Generate a class diagram visualization for a meta-model

Posted by Nicolas Anquetil on September 26, 2023 · 4 mins read
documentor

When creating or studying a meta-model, it is often convenient to be able to “see” it as a whole.

UML looks like a natural solution for this.

So in the past we had a tool to create UML diagrams of the meta-models through PlantUML (a small language and a tool to generate UML diagrams). The post Generate a plantUML visualization for a meta-model explained how to use this tool

But the tool had some limitations, one of which was that it was not easy to add a different backend than PlantUML.

Therefore, inspired by the previous tool, we redesigned a new one, FamixUMLDocumentor, with a simpler API and the possibility to add new backends.

Simple Use

We illustrate the use with the same Coaster example already used previously. You can also experiment with FDModel, a small meta-model used for testing.

You can create a PlantUML script for a UML class of your metamodel with:

FamixUMLDocumentor new
  model: CCModel ;
  generate ;
  exportWith: (FamixUMLPlantUMLBackend new).

The result will be a PlantUML script that you can paste into https://plantuml.org/ to get this UML class diagram:

Generated UML class of the Coaster meta-model

FamixDocumentor API

The API for the documenter is as follow:

  • model: – adds a meta-model to export. Several meta-models can be exported jointly by adding them one after the other. By default each meta-model is automatically assigned a color in which its entities will be drawn.
  • model:color: – same as previous but manually assign a Color to the meta-model.
  • onlyClasses: – specifies a list of classes to export. It can replace the use of model:.
  • excludeClasses: – specifies a list of classes to exclude from the export. Typically used with model: to remove from the UML some of the meta-model’s classes. Can also be used to exlude “stub” classes (see beWithStubs).
  • beWithStubs – Indicates to also export the super-classes and used traits of exported classes, even if these super-classes/traits or not part of the meta-models. These stubs have an automatically selected color different from the meta-models displayed.
  • beWithoutStubs – opposite of the preceding. This is the default option.
  • generate – creates an internal representation of a UML class diagram according to the configuration created with the preceding messages.
  • exportWith: – exports the internal representation with the “backend” given (for example: FamixUMLPlantUMLBackend in the example above)

FamixUML Backends

The backend is normally called by the FamixUMLDocumentor but can be called manually. For example, the image above can be exported in a PlantUML script with:

documentor := FamixUMLDocumentor new.
documentor
    model: CCModel ;
    generate.
FamixUMLPlantUMLBackend new export: documentor umlEntities.

(Compare with the example given above)

Backends have only one mandatory method:

  • export: – Exports the collection of umlEntities (internal representation) in the format specific to the backend.

New backends can be created by subclassing FamixUMLAbstractBackend.

There is a FamixUMLTextBackend that outputs the UML class diagram in a textual form. By default it returns a string but this can be changed:

  • toFile: – Instead of putting the result in a string, will write it to the file whose name is given in argument.
  • outputStream: – specifies a stream on which to write the result of the backend.

FamixUMLPlantUMLBackend is a subclass of this FamixUMLTextBackend.

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