SDMetrics User Manual - Multiple Triggers per Attribute

SDMetrics - the UML design measurement tool

Contents > 7 SDMetrics Metamodel and XMI Transformation Files > 7.2 XMI Transformation Files > 7.2.3 Tips on Writing XMI Transformations > 7.2.3.2 Multiple Triggers per Attribute

7.2.3.2 Multiple Triggers per Attribute

It is possible to specify multiple triggers for one attribute or relation. For example, in XMI1.1 and XMI1.2, most model element information can be specified either via XML attributes or via XML elements. For instance, the name of a class can be specified like this:

<UML:Class xmi.id="cls1" name="Rectangle" />

or like this:

<UML:Class xmi.id="cls1">
  <UML:ModelElement.name>Rectangle</UML:ModelElement.name>
</UML:Class>

Therefore, the XMI transformations for these XMI versions have two triggers for most attributes, one trigger for each option. In the above example, the triggers to retrieve the class names are:

<xmitransformation modelelement="class" xmipattern="UML:Class">
   <trigger name="name" type="attrval" attr="name" />
   <trigger name="name" type="ctext" src="UML:ModelElement.name" />
   ...
</xmitransformation>

Multiple triggers are also useful to support modeling tools that deviate in minor ways from the UML standards. For example, some modeling tools denote the parent/child elements in a UML1.x generalization by "supertype" and "subtype", instead of the proper "parent" and "child". In many cases, you can simply add a trigger for the nonstandard way of representing the attribute, and a single XMI transformation file is thus capable of handling various XMI exporters.

Section 7.2.3.1 "The "linkbackattr" Trigger Attribute"

Contents

Section 7.2.3.3 ""Context" Attribute Defaults"