Design and Implementation of a Metadata Repository about UML Class Diagrams. A Software Tool Supporting the Automatic Feeding of the Repository

Abstract

Model-Driven Engineering is largely recognized as the most powerful method for the design of complex software. This study deals with the automated archival of metadata about the content of UML class diagrams (a particularly relevant category of models) into a pre-existing repository. To define the structure of the repository, we started from the definition of a UML metamodel. From the latter, we derived the schema of the metadata repository. Then, a parser was developed that is responsible for extracting the useful information from the XMI file about class diagrams and enters it as metadata into the repository. The parser has been implemented as a Java web interface, while the metadata repository has been implemented as a PostgreSQL database based on the JSONB data type. The metadata repository is thought to support modelers in the initial phase of the process of the development of new models when looking for artifacts to start from. The schema of the metadata repository and the Java code of the parser are available from the authors.