Op 08-10-12 18:21, Ronan B schreef:
> Hi!
> I have a UML model which imports packages from other UML models using the UML
> PackageImport element. My "top/main" rule is like the following...
>
> rule ModelToB
> {
> from s: UML!Model(s.oclIsTypeOf(UML!Model))
> to t : MB!B
> (
> a <-
> s.packagedElement->select(e|e.oclIsTypeOf(uml::Package))->union(s.packageImport->collect(e|e.importedPackage))->select(e|e.oclIsTypeOf(UML!Package))
>
> )
> }
>
> This causes another rule PackageToC to fire later. However, only UML Packages
> from the s.packagedElement get processed. The UML Packages from
> s.packageImport don't get processed as they are not directly in the input model.

Wait! Matched rules cannot be "caused to fire" explicitly. All matched rules
are matched up front, after which they are applied to their matches one by
one. If your ModelToB rule comes before your PackageToC rule, it is applied
before (but the application order is not guaranteed).

[Ronan] Yep I'm aware that I cannot control processing order. When I said "to fire" I meant by the rule engine not by any explicit call I would make. I think you took my use of the word "later" to meant that I wanted an explicit order. I meant it as "some other time". Perhaps that was not so clear, my bad

>
> rule PackageToC
> {
> from s: UML!Package(s.oclIsTypeOf(UML!Package))
> to t : MB!C()
> }
>
> I can get this to work if I change my rules to lazy rules and collect the
> packages and call them explicitly. I would like to avoid this as I have a very
> large number of rules that would require converting to lazy rules as every
> element in the UML PackageImport will require the same explicit treatment e.g.
> Classes, Datatypes etc.
>
> Any way around this?
>
> Thanks,
> Ronan

Your PackageToC rule will match all Package instances contained in one of the
declared input models. If your input model is not explicitly declared, a
matched rule won't try to match against it.

[Ronan] Ah interesting I didn't know this about matched rules, I guess it makes sense. I also tried adding the imported model/package to the input list but then I'd have to encode explicitly in my ATL which is the "master model". By "master model" I mean the model that does the importing. This would mess up my very generic rules.

Lazy rules take explicit parameters, which allows you to go beyond the borders
of your declared input models.

[Ronan] Yep indeed. This works.

The most straightforward way around this is to use a higher-order
transformation that collects all the imported models, and lists them
explicitly as input models.

[Ronan] This sounds feasable but then i'll run into the same "master model" problem as above. I guess the HOT could be used to write this code too.

Alternatively, the new EMFTVM (http://wiki.eclipse.org/ATL/EMFTVM) allows you
to specify additional input models dynamically. That way you can keep your
PackageToC rule, and you just need to add the imported UML models as extra
input models in the ATL EMFTVM launch config.

[Ronan] This sounds very promising. I'll play around with this when I get a chance. For the moment I think i'll just convert the rules to lazy rules as it seems to be the only short term fix.

Regards,
Dennis