Small-Scale XMI Programming: A Revolution in UML Tool Use?

The main motivation for the development of the OMG's XML Metadata Interchange Format (XMI) was the need to have a standard way for UML tools to interchange UML models. However, the fact that UML models, saved as XML documents, are now accessible to standard XML tools, opens up new possibilities to which less attention has so far been paid. This paper discusses how XMI can be exploited for performing model analysis and housekeeping tasks and for the integration of third party or in-house tools. With the help of examples we focus on what can be achieved with small-scale XMI programming by a single developer in hours rather than days. We suggest that this new capability may have important and positive implications for the future of UML modelling using tools.     

A Formal Object Approach to the Design of ZML

This paper addresses two issues: how formal object modeling techniques facilitate the XML application development and how XML technology helps formal/graphical software design process. In particular, the paper presents a XML/XSL approach to the development of a web environment for Z family languages (Z/Object-Z/TCOZ). The projection techniques and tools from object-oriented Z (in XML) to UML (in XMI) are developed using XSL Transformations (XSLT). Furthermore, object-oriented Z is used to specify and design the essential functionalities of the web environment and the projection tools to UML. In a sense, the paper also demonstrates a formal object approach to modeling XML applications.     

An approach to clone detection in sequence diagrams and its application to security analysis

Duplication in software systems is an important issue in software quality assurance. While many methods for software clone detection in source code and structural models have been described in the literature, little has been done on similarity in the dynamic behaviour of interactive systems. In this paper, we present an approach to identifying near-miss interaction clones in reverse-engineered UML sequence diagrams. Our goal is to identify patterns of interaction (“conversations”) that can be used to characterize and abstract the run-time behaviour of web applications and other interactive systems. In order to leverage existing robust near-miss code clone technology, our approach is text-based, working on the level of XMI, the standard interchange serialization for UML. Clone detection in UML behavioural models, such as sequence diagrams, presents a number of challenges—first, it is not clear how to break a continuous stream of interaction between lifelines (representing the objects or actors in the system) into meaningful conversational units. Second, unlike programming languages, the XMI text representation for UML is highly non-local, using attributes to reference-related elements in the model file remotely. In this work, we use a set of contextualizing source transformations on the XMI text representation to localize related elements, exposing the hidden hierarchical structure of the model and allowing us to granularize behavioural interactions into conversational units. Then we adapt NICAD, a robust near-miss code clone detection tool, to help us identify conversational clones in reverse-engineered behavioural models. These conversational clones are then analysed to find worrisome interactions that may indicate security access violations.     

Converting XML DTDs to UML diagrams for conceptual data integration

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is fast becoming the new standard for data representation and exchange on the World Wide Web, e.g., in B2B e-commerce. Modern enterprises need to combine data from many sources in order to answer important business questions, creating a need for integration of web-based XML data. Previous web-based data integration efforts have focused almost exclusively on the logical level of data models, creating a need for techniques that focus on the conceptual level in order to communicate the structure and properties of the available data to users at a higher level of abstraction. The most widely used conceptual model at the moment is the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

This paper presents algorithms for automatically constructing UML diagrams from XML DTDs, enabling fast and easy graphical browsing of XML data sources on the web. The algorithms capture important semantic properties of the XML data such as precise cardinalities and aggregation (containment) relationships between the data elements. As a motivating application, it is shown how the generated diagrams can be used for the conceptual design of data warehouses based on web data, and an integration architecture is presented. The choice of data warehouses and On-Line Analytical Processing as the motivating application is another distinguishing feature of the presented approach.     

基于XMI的UML模型到XML文档转换的实现

为了充分利用软件开发过程中处在需求分析阶段的UML(Unified Modeling Language)模型图的信息,在分析XMI(XML Metadata Interchange)文档特点基础上,实现了把UML模型转换成基于XML Schema规范的XML文档。从转换的必要性出发,详述了基于XMI的这种模型转换过程及基于XML Schema规范的XML文档的生成规则。     

Emerging OCL tools

The Object Constraint Language (OCL) is a notational language for analysis and design of software systems, which is used in conjunction with the Unified Modelling Language (UML) to specify the semantics of the building blocks precisely. OCL can also be used by other languages, notations, methods and software tools in order to specify restrictions and other expressions of their models. Likewise, OCL is used by the Object Management Group (OMG) in the definition of other fast spreading industrial standards such as Meta Object Facility (MOF) or XML Metadata Interchange (XMI).Support tools aimed at making this language easier to use are becoming available. These tools are capable of supporting and handling OCL expressions. This paper presents a comparative study of the main tools currently available, both commercial and freely available ones. The study is very practical, with the advantages and disadvantages of the different tools being pointed out. The evaluations made may be of use in helping those developers and analysts who already use the language, as well as those who intend to use it in the near future, to choose the OCL tool which best adapts to their requirements.     

