XMI2SM
State Machine Code From XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) |
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About XMI2SM
ApeSoft xmi2sm is state machine code generation
software from UML state diagrams defined in XML metadata interchange (XMI)
format. xmi2sm can accept state diagram defined in any standard UML
tool like (Rational Rose, Poseidon etc) which supports XMI format.
Xmi2sm is more than just generating the equivalent classes for each
‘state’ in the diagram. It is shipped with a robust state machine
library for handling the state transitions and messaging. The state
machine library used is exactly same as the industry accepted
SmartState library (from ApeSoft) which is widely in use in various
domains.
Xmi2sm generates 100% compile-able code in following languages
- Java
- C++
- ANSI C
- C# (.Net)
Thus the software design and the code always stay synchronized and
any design changes will not have any development cost associated.
Feature & Functionality
Xmi2sm supports the following features (in XMI)
- Multiple transitions to and from a state.
- Transitions with a guard condition.
- Multiple transitions with same message but different
guard conditions from a state.
- Super States and Sub States.
- Concurrent state machines.
- State with History information.
Xmi2sm does not support the following UML elements in
state chart (in XMI)
- Fork (can be achieved by orthogonal state)
- Join
- Choice (Can be achieved by having multiple transitions having
different guard conditions)
- Junction
- Terminate (Final State is supported)
- Entry Point
- Exit Point
- doActivity in states (onEntry and onExit is supported)
The Architecture
The generated classes are concrete
classes which specializes the smart framework library
classes. The framework uses the concept of
messaging for
transitions. When the state handler object is initialized it initializes
all the initial states. Based upon receiving the messages from the
context, usually, it applies this message to each active state and
concurrent states. Depends on the message and its parameters (wParam
& lParam are used), it carries out the necessary
actions as specified by the user in the effect block.
Then it delegate the work of state transition to the
framework if needed. Additional data for the guard conditions
can be passed through the wParam and lParam arguments.
They can hold the address of an object or a primitive data type.
The state classes are lightweight, se
it doesn't hold any specific data related to the context.
Also all the states possible for the context as defined
in the model are created initially and kept. This
improves the performance at run time. Se the objects
are lightweight it will not be a problem in resource
consumption.
It is possible to send internal messages
within the state classes which enables a state change
depends on some conditions which context need not
be aware of.
The generated classes are of-course not
thread safe, because it doesn't make much sense to do that.
But in multi threaded environment where the messages are
pumped from various threads, it is possible to make use
of a Queue manager class which is supplied along with the
library to keep the messages in the thread safe queue and
apply one after the other to the state handler. User may
write their own logic for solving this situation if the
supplied Queue manager is not sufficient.
XMI Supported UML Tools
One can use any UML tool of choice to design state charts. Please
make sure the XMI file format export is supported by the software.
Xmi2sm expects the state chart in XMI format. Please refer www.omg.org/technology/documents/formal/xmi.htm
for more information about XMI.
Some of the leading UML tools which supports XMI are
Additional information
Please
install trial version of XMI2SM and read the User Guide packaged
to know more about XMI2SM. You may find additional information in
the following link:
 About State
pattern (Context, State, Transition)
If you are looking for a complete solution with state
chart designer tool please see our flagship product
SmartState.
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