Synchronizing user interfaces of different mobile platforms

Model transformation is a crucial aspect of model-driven software development. With the help of model transformation, we can generate source code or other models from software models. However, a recurring problem in software development is the fact that source and target models coexist and they evolve independently. This means that after the initial transformation phase the target models are often changed by the developers and the target model will no longer be consistent with the source model. Therefore, the models need to be synchronized. Model transformation is one option to implement the synchronization process. However, it is very complex because the transformation has to recognize which elements should be updated and which elements should be left unaltered during synchronization. In addition, a clear backward transformation usually does not exist from the target to the source domain. In this paper, we present an algorithm that facilitates incremental model synchronization in model transformation systems. The feasibility of the approach is also illustrated by a real world case study; we synchronize user interfaces of different mobile platforms.