Exploring the UML Metamodel with our new free UML2 Metamodel Viewer
Hello,
if you you need to use the UML2 Metamodel in some way for your work you will have noticed, that it is not easy to develop an understanding of the Metamodel, even less to learn quickly about the classes, their attributes and their relations to other classes. Basically there are only the official specifications from the OMG which are a bit dry to read.
Enter our new, free UML2 Metamodel Viewer!
The UML2 Metamodel Viewer is a standalone Windows application that can be used to browse the package structure of the UML2 Metamodel and explore the contained classes. In addition, it is possible to draw diagrams from these classes in a semi automatic way.
Here is a screenshot of the main window:
Main Window of the UML Metamodel Viewer
To create a diagram simply add a new diagram to your project and drag one or more classes from the Model Explorer to the diagram. For example, here is a diagram with the class Kernel::Classes::Class:
UML Metamodel Viewer with a diagram
One of the neat features is that the related classes (superclasses and classes that are used in relations) are automatically added to the diagram. This is an easy way to see the “context” of a given class.
The installer comes with a manual that should get you started using the UML2 Metamodel Viewer.
There is a catch: currently UML2 Metamodel Viewer relies on some third party software (namely the Graphviz package and the UmlGraph package – the latter additionally requires a Java Development Kit) that must be installed and configured so that diagrams can be created.
This is a 1.0 release, so you will surely find bugs using this software. Please report bugs and feature suggestions to support@empowertec.de. We definitely appreciate your feedback! We plan to actively support this software, which means of course fixing bugs but also implementing new features depending on demand and effort.
The software is based on the cmof-files that define the UML2 Metamodel.
Best regards,
Andreas