modelant.mof14.maven.plugin

Modelant publishes a Maven plugin that compares two models written in MOF 1.4. The regular practice is to use such models as metamodels - definitions of other modeling languages. Thus, changes in the MOF 1.4 metamodels define the changes in the modeling languages. As an example, the differences between UML 1.3 and UML 1.4 metamodels, define the UML 1.4 language changes since UML 1.3.

The goal compare-mof14-metamodels of the net.mdatools:modelant.mof14.maven:3.1.0 plugin compares two models and reports the differences, that are needed to convert the source model into the target one.

Below are provided two usage scenarios

General Usage Scenario

Both MOF 1.4 models are provided in as files. The simplest way to compare them is just to provide the path to them. The plugin will report the detected changes in a basic form:

<plugin>
  <groupId>net.mdatools</groupId>
  <artifactId>modelant.mof14.maven.plugin</artifactId>
  <version>3.3.0</version>
  <executions>
    <execution>
      <phase>compile</phase>
      <goals>
        <goal>compare-mof14-metamodels</goal>
      </goals>
      <configuration>
        <sourceMetamodel>src/resource/01-12-02_Diff_modelant.xml</sourceMetamodel>
        <targetMetamodel>src/resource/01-02-15_Diff_modelant.xml</targetMetamodel>
      </configuration>
    </execution>
  </executions>
</plugin>

where:

  • sourceMetamodel: refers the XMI file of the definition of the metamodel, considered as old/previous version/source in the comparison
  • targetMetamodel refers the XMI file of the definition of the metamodel, considered as new/current version/target in the comparison
  • equals a list of externally defined mathed elements, overriding the uniform comparison rules
    • equal defines a single match of a set of source metamodel elements to a set of target metamodel elements, that should be considered equal, overriding the comparison rules
      • source the qualified name of an element in the source metamodel, in the format: &lt;owner name&gt;{::&lt;owner name&gt;}::&lt;element name&gt;
      • target the qualified name of an element in the target metamodel, in the format: &lt;owner name&gt;{::&lt;owner name&gt;}::&lt;element name&gt;
  • export Define the class to export the results of the models comparison. The default implementation uses its toString(). Provide any implementation of net.mdatools.modelant.core.api.diff.Export interface. Example: <export implementation="net.mdatools.modelant.core.operation.model.export.StructuredTextExport"/> It exports the text in a JSON-like format, suitable for collapsing/expanding and manual analysis. See below.

Comparison of UML 1.3 and UML 1.4 metamodels

Compare the UML 1.4 and UML 1.4 found as local files (see the plugin test):

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>net.mdatools</groupId>
      <artifactId>modelant.mof14.maven.plugin</artifactId>
      <version>3.3.0</version>
      <executions>
        <execution>
          <phase>compile</phase>
          <goals>
            <goal>compare-mof14-metamodels</goal>
          </goals>
          <configuration>
            <sourceMetamodel>src/resource/01-12-02_Diff_modelant.xml</sourceMetamodel>
            <targetMetamodel>src/resource/01-02-15_Diff_modelant.xml</targetMetamodel>
            <export implementation="net.mdatools.modelant.core.operation.model.export.StructuredTextExport"/>
          </configuration>
        </execution>
      </executions>
    </plugin>      
  </plugins>      
</build>

As a result, a huge number of changes from UML 1.3 to UML 1.4 is reported. It reveals that some UML 1.3 components are just moved or renamed in UML 1.4, so the comparison algorithm may benefit from pre-defined correspondence of some model elements.

Pre-defined correspondence and formatting the differences printout

In this example the MOF 1.4 ModelElement in the source model with name “Data_Types”, found in the ModelElement with name “Foundation” (as a namespace) corresponds to the MOF 1.4 ModelElement in the target model, named “Data_Types”. The resported outcome is in a JSON-like format.

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>net.mdatools</groupId>
      <artifactId>modelant.mof14.maven.plugin</artifactId>
      <version>${revision}</version>
      <executions>
        <execution>
          <phase>compile</phase>
          <goals>
            <goal>compare-metamodels</goal>
          </goals>
          <configuration>
            <sourceMetamodel>...</sourceMetamodel>
            <targetMetamodel>...</targetMetamodel>
            <equals>
              <equal>
                 <source>Foundation::Data_Types</source>
                 <target>Data_Types</target>
              </equal>
              ...
              <export implementation="net.mdatools.modelant.core.operation.model.export.StructuredTextExport"/>
            </equals>
          </configuration>
        </execution>
      </executions>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

The outcome of model comparison formatted by net.mdatools.modelant.core.operation.model.export.StructuredTextExport is like:

{
  deleted = {list of source model elements, that do not exist in the target model},
  added = {list of target model elements, that do not exist in the source model},
  changed = {list of pairs of corresponding source and target model elements, that have some of the attributes or associations changed},
  exactMatch = {list of pairs of corresponding source and target model elements, that match exactly}
}

Based on the report above, the changes from UML 1.3 to UML 1.4 are identified.