Improving the Customization of Software Product Lines through the Definition of Local Features

Variability in software product lines (SPL) is mostly described with feature models. In basic feature models, the selection of a feature for a particular product determines whether or not the feature is present in the product in a global manner. Even though there are cardinality-based feature models that allow a subset of features to be specified a number of times for each product, it is not possible to customize each instance of the feature with specific details for different elements of the product. Some SPLs integrate model transformations and use domain specific languages to describe elements of the application that cannot be described using features (for example, the definition of the data model for a particular product). In this context, a stakeholder may require some features to be applied to some elements of the data model, but not globally (for example, not every entity in the data model may require an edition form). However, current feature models do not allow the stakeholder to specify this information. In this paper, we propose a solution that solves this problem using domain-specific languages. In addition to defining global features for the entire application, our proposal allows the stakeholder to define local features that are specific to some elements such as parts of the application or specific entities of the data model and, using the DSL to define the product, those local features can be assigned to these elements or entities. This specification of the scope of application of features opens the door to a higher degree of customization of the generated products, thus improving their quality.