Trying to import EA UML into TBC - No go

[Jack Hodges]

I have a set of UML models created in Enterprise Architect that I'd like to import into TBC. I have read the various statements here and in the help files, etc. I have tried exporting from EA to most of its possible file types using 'export model to XMI'. I tried 'export type' XMI 2.1 as well as UML 2.4.1 (XMI 2.4.1), Ecore, UML 2.0 (XMI 2.1), and MOF 1.4 (XMI 1.2). The question I have is: how do I convert the XMI file into the UML format TBC requires to perform the import. The documentation doesn't spell this out at least as far as I have been able to tell so far.

[Irene Polikoff]

Jack,

 

TBC’s import works with UML2 as implemented in EMF (as described here http://wiki.eclipse.org/MDT-UML). How could we be more clear about this than we currently are in the Help file?

 

As far as I could tell, Enterprise Architect can import this format, but not export it. According to EA while they now export UML2 format, this output doesn’t work in Eclipse because “the Eclipse implementation of the UML2 metamodel differs in some places from EA’s implementation”. Thus, when a tool has UML2 output, it doesn’t mean that it can be used in Eclipse or that it is interchangeable with another tool’s UML2 input/output.

 

By googling, I found this:

https://nirmalsasidharan.wordpress.com/tag/enterprise-architect/ and this http://blog.sparxsystems.eu/2012/11/export-your-ea-models-for-eclipse/

 

Both are a bit dated and I don’t know if they will work, but you could give it a try.

 

Irene

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Group "TopBraid Suite Users", the topics of which include Enterprise Vocabulary Network (EVN), TopBraid Composer, TopBraid Live, TopBraid Insight, SPARQLMotion, SPARQL Web Pages and SPIN.
To post to this group, send email to
topbrai...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
topbraid-user...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/topbraid-users?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TopBraid Suite Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to topbraid-user...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jack Hodges]

Irene,

Thank you for the reply. FYI, the EMF link you provided is dead.

You are correct, EA claims that their export cannot be read in Eclipse but the quote I found on the second link you provided is slightly different: "Enterprise Architect supports a UML 2 export, which produces an XML file valid to the OMG’s UML specification. Nevertheless, it is not possible to open it with an UML editor of Eclipse without any modifications, because the Eclipse implementation of the UML2 metamodel differs in some places."

Anyway, that isn't terribly important. I had already tried the first link and the page for one of the downloads is dead so I could not take that path. I had not seen the second link before and will try that solution out. I have also found a python approach that converts XMI to UML2 and will try that as well.

[Irene Polikoff]

Jack,

 

Pretty much every UML tool says that their output is valid according to UML 2 specification. However, the specification is complex and imprecise, so there are differences between these implementations.

 

As a result, I don’t believe XMI tool interoperability trully exists. I remember seeing tests several years back where people would try various imports and exports and report on the results – quite poor.

 

Things may have improved, but not enough it seems. Here is a more recent article http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/uml-25-do-you-even-care/240163702 that says “With a few exceptions in the SysML space, <UML> tool interoperability has stayed at the "marchitecture" level since the advent of computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools in the late 1980s”.

 

Eclipse’s EMF project has been stopped. With this, we will not be making any updates to the EMF import capability. I think the work Ralph wrote about would be the best way forward to a more reliable generally applicable UML import capabilities because the import scripts are “open” and, thus, could be adjusted by the user where needed to accommodate idiosyncrasies of different tools as they manifest themselves in different models.

 

Given your immediate needs, I hope that either EA XSLT or the Python script you found work out for you.

 

Regards,

 

Irene

--

[David Price]

Hi Jack,

You’ve bumped into one of the dirty little secrets of the OMG wrt UML - it is not an interchangeable form of representing knowledge. It seems XMI can be used in too many ways and UML is too complex a language for most to have implemented the two properly and get interchange to work in the real world (even ignoring UML and XMI version mismatches between tools) .

The OMG has a Model Interchange Working Group[1]that has been trying to remedy that problem for nearly 6 years now, but still not there yet. That said, maybe there’s a pipeline through the tools involved in that process that can get you to a file TBC can import. The eclipse UML2 wiki[2] might help.

Note to TQ staff - we should probably update the eclipse UML2 link to be [2] in the help pages.