基于XML的UML时序图向Petri网的转换

针对统一建模语言（UML）时序图与Petri网间转换的问题,提出基于消息的UML时序图向Petri网转换的映射算法。以XMI,XPDL,XSLT为核心,建立基于可扩展标记语言（XML）的实现该映射算法的3层转换方案。结合XML应用环境要求,建立映射处理流程,并通过实例对方案可行性进行了验证。     

Evolution of XML schemas and documents from stereotyped UML class models: A traceable approach

Context

UML and XML are two of the most commonly used languages in software engineering processes. One of the most critical of these processes is that of model evolution and maintenance. More specifically, when an XML schema is modified, the changes should be propagated to the corresponding XML documents, which must conform with the new, modified schema.

Objective

The goal of this paper is to provide an evolution framework by which the XML schema and documents are incrementally updated according to the changes in the conceptual model (expressed as a UML class model). In this framework, we include the transformation and evolution of UML profiles specified in UML class models because they are widely used to capture domain specific semantics.

Method

We have followed a metamodeling approach which allowed us to achieve a language independent framework, not tied to the specific case of UML-XML. Besides, our proposal considers a traceability setting as a key aspect of the transformation process which allows changes to be propagated from UML class models to both XML schemas and documents.

Results

As a general framework, we propose a Generic Evolution Architecture (GEA) for the model-driven engineering context. Within this architecture and for the particular case of the UML-to-XML setting, our contribution is a UML-to-XML framework that, to our knowledge, is the only approach that incorporates the following four characteristics. Firstly, the evolution tasks are carried out in a conceptual model. Secondly, our approach includes the transformation to XML of UML profiles. Thirdly, the proposal allows stereotyped UML class models to be evolved, propagating changes to XML schemas and documents in such a way that the different elements are kept in synch. Finally, we propose a traceability setting that enables evolution tasks to be performed seamlessly.

Conclusions

Generic frameworks such as that proposed in this paper help to reduce the work overload experienced by software engineers in keeping different software artifacts synchronized.     

UML顺序图的自动验证

UML顺序图反映了系统中并发对象之间的消息交互及顺序,在软件建模中占有重要地位。该文对UML顺序图模型的自动验证方法进行了研究,在把UML顺序图转换为Promela语言后,使用模型检验器SPIN来验证系统设计模型是否满足某些关键性质需求。为了加强该方法的适用性,采用可扩展的标记语言XML文件格式定义顺序图模型的外部表示形式,该表示方法遵从OMG的XMI标准,从而使验证过程适用于不同的UML建模环境。     

一个XML的数据模型及其存储策略

XML是用于数据表示、交换的Internet标准。通过和DTD的连接可以用像XML－QL这样的语言来执行丰富的查询操作。近年来,很多人致力于半结构化数据模型和其查询语言的研究^[1,2,5],其重点逐渐转移到XML数据集的查询上来,其中两个重要问题是使XML查询语言正规化和如何将XML数据转换为底层存储格式以获得理想的效率^[4]。表述了一个XML的正规数据模型及其代数方法,并介绍基于RDBMS实现该模型的方法。     

Knowledge and software modeling using UML

Ontology can be considered as a comprehensive knowledge model which enables the developer to practice knowledge, instead of code, reuse. In the development of knowledge-based systems, different modeling languages are employed at different stages of the development process. By using a common modeling language for the knowledge and software models, knowledge instead of software reuse can be achieved. We illustrate the process by first presenting an ontology developed for an industrial domain and then investigate Unified Modeling Language (UML) as an ontology modeling tool. Since any model expressed in UML can be translated into a software model, the transition from the knowledge model to system implementation is better supported with the proposed approach. The industrial domain of selecting a remediation technique for petroleum contaminated sites is adopted for the illustration case study.     

