KDM to UML Converter

The goal of the KDM to UML converter plug-in is to allow practical transformations of KDM models to UML models.

Quality disclaimer: this discoverer is provided without any guarantee: it was only tested on a small number of projects of relatively small sizes. It may not be suitable for production environments.

Description

This tool aims at converting KDM models into UML models in order to allow integrating KDM-compliant tools (i.e. discoverers) with UML-compliant tools (e.g. modelers, model transformation tools, code generators, etc), as shown in the next figure.

Overall approach of the KDM to UML converter

The converter is mainly implemented by an ATL model-to-model transformation taking as input a model conforming to the KDM meta model and producing as output a model conforming to the UML meta model.

The mapping between KDM and UML is described in the following table:

KDM	UML
+KDM to UML mapping
LanguageUnit	Package
CodeModel	Model
CodeAssembly	Model
Package	Package
ClassUnit	Class
InterfaceUnit	Interface
MethodUnit	Operation
ParameterUnit	Parameter
Extends, Implements	Generalization
PrimitiveType	PrimitiveType
MemberUnit	Property, Association

This mapping can be changed or completed easily by updating the ATL rules.

The converter can also generate a trace file of the transformation to UML and a transformation log.

User manual

Right-click on a KDM model file (ending in "_kdm.xmi") and choose Discovery > Discoverers > Discover UML model from KDM model... to create the UML model from the KDM model:

Menu in Eclipse to create a UML model from a KDM model

A discovery parameters dialog opens to let you specify the parameters of the discovery:

Discoverer parameters dialog

Set SERIALIZE_TARGET to true if you want to save the model to a file
You can define TARGET_URI to the location of a file in your workspace. If it is not defined and SERIALIZE_TARGET is true, a model file will be created in the project.
Beware: the file will be overwritten if it already exists!
You can set a CUSTOM_TRANSFORMATION, by providing the location of an ATL ".asm" file (compiled ATL transformation) that replaces the default transformation

Once launched, a progress dialog will appear as soon as the operation begins. Depending on the size of your application, the reverse engineering process might take some time to complete:

Progress dialog during model creation

At the end of the process, the newly created model file is added to the root of your project if you set SERIALIZE_TARGET to true:

UML model in the Package Explorer

And the model is opened in the default model browser if you selected Open model in editor after discovery:

UML model in MoDisco model browser

This UML model can be displayed in any modeler (you can use Papyrus for example). For most modelers, you would usually create a UML class diagram and then drag and drop model elements to the diagram.

UML diagram

Current Limitations

The bidirectional UML Association elements are not identified by the rules: two complementary unidirectional UML Association elements are generated.