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metamodel modifications [message #472505]

Tue, 10 April 2007 18:21

Krzysztof Kaczmarski

Messages: 88
Registered: July 2009

Member

Hi All,
I need to modify the uml metamodel. That is to add new metaclasses and modify existing ones.
I consider two possibilities: lightweight and middleweight. Both goals may be somehow reached with
the two mentioned ways.

Q1. Do I understand correctly that only the first solution will allow to use all features of uml2
package (I am especially interested in ecore export and import) while the second one will require a
lot of additional programming (for instance importers, exporters and metaclass creation)?

Q2. Is there any comprehensive documentation of uml to ecore transformation (and vice versa)?

Q3. Are manual modifications of UML.ecore file (I understand it to be the uml metamodel description)
the only ways to add new metaclasses?

Thanks in advance,
KK

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Re: metamodel modifications [message #472506 is a reply to message #472505]

Tue, 10 April 2007 21:35

james bruck

Messages: 1724
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi Kryzysztof,

some comments below...

- James.

"Krzysztof Kaczmarski" <krzysztof_kaczmarski@o2.pl> wrote in message
news:evgkk2$2st$1@build.eclipse.org...
> Hi All,
> I need to modify the uml metamodel. That is to add new metaclasses and
modify existing ones.
> I consider two possibilities: lightweight and middleweight. Both goals may
be somehow reached with
> the two mentioned ways.
>
> Q1. Do I understand correctly that only the first solution will allow to
use all features of uml2
> package (I am especially interested in ecore export and import) while the
second one will require a
> lot of additional programming (for instance importers, exporters and
metaclass creation)?
>
By lightweight you mean using profiles. Profiles extend an existing
metamodel. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "I am especially
interested in ecore export and import" in regards to lightweight extension.
It is true that middleweight extension will require a lot of additional
programming and headaches and is not recommended. Changes in the version of
UML that you are extending could affect you in bad ways. The recommended
way to go would be lightweight extension.

> Q2. Is there any comprehensive documentation of uml to ecore
transformation (and vice versa)?

Unfortunately not :( You can add your request to bugzilla
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=77413
There are plans to document some of the more subtle aspects of the
conversion process, in particular, use of generics.

>
> Q3. Are manual modifications of UML.ecore file (I understand it to be the
uml metamodel description)
> the only ways to add new metaclasses?

There are other ways... see the article "Heavy weight extension" in the
attachments for ...https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=77413
or have a look at
http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/mdt/uml2/docs/presentations/ EclipseCon2007_LongTalk_files/frame.html

Modifying the UML.ecore directly is getting "medieval" :) and although would
work is not recommended.
If you want to do something like that I would instead suggest modifying one
of Superstructure.uml, L3.uml etc, then open up UML.uml, do a package merge,
rename the result to UML.merged.uml, then reload the UML.genmodel and
generate UML.ecore. But I wouldn't recommend this. The draft article I
mentioned above might give you some ideas.
The full process that is used to generate the uml metamodel starts with the
RSA version of the models in .emx format. Then export to .uml then follow
the steps mentioned above.
That route is not recommended because changes to UML are constantly being
made as the spec gets updated. Bear in mind that there are hundreds of
suggested changes to UML specification as we speak. It would be difficult
to keep your specialized version up to date with these changes.

>
> Thanks in advance,
> KK

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Re: metamodel modifications [message #472507 is a reply to message #472506]

Wed, 11 April 2007 07:33

Krzysztof Kaczmarski

Messages: 88
Registered: July 2009

Member

Thanks James,
I'll come back to this as soon as I analyze the mentioned attachments.
KK

James Bruck wrote:
> Hi Kryzysztof,
>
> some comments below...
>
> - James.
>
> "Krzysztof Kaczmarski" <krzysztof_kaczmarski@o2.pl> wrote in message
> news:evgkk2$2st$1@build.eclipse.org...
>> Hi All,
>> I need to modify the uml metamodel. That is to add new metaclasses and
> modify existing ones.
>> I consider two possibilities: lightweight and middleweight. Both goals may
> be somehow reached with
>> the two mentioned ways.
>>
>> Q1. Do I understand correctly that only the first solution will allow to
> use all features of uml2
>> package (I am especially interested in ecore export and import) while the
> second one will require a
>> lot of additional programming (for instance importers, exporters and
> metaclass creation)?
> By lightweight you mean using profiles. Profiles extend an existing
> metamodel. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "I am especially
> interested in ecore export and import" in regards to lightweight extension.
> It is true that middleweight extension will require a lot of additional
> programming and headaches and is not recommended. Changes in the version of
> UML that you are extending could affect you in bad ways. The recommended
> way to go would be lightweight extension.
>
>> Q2. Is there any comprehensive documentation of uml to ecore
> transformation (and vice versa)?
>
> Unfortunately not :( You can add your request to bugzilla
> https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=77413
> There are plans to document some of the more subtle aspects of the
> conversion process, in particular, use of generics.
>
>> Q3. Are manual modifications of UML.ecore file (I understand it to be the
> uml metamodel description)
>> the only ways to add new metaclasses?
>
> There are other ways... see the article "Heavy weight extension" in the
> attachments for ...https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=77413
> or have a look at
> http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/mdt/uml2/docs/presentations/ EclipseCon2007_LongTalk_files/frame.html
>
> Modifying the UML.ecore directly is getting "medieval" :) and although would
> work is not recommended.
> If you want to do something like that I would instead suggest modifying one
> of Superstructure.uml, L3.uml etc, then open up UML.uml, do a package merge,
> rename the result to UML.merged.uml, then reload the UML.genmodel and
> generate UML.ecore. But I wouldn't recommend this. The draft article I
> mentioned above might give you some ideas.
> The full process that is used to generate the uml metamodel starts with the
> RSA version of the models in .emx format. Then export to .uml then follow
> the steps mentioned above.
> That route is not recommended because changes to UML are constantly being
> made as the spec gets updated. Bear in mind that there are hundreds of
> suggested changes to UML specification as we speak. It would be difficult
> to keep your specialized version up to date with these changes.
>
>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> KK
>
>

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