Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-30
2001-12-11
Black, Thomas (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C717S152000, C703S022000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330569
ABSTRACT:
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to the field of object-oriented programming; and, in particular to a method and system for versioning a UML model in a repository in accordance with an updated XML representation of the UML model.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is a new format designed to bring structured information to the Web. It is a Web-based language for electronic data interchange. XML is an open technology standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W
3
C), which is the standards group responsible for maintaining and advancing HTML and other Web-related standards.
XML is a sub-set of SGML that maintains the important architectural aspects of contextual separation while removing nonessential features. The XML document format embeds the content within tags that express the structure. XML also provides the ability to express rules for the structure (i.e., grammar) of a document. These two features allow automatic separation of data and metadata, and allow generic tools to validate an XML document against its grammar.
Unlike HTML, an XML document does not include presentation information. Instead, an XML document may be rendered for visual presentation by applying layout style information with technologies such as XSL (Extensible Style Language). Web sites and browsers are rapidly adding XML and XSL to their functionality.
The XML approach to structured data interchange has been validated through the wide experience with XML itself and with other members of the XML family: SGML, which is used in high-end document processing, and HTML, the predominant language of the Web.
XML is widely believed to be the next step in the evolution of the Web. This is demonstrated by announcements by Netscape and Microsoft that upcoming versions of the leading Web browsers, Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, will incorporate XML support.
While XML is still in its infancy, there are many well-documented applications of XML. Example application domains include Web commerce, publishing, repositories, modeling, databases and data warehouses, services, financial, health care, semiconductors, inventory access, and more.
Repositories provide a central place for recording metadata and enable one to store, manage, share and reuse information about data (i.e., metadata) that an enterprise uses. A repository can store definitional, management and operational information. Tools can be integrated with the repository to support information sharing and metadata reuse, and tool and technology models may be developed to manipulate the tool information in the repository. However, the transferring of data within models from tool to tool or from a tool to the repository has been a cumbersome and unyielding task for a long time.
It is a tedious and time consuming task to generate a format description for enabling the interchange of metadata among repositories and each different type of modeling tool available. Accordingly, there is a need for automatically generating format descriptions to expedite interchange of metadata among repositories and modeling tools. As will be described hereinbelow, this invention solves this problem by automating the production of an XML DTD for meta-models stored in a MOF-compliant repository by implementing instances of the meta-models expressible in a meta object framework. In the past, entire models would have to be replicated to accommodate minor changes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for versioning a UML model in a repository in accordance with an updated XML representation of the UML model.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system that allows modelers to use object versioning to coordinate changes to object models and other metadata over a network, including the Internet.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system that allows UML models to be interchanged between a repository and UML editing tools as streams or files with a standard format based on
An advantage of the present invention is the software language independence of the algorithm used to implement the method, making it flexible and portable.
Another advantage of the present invention is the process effectively allows programs to change existing models.
These and other objects, which will become apparent as the invention is described in detail below, are provided by a computer system executing a repository program, wherein a method is disclosed for versioning a UML model in the repository in accordance with an updated XML representation of the UML model. The method includes the steps of identifying differences between UML objects in the UML model and XML objects in the XML file. Where there is a difference between one of the UML objects and one of the XML objects, it is reserved as a ghost object. The ghost object is updated to match each corresponding one of the XML objects. Objects whose target references have been changed are reserved and updated. Finally, the UML objects are updated in the repository that refer to ghost objects updated in the preceding step. The method includes making changes to the ghost object Attributes, References and owned elements to match Attributes, References and owned elements, respectively, found in the XML object.
Still other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is shown and described only the preferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive, and what is intended to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims. The present invention will become apparent when taken in conjunction with the following description and attached drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts, and which drawings form a part of this application.
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Baisley Donald Edward
Kumar C. Suresh
Black Thomas
Kozak Alfred W.
Rode Lise A.
Rones Charles L.
Starr Mark T.
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