fUML/PSCS Reference Implementation for C#

This software is an open source reference implementation of the Semantics of a Foundational Subset for Executable UML Models (fUML) and Precise Semantics of UML Composite Structures (PSCS) specifications by the Object Management Group (OMG) (see fUML and PSCS). The fUML implementation of this software is based on the Java fUML reference implementation developed by Model Driven Solutions (see https://github.com/ModelDriven/fUML-Reference-Implementation)

Licensing

For licensing information, please see the LICENSE.md file.

Prerequisites

For detailed information, please see the User Guide section 1. Prerequisites.

1. Required Software

• .NET Framework (at least version 6.0)
• Microsoft Visual Studio¹

2. Recommended but optional Software

• Eclipse Modeling Tools for creating UML models
  • Java Runtime Environment is required for Eclipse
• Eclipse Papyrus for more sophisticated and graphical modeling of UML models
• Acceleo to be able to use the code generator for executable models

Setup

For detailed information, please see the User Guide section 2. Setup.

1. Setting up Visual Studio

• Import fUML-C# root solution fUML-CSharp.sln in Visual Studio

Building

For detailed information, please see the User Guide section 3. Build.

• Build dynamic libraries for uml, fuml and pscs (for PSCS-compatibility) in that order using Visual Studio or simply build the whole solution
• Depending on your preferences and needs, build debug, release or both

Usage

For detailed information, please see the User Guide section 4. Usage.

1. Creating executable models using source code

• Create new C# project (see "<fUML-C#-rootdir>\fUML-CSharp\examples\helloworld" as a reference project)
  • NOTE: it is suggested to store user-defined source code projects in common directory "<fUML-C#-rootdir>\fUML-CSharp\usersrc"
  • The usersrc directory may contain arbitrary nested subdirectories
• Add required assemblies for uml, fuml and pscs to your project's references
• Create a <model-name>Environment class by deriving from class fuml.environment.Environment (or pscs.environment.Environment for PSCS-compatibility)
• Create a <model-name>Model class by deriving from class uml.environment.InMemoryModel (this class will contain all of your model elements)
• Create a class containing a main method and call <model-name>Environment.Instance().Execute("<behavior-name>"); for each behavior you want to execute in subsequent order
• Build project and run executable

2. Generating executable models from .uml models (Acceleo plugin for Eclipse has to be installed)

• Import fUML-C# root project
• Import nested project generator within fUML-C# root project
• Create new .uml model with a modeling tool of your choice (Eclipse Papyrus is suggested)
  • NOTE: it is suggested to store user-defined models in common directory "<fUML-C#-rootdir>\fUML-CSharp\usermodels"
  • The usermodels directory may contain arbitrary nested subdirectories
• Navigate to file \generator\src\fuml.generator.main\generate.mtl in the project explorer
• Right click generate.mtl and choose Run as-->Run configurations...
• Configure and run Acceleo Application accordingly:
  • Choose fuml.generator.main.Generate
  • Choose your model file
  • Choose a target directory for the generated source code ("<fUML-C#-rootdir>\fUML-CSharp\usersrc\<model-name>" is suggested)
• Open newly generated C# project in Visual Studio and build executable(s)
• NOTE: Depending on the target directory path it might be necessary to adapt the project's dependencies to the uml, fuml and pscs assemblies since they are referenced by relative paths. This only applies if you choose a target directory structure that differes from the one suggested above.
• Run executable from command line using <executable-name> <behavior-name> [<behavior-name> <behavior-name> <behavior-name> <...>]

Footnotes

1. For non-developing users Microsoft Visual Studio is only used for compilation. It is also possible to build C# projects from command line using msbuild.exe but for convenience it is suggested to use Microsoft Visual Studio. ↩