Difference between revisions of "Texo"

Revision as of 15:08, 18 February 2015

Introduction

Texo supports EMF-model concepts in (web)server environments through JPA-annotated code generation and full REST JSON web service functionality at runtime.

For the latest news on Texo visit the Texo blog.

Texo uses components currently present in the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) and Eclipse Modeling Framework Technology (EMFT) projects.

Texo (incubation) is an open source component in the Eclipse Modeling Framework Technology (EMFT) project.

Benefits of using Texo

Benefits of using current Texo (November 2012):

• Code Generation:
  • Generates true pojo's from an Ecore/Xcore model or XSD without direct compile time link from generated entities to EMF, Texo or other framework types. Facilitates integration of EMF concepts with other frameworks such as Google Web Toolkit or Object Relational Mapping solutions
  • Supports manual change of generated code (the same approach as EMF)
  • Overridable and Extendable code generation with support for EMF-like merge, formatting, import-organizing

• Provides a generic CRUD REST and Query web service layer for all your models, JSON as well as XML

• ORM/JPA generation, Texo generates JPA annotations in the source code or can generate the orm.xml mapping from the ecore/xcore models, there are specific JPA model annotations which can be used to control JPA/ORM generation.

• Supports most XML Schema constructs (as EMF)

• Runtime support: model@runtime, key to implementing generic functionality as security, archiving, query generation and generic web services.

• Support for java annotations and annotations defined in the model, to drive code generation and to be translated into java source code annotation

Download & Install

Texo is installed through the Eclipse update manager. For more details see the Download & Install page.

Quick Start

The quick start page lets you generate code in just a few steps...

Documentation

The following pages contain detailed information on different parts of the Texo solution.

Blog

For general announcement and other information visit the Texo Blog.

Code generation topics

• Code Generation Introduction: describes how to generate code from one or more xsd/ecore/xcore files.
• Code Generation Details: describes how the code generation can be controlled in detail by annotating the model.
• Automatic Code Generation: code can be generated automatically when a model file is changed.
• Generate code as part of a build: discusses how you can integrate Texo artifact generation within your automated build process.
• Code Generation Patterns: discusses several common code generation patterns which are supported by Texo (as a default or through setting annotations).
• Extending/Overriding Code generation: discusses how the Texo templates can be overridden in a development project, while still maintaining the advantages of using Texo (EMF-like-merge, organize-import, formatting).
• Java annotations from model-to-code: Texo can transfer java annotations defined in the model into the generated code.

ORM/JPA generation topics

• ORM/JPA Generation Introduction: introduces the ORM generation implemented by Texo.
• ORM/JPA Generation Options: you can set generation options at development project level.
• ORM/JPA Annotations Model: for even more control on ORM/JPA generation, the model can be annotated with ORM/JPA annotations.

Runtime topics

JPA/Persistence integration

• EntityManager: describes how Texo generated code and Texo framework code integrates with the EntityManagerFactory.
• DAO support, Texo generated Dao classes: Texo is capable of generating Dao classes which make it easier to query and access objects in the database, in addition the generated Dao classes support cross referencing functionality.
• Object Store concept: the object store integrates the Texo model layer with the JPA layer. You can query the database using EClasses and do cross-reference checks.

XML/JSON REST Web Service Support

• JSON REST Web Services
• XML REST Web Services

Framework

• Components: discusses how you can replace internal Texo components with your own implementation to override specific Texo behavior.
• Runtime Model: describes the runtime model access to Texo generated objects.

RCP Persistence using EMF Resources and Texo

• Texo EMF Resource: describes the implementation of Texo EMF resources allowing you to persist data from your RCP in a 2- and 3-tier architecture.

EMF/XML/XMI

• XML-XMI Serialization: covers the main api to convert Texo generated pojo's from and to XML and XMI.
• EMF Conversion: discusses the Texo-EMF conversion API which make it possible to convert any Texo generated pojo from/to an EObject. This is useful for when you want to make use of other EMF components like EMF Compare.
• Xcore Support: Texo supports xcore in the same way as standard ecore and xsd files. You can generate JPA annotated code, orm.xml etc. directly from an xcore file.

