Moose demo: Manipulating custom annotations

Most software analysis tools focus solely on automatically extracting relevant information from data (e.g., source code). However, in most cases, important external information is also available in the form of developer or context specific knowledge. These pieces of information can provide extra insights if they could be taken into account during analysis.

Moose offers multiple mechanisms that help the analyst contextualize the analysis. One particular engine is called Metanool, and it offers a means to integrate custom information in the model by means of annotations. Furthermore, the engine comes with a simple user interface that is integrated directly in the analysis flow.

Take a look at the demo below. In this demo, we get a list of classes, and based on extra information we decide which ones we should look into, and which of these we should take extra care to analyze. Once the annotations are added to the model, they can be used directly. And everything happens while performing the analysis.

The current incarnation of Metanool is the result of a complete rewrite. However, the original intention and implementation ideas are preserved. If you are interested in learning more about the internal meta-modeling mechanisms, you are invited to read the article we wrote three years ago: http://scg.unibe.ch/archive/papers/Brue08b-Metanool.pdf