Overview of UML profiles

Definition

UML profiles are used to consider just one part of the J class methods, according to your field of interest.

They appear as prefixes of the methods which limit their visibility space. These prefixes are defined in MDA Modeler, and are never textually declared by you, the user.

Organizing J methods

The classes provided with the J language have a great number of methods, all of which provide different features.

These J methods allow you to produce C++ program generation of relational databases, documentation, …. UML profiles are used to organize these methods, by taking into account their specific objectives.

First example

"documentation" and "GenCpp" are two UML profiles, to which the "generate()" methods belong. According to the UML profile in question, "generate()" indicates a different action:

Package:default#documentation#generate()

{ ...

}

Package:default#Cxx#generate()

{ ...

}

UML profile hierarchy

UML profiles are organized hierarchically, the root of the hierarchy being the "default" UML profile. This hierarchy is used to define a new UML profile, "UMLprofile2", which specifies a previously defined UML profile "UMLprofile1". UML profiles are, in fact, described in the form of a path which takes the following form:

default#UMLProfile1#UMLProfile2

Generation adaptation mechanism

Applicable to all Objecteering generators (C++, Java, C#, …), the UML profile mechanism is used to redefine generation methods, in order to adapt them to a specific requirement. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Define a UML profile in the UML profile dedicated to the generation in question (for example, Cxx#Specific).

2. Redefine the method you wish to adapt (for example, Attribute:Generate) in the new UML profile.

3. Run generation from this new UML profile.

Note: MDA Modeler is used to carry out these operations.