Cheers,

David

[1] http://www.omgwiki.org/model-interchange/doku.php

[2] http://wiki.eclipse.org/MDT-UML2

UK +44 7788 561308

US +1 336 283 0606

[Peter Bruhn Andersen]

Hi Jack

 

We, the Danish Agency for Digitisation,  did a proof-of-concept earlier this year where we imported EA UML class diagrams into TopBraid as RDF/OWL.  Our plans are to use the result of the POC as a stepping stone for further refinements in Q1 2015.

 

We will be more than willing to share the code that we have now with anyone who would like to use it. We would also be interested in dialog with interested partners.

 

The original POC was developed with the help of David Norheim, Computas.

 

Let me know if you want a copy of the code from the POC and I'll dig it out from the workspace.

 

Regards,

Peter Bruhn Andersen

[Peter Denno]

David, 

UML tool interoperability can be viewed in terms of "model exchange" or the more demanding "diagram exchange." Most UML tools have no problem with model exchange. I'd be very surprised if I couldn't read the OP's EA XMI into MagicDraw. Eclipse is an exception -- it doesn't do model exchange as well as most commercial tools.  

UML diagram interchange is another story. It isn't widely supported. The reputation of "UML interoperability" is tarnished for lack of this capability that is important to many users. 

Best regards, 

     Peter

[Steve Ray]

Hi Peter,

            I’m surprised to hear you characterize UML model exchange as being problem free. EA makes heavy use of what it tags as “ea-extensions” which I doubt align very well with MagicDraw.

 

 

- Steve

 

Steven R. Ray, Ph.D.

Distinguished Research Fellow

Carnegie Mellon University

NASA Research Park

Building 23 (MS 23-11)

P.O. Box 1
Moffett Field, CA 94305-0001

Email:    stev...@sv.cmu.edu

Phone: (650) 587-3780

Cell:      (202) 316-6481

Skype: steverayconsulting

---

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2015.0.5577 / Virus Database: 4213/8588 - Release Date: 11/17/14

[Peter Denno]

Hi Steve, 

I suppose every vendor's XMI contains many vendor-specific tags, but they can either be ignored or filtered out in interoperable XMI exchange. They are inconsequential to the exchange, and I have never heard of them being a problem. 

Best regards, 

    Peter

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "TopBraid Suite Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/topbraid-users/ABwVlANBh5E/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to topbraid-user...@googlegroups.com.

[Guilherme Scomparim]

Hi Jack,

 

  Based on all the unknowns around UML interoperability and also based on challenges my teams faced when using UML to represent the business abstractions while implementing complex enterprise software transformations in the past, I have built a new set of modelling languages following MDA and MOF from OMG that aim to solve the interoperability problem.

 

  The Parametric Computation Independent Modelling Language (PCIML) - Focus on capturing the pure business DEFINITION abstractions  (Structure, Behaviour and Rules) using 10 constructs. I also built a modelling tool that is implemented using the Top Braid Suite and SWP which captures the business abstractions and is capable to generate UML Class Diagrams, Statechart Diagrams, Use Case Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams and BPMN. The tool also generates the ontology and SPIN rules models based on the definition.

 

  Connected to PCIML, I also created a language to capture the DESIGN abstractions that is called Parametric Platform Independent Model Language (PPIML) and another to capture the DEPLOYMENT abstractions called Parametric Platform Specific Model Language (PPSML)

 

  The creation of PCIML, PPIML, PPSML was essential to capture the abstractions in a way that a transition engine that I build called ESTCA (Event, State, Transition, Condition and Action) can respond to events of any type of technology that interacts and implements the defined domain.

 

  I am currently looking for early adopters and people that want to test and give feedback on this new technology. Anyone interested please contact me on gu...@pmdasolutions.com

 

 Best regards,

Guil Scomparim

mailto:topbraid-users%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com

For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/topbraid-users?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "TopBraid Suite Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/topbraid-users/ABwVlANBh5E/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to topbraid-user...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jack Hodges]

It has been some time and I forgot to post the results of my effort. I 'was' able to find a way to convert EA-UML to UML2 that could be imported into Topbraid. Here is the link:

http://blog.sparxsystems.eu/2012/11/export-your-ea-models-for-eclipse/comment-page-1/#comment-489202

This simple addition of an XSLT to EA allows the export of the class diagrams in UML2. You can then load them into Eclipse and see that the structure of the classes is intact.

As Steve mentioned, importing into TBC is not perfect. It maintains the naming but tends to mangle the properties and prefixes are pretty much nonexistent. So you will need to do some work but this will get you 75% of the way and that is a huge plus in our business.

Jack