Decription of the tool

openArchitectureWare (oAW) is a suite of tools and components assisting with model driven software development built upon a modular MDA/MDD generator framework implemented in Java(TM) supporting arbitrary import (design) formats, meta models, and output (code) formats. Supportive tools (such as editors and model browsers) are based on the Eclipse platform.

openArchitectureWare is a “tool for building MDSD/MDA tools”. At the core there is a modular framework consisting of instantiators (to read model concrete syntax), a model validation facility based on metamodels and a powerful code generation engine based on the XPAND template language. Model-to-Model transformations are also supported.

Download

openArchitectureWare is hosted on SourceForge . Download the latest release here .

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Features

The following is a comprehensive list of the current features of openArchitectureWare.

• Complete modular design: You can enhance or extend any of the framework components as you see fit
• With a suitable instantiator, it can read any model. Currently, we provide out-of-the-box support for
  • various UML tools (MagicDraw, Poseidon, Enterprise Architect, Rose, XDE, Innovator, …)
  • textual models (using JavaCC or antlr parsers as frontends)
  • XML
  • Visio
  • pure::variants variant configuration models.
• Can generate any kind of output based on a powerful template language that supports template polymorphism, template aspects and many other advanced features necessary for building non-trivial code generators.
• Explicit domain metamodel: the metamodel of the problem domain is represented as Java classes. A metamodel generator that creates those Java classes from metamodels rendered in UML is also available. The meta metamodel is a simplified MOF (as in most tools). The generator already comes with the most important UML metaclasses, which can be reused to build UML profiles.
• Semi-declarative metamodel constraints: together with the comprehensive metamodel API created by the metamodel generator, a powerful library is available to implement constraints checks in the metamodel – when the generator has read a model, it is verified against the metamodel.
• Support for multiple models: you can read several models as part of one generator run. These models can use different concrete syntaxes (one could be UML, the other XML and a third one Visio). The generator then “weaves” these models together to form a comprehensive, all-encompassing model in the generator. Constraints can be checked over model boundaries; references among models can be established.
• Powerful configuration: an ant-based configuration based on generator plugins (which contribute instantiators, model modifiers, checkers or code generation templates) is provided.
• Seamless integration into Eclipse, including a syntax-highlighting and code-completing editor, a generic model browser and builder.

Version 4 features

At the end Jan 2006, the new version of openArchitecture (version 4) will be available. This version will provide a wealth of new features and enhancements; among other things, the integration into Eclipse will be improved. Here is a list of upcoming features:

• A new workflow engine will be available to precisely control the generator's workflow; this will allow a more precise and deterministic generator configuration compared to what's currently possible using plugins. Adapters will be provided to integrate the oAW v3 instantiators (and other components) as well as adapters for EMF tools such as ATL.
• It will be possible to work with EMF models. The workflow engine will come with "workflow components" that can work with EMF. It will be possible to generate code from EMF models using the XPand template language. Note that the generator core will remain independent of Eclipse.
• The XPand language will be extended. Optional typing of model elements, metaclass names including packages, properties with parameteters, sorting and filtering of element sets as well as a nice new concept for aspect orientation on the template level will be supported.
• The eclipse plugin will be reimplemented and will provide better support for code completion, finding references, etc.
• The metamodel generator will be able to generate persistent metamodels. Hibernate will be used to store and save models from relational databases.
• The UML/XMI import and stereotype mapping facilities will be extended to allow for more powerful mappings; eg. for all attributes in a class with the stereotype X use metaclass Y.
• A new framework (the Recipe Framework) will be added that allows to define validation rules for artefacts created outside of the generator (such as manually written subclasses). During code generation, those rules can be instantiated; later, the Eclipse IDE will read these checks and verify them. This will help to guide developers beyond the modelling/generation stage.
• A new model-to-model transformation language (called Wombat) will be provded. Using this textual, functional language. There are two very important properties of this language: first, it has a very concise and powerful syntax. Second, it can transform between the various metametamodels, i.e. you can e.g. transform a model defined with the oAW-classic metametamodel into an EMF model!
  

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