UML Designer User's Guide


Object Extender import/export

The VisualAge Object Extender feature provides tools you can use to model, map, and generate classes for persistent application objects. UML Designer can import model information from, or export it to, Object Extender models. (Similarly, Object Extender can import from or export to UML Designer models; see the VisualAge Smalltalk ObjectExtender User's Guide and Reference for more information.)

When you import model information from Object Extender, UML Designer converts each selected model class into a protocol and a conforming class design, using the same name as the Object Extender model class. If there is an associated Smalltalk class generated from Object Extender, that class will also be linked as the real implementing class of the class design.

For each attribute in the model class, UML Designer creates an attribute in the generated protocol. If the attribute is marked as a required value in the model class, UML Designer uses the Key Attribute idiom for the generated attribute.

In the generated class designs and protocols, UML Designer maintains any inheritance relationships among the Object Extender model classes. If the model class has no parent model class, the generated UML Designer class design and protocol are children of the Object Extender default persistent class root (configured in the Object Extender Model Browser's generation options). The Object Extender Base model, which contains class designs and protocols for the most important Object Extender root classes, is automatically set as a prerequisite for any model containing elements imported from Object Extender.

UML Designer also preserves any associations among the imported model classes, provided both source and target of each association are being imported.


[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Table of Contents | Index ]