Query by Drawing Examples of UML Model

With the development of model driven architecture(MDA), the number of models being used and produced is increasing. Comprehending and reusing models face a real challenge. Model query is put forward to solve these problems. Most people chose using OCL as the query language. However, OCL is a textual query language, it isn't powerful enough and always generates very complex query statements even for a simple query. We think that a graphical representation to specify queries on UML models could facilitate the software developers' comprehension on what a query pattern looks like, because of that it is easier to be understood and much more visual. In this paper, we propose a model query method which is queried by drawing examples of the UML model. This query method is based on the graphical representation we presented in this paper.