Miscellaneous

• Test data generation: Texo is tested with about 40 models, the test-cases involve conversion from and to EMF, XML and XMI. An important foundation of the test cases is the automatic generation of test data on the basis of the model. This gives a better test coverage and makes it very easy to add new test models to the system and integrate them in the main test runs.

Main Design Concepts

The Texo project is based on a number of main design concepts and philosophies.

• Annotated Models and Model Annotations: Texo uses annotated models for artifact generation. The goal is to support multiple annotation models (JPA, model oriented, etc.), model annotations can be converted to java annotations or other output. Annotations are set manually and further created by Model Annotators.
• Runtime model: Texo (just as EMF) supports working with the domain model at runtime. Texo generates Model wrappers to give generated pojo's a Model api.
• Working with generated artifacts: Texo follows the same philosophy as EMF: generated code can be manually changed, manual changes will be kept/maintained when re-generating the code.

For a more detailed description visit the Design Concepts page.

Texo and EMF

Texo is related to EMF and makes use of specific EMF components. Both Texo and EMF generate java code representing an ecore model in Java. There are however several distinctive differences between the approach chosen and code generation implemented by EMF and Texo. This is covered in detail on this page.

Support & Troubleshooting & Bugzilla

For troubleshooting and issues encountered by other users see the trouble shooting page.

To enter a new bugzilla you can use the following link:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/enter_bug.cgi?product=EMFT&component=Texo&version=0.9.0

Support is given on the EMFT newsgroup which you can find here:

• nntp: news://news.eclipse.org/eclipse.technology.emft
• forum: http://www.eclipse.org/forums/eclipse.technology.emft

Backward Compatibility

Starting from the 0.9.0 version backward compatibility related topics will be published in this section.

0.9.0 - Version 28 December 2014

• This issue 420913 is resolved. There is a property of the EPackage or EReference generation annotation which controls if bi-directional association support is generated in the java code. This was not working correctly, in that to get this to be working also the 'Generate save many access' on the EPackage gen annotation should be set to true. This was not correct in, also without setting this additional property, bi-directional access should be generated correctly. This is now resolved. Note bi-directional access is (and was) 'true'/enabled by default. This can mean that newly generated code (previously generated by a previous Texo version) will change as now the bi-directional property is correctly considered. To keep the old behavior, create an annotation model which sets generateBidirectionalAssociationSupport to false (see here for an example, only the generateBidirectionalAssociationSupport part is relevant for this bullet).

• The createModelObject method of the ModelFactory has been changed to return a parameterized ModelObject (ModelObject<T>) instead of earlier the ModelObject<?>. With this it is not needed anymore to cast the returned value from createModelObject.

Developing

Developer information (GIT, how to setup a developers environment) can be found on the Developers page.

Future Topics

This is a list of future topics which we may (or may not) work on in the future, it is a list of ideas:

• Code/Artifact Generation:
  • Support JPA 2.1
  • Support Ecore/XCore generic types
  • Support Ecore/XCore operations
  • Support JAXB annotation generation
  • Add JPA/Texo annotation support in Xcore
• Runtime Layer
  • Integrated with EMF Client Platform
  • Introduce service oriented architecture concepts, focusing on micro-service architectures
  • support for no-sql databases on the server side
  • integrate with OLAP/Mondrian solutions, back-end and front-end
  • develop a generic (and extendable) mobile/html5 model editor which can/should support most models out of the box
  • support code generation which generates separate source files which can be manually changed, so not following the @generated pattern used in standard EMF
  • use this generic model editor as a basis for a generated model editor in html5/mobile
  • integrate with full text indexing and search for the JSON/XML web service layer, incorporate this in the generic model editor

Feel free to react on the EMFT newsgroup with more ideas.

See also

• Teneo
• CDO