilhelm

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