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GMF UML Editor [message #202468]

Tue, 19 August 2008 11:03

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: cfehling.de.ibm.com

Hello everyone,

I am very new to GMF and totally overwhelmed by the possibilities it
offers. So please excuse if this question is very generic.

I would like to define a Metamodel in UML and then use a UML Editor to
create UML Models which conform to this Metamodel. As far as I
understand I would have to define graphical elements for each element in
my small Metamodel, when using GMF but instead I would like to simply
map elements from my Metamodel to UML Elements and then use the
graphical representation a UML editor offers.

Is it possible to do only the Metamodel and the mapping to UML Elements
using GMF or am I trying to use a way to powerful tool for a rather
simple task here.

Thanks,

Christoph Fehling

Re: GMF UML Editor [message #202512 is a reply to message #202468]

Tue, 19 August 2008 13:22

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: eclipse.[REMOVE]stefan-kuhn.eu

Christoph,

GMF is a framework to create graphical editors. I don't understand
a) your usecase :)
b) where in your usecase a _new_ graphical editor is needed

But maybe this helps:
* You can't "define" a metamodel in UML
** the eclipse.uml2 metamodel is defined in EMF, which 'replaces' OMGs
meta-metamodel MOF.
** EMF is -on another level of abstraction- a subset of UML
** --> importing a UML2 diagram in EMF treats the UML elements as if
they were the same element in EMF. This "import" was invented to easily
create EMF models with UML tools at a time no (or bad) 'native' EMF
tools existed.

* UML offers a kind of metamodel, or user models which affect the
metamodel layer: Profiles
** search for uml lightweight (profiles) or heavyweight extensions

* for M2M-transformations (if this is what you want), I would suggest
oAWs xTend

-stefan

P.S. In meiner Dipl. Arbeit im Eclipse Wiki steht auch n bissl was dazu ;)

Christoph Fehling schrieb:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am very new to GMF and totally overwhelmed by the possibilities it
> offers. So please excuse if this question is very generic.
>
> I would like to define a Metamodel in UML and then use a UML Editor to
> create UML Models which conform to this Metamodel. As far as I
> understand I would have to define graphical elements for each element in
> my small Metamodel, when using GMF but instead I would like to simply
> map elements from my Metamodel to UML Elements and then use the
> graphical representation a UML editor offers.
>
> Is it possible to do only the Metamodel and the mapping to UML Elements
> using GMF or am I trying to use a way to powerful tool for a rather
> simple task here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Christoph Fehling

Re: GMF UML Editor [message #202560 is a reply to message #202468]

Wed, 20 August 2008 03:36

Eclipse User

Hello Christoph,

> As far as I understand I would have to define graphical elements for each
element
> in my small Metamodel, when using GMF but instead I would like to
Right.

> simply map elements from my Metamodel to UML Elements and then use the
> graphical representation a UML editor offers.
Do you have such elements like "Class"/"Attribute","Package" in your meta-model,
or are you using these elements to "describe" your meta-model?
I suppose you are first defining .uml2 model then generating code from it
(during this step uml2 implementation will transform .uml2 meta-model description
into .ecore one).

> Is it possible to do only the Metamodel and the mapping to UML
> Elements using GMF or am I trying to use a way to powerful tool for a
> rather simple task here.
I do not see a way to use uml2 diagrams for visualizing yor model elements..
M.b. i'm missing something but looks like for now you have to use GMF to
generate diagramming code for the meta-model API generated for you by UML2
(actually EMF). You can reuse existing graphical shapes but still you have
to provide full description of your diagram. In some simple situations GMF
vizards can help you during this process.

-----------------
Alex Shatalin

Re: GMF UML Editor [message #202636 is a reply to message #202468]

Wed, 20 August 2008 08:18

Eclipse User

Originally posted by: cfehling.de.ibm.com

Thanks for your answers :)

until now I have used UML Profiles to extend the UML Metamodel, but this
is getting really complex (just too many stereotypes and constraints).
Coming from this background I thought I could somehow circumvent the
necessity to define a graphical mapping for my metamodel since the
contained elements are very similar to those of UML.
I guess I will play around more with the GMF examples and try to create
a very own editor for my metamodel.
That's much nicer, too ;-)

Thanks,

Christoph Fehling

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