Skip to main content

Notice: this Wiki will be going read only early in 2024 and edits will no longer be possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.

Jump to: navigation, search

Difference between revisions of "Graphical Modeling Framework/Tutorial/Part 2"

m (Shortcuts)
m (Validation)
Line 103: Line 103:
 
     r1.target = r2.source implies r2.target <> r1.source)</pre>
 
     r1.target = r2.source implies r2.target <> r1.source)</pre>
  
This will only detect cycles that exist between two directly linked Topic elements, but is sufficient for our purposes here.
+
This will only detect cycles that exist between two directly linked Topic elements, but is sufficient for our purposes here. Of course, is someone more familiar with OCL can provide such a statement (if possible), that would be appreciated ;).
  
 
[[Image:validation_extensions.png|right]]
 
[[Image:validation_extensions.png|right]]

Revision as of 11:04, 7 February 2006

In this second part of the GMF Tutorial, some of the more advanced capabilities of the generation and runtime frameworks will be explored. Specifically, information on adding feature initializers, diagram validation, nested child nodes, and manual extension of generated features will be covered.

Feature Initializers

When you create a new element on a diagram, there is typically a domain element created or modified as a result. In some cases, it's necessary to provide additional initialization information to ensure that objects are properly created. For example, the links we create between topics in our mindmap diagram come in three flavors: dependency, includes, and extends. The 'type' attribute of the Relationship class is used to hold the RelationshipType enum value for the new instance. In our graphical definition, we will create a figure and corresponding link for each type, along with a creation tool for each in our tooling definition. We'll then use a feature sequence initilizer in our mapping definition to properly initialize our domain objects, depending on the type of link created on the diagram.

Another possible initialization is to set the 'label' attribute of the Relationship as well, if the appearance of the link is not enough to distinguish between the types.

Graph links.png

First, create a three distinct polyline connections with properties and decorations as you see fit. For each add a connection for each of the new Dependency, Includes, and Extends links as shown in the figure. For each connection, create a Creation Tool in your mindmap.gmftool model.

Tip : Don't forget that you can use copy/paste to duplicate elements in your models. This will come in handy as you create three links, connections, tools, and mappings.


Feature init.png


In the mapping model, for each of your Link Mappings, create a 'Feature Seq Initializer' element. This will hold subsequent 'Feature Value Spec' elements as seen in the figure. OCL is the language currently supported, so be careful that the body expressions you enter are valid. In the case of initializing the enumeration field, you'll enter 'RelationshipType::DEPENDENCY' while in the case of initilizing the label attribute, you'll enter the string value within single quotes. Keep in mind that the order of the 'Feature Value Spec' elements will determine the order in which they are executed.


With these steps complete, we can regenerate our mindmap.gmfgen and code. When the diagram code is generated, below is what willl be generated within the Initializers inner class of MindmapElementTypes:

public static final ObjectInitializer Relationship_3003 = new ObjectInitializer(
	new FeatureInitializer[] {
			new FeatureInitializer(
					"RelationshipType::DEPENDENCY", //$NON-NLS-1$
					MindmapPackage.eINSTANCE.getRelationship(),
					MindmapPackage.eINSTANCE.getRelationship_Type()),

			new FeatureInitializer(
					"'depends'", //$NON-NLS-1$
					MindmapPackage.eINSTANCE.getRelationship(),
					MindmapPackage.eINSTANCE
							.getRelationship_Label())

	});

During link creation, the following code is executed in CreateIncomingRelationship3XXXCommand, found in the TopicItemSemanticEditPolicy class:

protected EObject doDefaultElementCreation() {
	Relationship newElement = (Relationship) super
			.doDefaultElementCreation();
	if (newElement != null) {
		newElement.setTarget((Topic) getTarget());
		newElement.setSource((Topic) getSource());
		MindmapElementTypes.Initializers.Relationship_3004
				.init(newElement);
	}
	return newElement;
}

This generated code within FeatureInitializer will ultimately be called on each value spec you've added, which as you can see constructs an OCL query for evaluation and uses the result to initialize the field you selected.

void init(EObject contextInstance) {
	if (this.query == null) {
		this.query = QueryFactory.eINSTANCE.createQuery(
				expressionBody, contextClass);
	}
	Object value = query.evaluate(contextInstance);
	if (sFeature.getEType() instanceof EEnum
			&& value instanceof EEnumLiteral) {
		value = ((EEnumLiteral) value).getInstance();
	} else if (value != null && sFeature.isMany()) {
		value = new BasicEList((Collection) value);
	}
	contextInstance.eSet(sFeature, value);
}


Runtime init.png

If you launch your runtime instance and test these new initializers, you will find that the type attribute is set according to the Relationship tool selected, and that the label attribute is preset to the names you defined above.


Validation

As we saw with the OCL constraint added in the first part of the tutorial, it is possible to restrict connections made between nodes by declaring constraints in our mapping definition. Sometimes, it is more appropriate to validate connections and other aspects of a diagram content using batch or "live" validation using the Validation framework provided by the EMF Technology project. In this section, we will add such a validation feature to our mindmap in order to alert us of cyclic dependencies that have been created between Topics.

Audit rule.png

To begin, open the mapping definition (mindmap.gmfmap) and right-click the Mapping node. Select 'Audit Container' and give it a name (e.g. Mindmap Audits). Assign it an id and description as well. To the container, add a new 'Audit Rule' named 'Cyclic dependency check'. We are going to target the Map class for the audit, so select 'EClass Map' and set the remaining properties in accordance with the figure. Add a new 'Constraint' to the Audit Rule and enter the following for the Body, leaving the Language set to ocl.

Tip : When authoring these constraint expressions in OCL, you may find it helpful to contribute an action to open the OCL Interpreter view on instances of your domain model. See the OCL Interpreter Example in the online documentation for more information.


self.relations->select(type = RelationshipType::DEPENDENCY)->forAll(r1,r2 |  
     r1.target = r2.source implies r2.target <> r1.source)

This will only detect cycles that exist between two directly linked Topic elements, but is sufficient for our purposes here. Of course, is someone more familiar with OCL can provide such a statement (if possible), that would be appreciated ;).

Validation extensions.png

After reproducing the mindmap.gmfgen model, you will need to set the 'Validation Enabled' property of the Gen Diagram element to 'true' in order for the new audit to be run. Do this and regenerate your editor code. After doing so, you will notice some new extensions listed in your editor's plugin.xml file. Primarily, you should notice the constraintProviders and constraintBindings extension-points to which your editor contributes. Examine these and take a closer look at the EMF Validation framework if you wish.


Audit violation.png

To test the new audit, launch your runtime workspace and create a dependency link between two Topic elements. Then, from the Diagram menu, select 'Validate' and observe an error in the Problems view, as shown here. To enable/disable the audit, you can find it now listed in the preferences dialog under 'Validation Constraints'.


Shortcuts

In order to share content between diagrams, and indeed between domain model instances, GMF provides the capability to allow shortcuts to be added to diagrams. In order to enable this functionality, you'll need to locate the 'Shortcuts Provided For' and 'Contains Shortcuts To' properties of the Gen Diagram root of your generator model (e.g. mindmap.gmfgen). In order to allow the shortcutting of Mindmap elements, set both of these properties to 'mindmap' and regenerate your editor.

Shortcut element.png

Test the shortcut capability by creating two new Mindmap diagrams and adding elements to each. On one, right-click and select 'Create Shortcut...' to bring up a selection dialog. Browse to the other diagram and select a Topic node to add as a shortcut.


Nested Child Nodes

Manual Extension

Summary

Back to the top