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:

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:

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

Technorati Tags: UML, Metamodel, Diagrams

we just released version Oclarity/XMI version 1.6.1.

This is a bug fix release. When releasing version 1.6.0 we did not realize that Sparx Systems had modified Enterprise Architects XMI export in such a way that it generated additional artifacts. In particular, after importing the XMI file, Oclarity/XMIs internal model contained additional associations (for examples superclasses where added as associations) and it contained some packages which are only used for Enterprise Architects internal use (’EA_*Types*Package’ packages). We did not notice the additional associations because they did not break our unit test – the additional elements did not create any problems when checking OCL expressions.

Finally, you might have noticed that attributes in the Model Explorer started with a number, e.g. 1. This was the internal representation of the members visibility. We have now corrected and extended this behavior so that the visibility is correctly displayed in the Model Explorer for all members.

Here is a list of all changes.

Oclarity/XMI is a free tool for checking OCL expressions against XMI files. If you have any problems, questions or suggestions about Oclarity/XMI please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: Oclarity, XMI, OCL

we just released version Oclarity/XMI version 1.6.0.

This is mostly a bug fix release.

We updated the XMI reader so that it processes the XMI files written by the latest version of Enterprise Architect correctly and we improved the OCL parser and semantic checker.

Here is a list of all changes.

Oclarity/XMI is a free tool for checking OCL expressions against XMI files. If you have any problems, questions or suggestions about Oclarity/XMI please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: Oclarity, XMI, OCL

we have just released Oclarity/XMI version 1.5.0. This version contains updated third party libraries and the time limitation of the previously released version is removed. There are no functional changes.

Oclarity/XMI is a free tool for checking OCL expressions against XMI files. If you have any problems or questions about Oclarity/XMI please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: Oclarity, XMI, OCL

if you are interested in the Object Constraint Language OCL you will find a lot of interesting information in the the proceedings of the 8th OCL workshop:

There where 4 sessions in the workshop but the talks do not always fit fine to the session. I’d rather categorize the talks like this:

• Implementing OCL
• Applying OCL
• OCL tools

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: OCL, OC tools, Object Constraint Language

the proceedings of the 3rd Workshop On Quality in Modeling are now available online.

They cover these talks:

Design of a Functional Size Measurement Procedure for a Model-Driven Software Development Method
Beatriz Marín, Nelly Condori-Fernández, and Oscar Pastor

A proactive process-driven approach in the quest for high quality UML models
Gianna Reggio, Egidio Astesiano, and Filippo Ricca

Description and Implementation of a Style Guide for UML
Mohammed Hindawi, Lionel Morel, Régis Aubry, Jean-Louis Sourrouille

A Combined Global-Analytical Quality Framework for Data Models
Jonathan Lemaitre, and Jean-Luc Hainaut

Empirical Validation of Measures for UML Class Diagrams: A Meta-Analysis Study
M. Esperanza Manso, José A. Cruz-Lemus, Marcela Genero, Mario Piattini

Towards a Tool-Supported Quality Model for Model-Driven Engineering
Parastoo Mohagheghi, Vegard Dehlen, Tor Neple

Have fun,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: model quality, modeling, DSL

we are happy to announce the availability of Oclarity/XMI.

Similar to our OCL AddIn for Rational Rose Oclarity/XMI is a tool that is capable to perform extensive checks on OCL expressions, including type correctness.

In contrast to the Rose AddIn it is a standalone application that reads XMI files. Currently, XMI files from Enterprise Architect and MagicDraw are supported. If you would like to have support for other XMI formats then don’t hesitate and let us know.

From now on, we will use the term “Oclarity” for the standalone application.

Oclarity comes with a modern GUI that uses latest GUI standards like the Microsoft Ribbon to provide the best usability:

We appreciate each and any feedback. So if you have questions, feature suggestions or encounter bugs please let us know (send an email to info@empowertec.de or support@empowertec.de).

Oclarity is only available for Microsoft Windows platforms and requires and installation of the Microsoft .NET framework 2.0 or higher.

The manual can be downloaded separately. It contains some basic information on how to use Oclarity and also some screen shots.

You can download Oclarity for XMI here for free.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: OCL, XMI, Oclarity

some time ago Julio Cesar Sampaio do Prado Leite has published some numbers from a survey on the usage of UML. There was only a relatively small number of participants but since it is so hard to learn about actual industry projects using the UML it is still an interesting read.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: UML

on the puml mailinglist a call for papers for the Third international workshop on Quality in Modeling was issued. It is part of the MODELS ‘08 conference which takes place in Toulouse, France at 28 September – 3 October.

From the announcement:

The goal of this workshop is to gather researchers and practitioners interested in the emerging issues of quality in the context of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). Discussions will take a large place and could address issues such as early quality control based on models at a high abstraction level, building prediction models for software quality based on model metrics, relationship between model quality and software product quality, quality control, etc. Submissions related to ongoing industrial projects aiming to increase quality are encouraged.

It’s surely an interesting workshop.

Proceedings of the first and second workshop can be found here and here.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: model quality

Jason Gorman from parlezuml.com made a comment on a posting that stated that the UML has failed and is no longer relevant. Basically Jason says that some of the authors arguments are correct but others are not and that – all in all – “UML is alive and well”.

The comments on the original posting are mostly affirmative, but there are also some comments in the defense of the UML.

I’d like to add another thought: the companies and organizations that use the UML more rigorous (and thus possibly discover its benefits) are usually large companies and organizations, often in the military sector or working on embedded software. Project workers in these types of organizations usually have neither the time nor the interest to hang out in the internet and read blogs and write comments. Therefore I think that the sum of all public statements does not accurately reflect the actual acceptance and appreciation of the UML in the software industry.

In addition, the UML is also used to capture requirements in analysis models, something that can’t be done in code.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: UML, modeling