Domain-Specific Development with Visual Studio DSL Tools

4. Presentation

Introduction

Chapter 2 introduced the different aspects of the definition of a DSL: the domain model; the presentation layer, including graphical notation, explorer, and properties window; creation, deletion, and update behavior; validation; and serialization. Chapter 3 described the first aspect, the domain model. This chapter describes how to define the presentation aspect, that is, how information encoded in the underlying model elements gets presented through the UI of the designer. There are three windows in the UI where information is presented: the design surface, the model explorer, and the properties window. Definition of the presentation aspect therefore involves the definition of the graphical notation used on the design ...