Making XML document markup international

In name and in practice, the World‐Wide Web (hereafter Web) is used around the World beyond English‐speaking areas. This creates a tremendous need to internationalize standard terminology used in the technologies that make the Web possible. Existing efforts on XML internationalization (i18n) and localization (i10n) have focused on the content of XML documents instead of the terms used in markup (annotations) such as elements and attributes. The SGML standard ISO 8879 supports the use of Unicode (ISO 10646) throughout a document, including markups. However, most elements and attributes of XML documents are still defined in English, thereby limiting their use among non‐English speakers. This paper presents an XSLT‐based method that can completely localize the markup of XML documents into different natural languages. We also describe how the proposed technique can be applied to translation problems in programming (e.g. C and Java) or documentation (e.g. LAT_EX or other formatting languages) so that a program or a document can be converted to and from an XML format. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fuzzy XML data modeling with the UML and relational data models

Information imprecision and uncertainty exist in many real-world applications and for this reason fuzzy data modeling has been extensively investigated in various data models. Currently, huge amounts of electronic data are available on the Internet, and XML has been the de facto standard of information representation and exchange over the Web. This paper focuses on fuzzy XML data modeling, which is mainly involved in the representation model of the fuzzy XML, its conceptual design, and its storage in databases. Based on “possibility distribution theory”, we developed this fuzzy XML data model. We developed this fuzzy UML data model to design the fuzzy XML model conceptually. We investigated the formal conversions from the fuzzy UML model to the fuzzy XML model and the formal mapping from the fuzzy XML model to the fuzzy relational databases.     

Reconstructing a formal security model

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a flexible approach to access control, which has generated great interest in the security community. The principal motivation behind RBAC is to simplify the complexity of administrative tasks. Several formal models of RBAC have been introduced. However, there are a few works specifying RBAC in a way which system developers or software engineers can easily understand and adopt to develop role-based systems. And there still exists a demand to have a practical representation of well-known access control models for system developers who work on secure system development. In this paper we represent a well-known RBAC model with software engineering tools such as Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Object Constraints Language (OCL) to reduce a gap between security models and system developments. The UML is a general-purpose visual modeling language in which we can specify, visualize, and document the components of a software system. And OCL is part of the UML and has been used for object-oriented analysis and design as a de facto constraints specification language in software engineering arena. Our representation is based on a standard model for RBAC proposed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. We specify this RBAC model with UML including three views: static view, functional view, and dynamic view. We also describe how OCL can specify RBAC constraints that is one of important aspects to constrain what components in RBAC are allowed to do. In addition, we briefly discuss future directions of this work.     

MDA-based visual modeling approach for resources link relationships using UML profile

Current XML editors do not provide conceptual modeling for XLink. This leads to inefficient development processes, and a low potential for reuse. To address these shortcomings, this study presents a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach with the UML profile to build XLink applications for various domains. This investigation demonstrates how users can use the UML profile to provide a conceptual and visual modeling for XLink applications, and automatically generate different XLink-based documents for various domains. The proposed methodology enables Web-based system developers to generate relationships between resources, and to improve software quality by adopting software engineering techniques in XML development.     

基于XML的UML模型向AADL模型的自动转换

UML已经成为复杂系统建模的工业标准,并可借助代码自动生成工具实现从分析到编码的开发过程自动化;AADL具有精确的语义和严格的语法规范,可用于描述嵌入式实时系统的软、硬件体系结构,并能分析系统的功能及非功能属性。 UML和AADL模型的基本元对象有相互对应关系,并且两种模型的表示都能够采用标准的XML的交换格式。为充分发挥两种语言的优势,文中研究了UML模型向AADL模型的自动转换,以XML为媒介实现两种模型的元对象的对应转换,最终达到两种模型的转换,使用户在设计阶段能够结合运用AADL、UML工具的优点对系统进行分析。     

基于元模型的XML Schema到UML类图的转换

依据XML Schema文档以及XMI规范定义了与转换相关的XML Schema的元模型,并建立了它和UML元模型之间的映射关系,在此基础上提出了基于XMI和OCL的转换规则,对转换空间进行了分析,并且结合实例进行了说明。