Designing and Applying a Framework for Logic-Based Model Querying

Querying models is one of the most essential and most elementary tasks in model-based software development. More complex activities like, for instance finding source patterns of model transformations, measuring models, or checking consistency between models, include querying models for certain properties, elements, or substructures. Logic formalisms like full first-predicate logic or description logics provide the well-understood foundation for implementing efficient model querying mechanisms. Regarding the specific purpose of querying models, a more efficient but less expressive logic formalism might be more useful than in other use cases. In this paper, we will introduce a framework which enables us to easily realise metamodel independent query tools based on different subsets of first-order logic. We show the application of the framework by checking a UML design model for architectural properties.