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Developing Metamodels

Metamodels can be used to design new elements which extend the existing set of elements to provide more flexibility in modelling your application. They can even be used to create an entire new set of elements separate from the already existing metamodel.

Metamodel are a natural next step when options no longer provide enough flexibility or become too complex.

  • Metamodels can extend exising metamodels to add a new concern by implementing Model extensions.
  • Metamodels can also be standalone. In this case they will need a Program
  • Once a metamodel starts to take shape, it can be useful to support reuse with Modules.

Getting started​

The best way to get started creating a new Metamodel is to use the initializer or create a new metamodel project in the µRadiant.

nsinit -o my-metamodel/metamodel

Then answer the prompts to set the properties of the project.

The generated project contains a metamodel directory with the root of the metamodel and a ontologies directory, which contains the ElementClasses and References.

Building the project​

The scripts in the scripts directory to prepare, expand and build the metamodel project.

  • scripts/expand.nss expand the metamodel
  • scripts/build.nss builds the expanded project

After following these steps, the build will have installed a {groupId}:{artifactId}-core artifact. This artifact can be included as a dependency in an expanders project to use the metamodel in its Expanders.

Extending the µRadiant

To extend the µRadiant with a custom metamodel. You will first need to clone the repository:

https://github.com/normalizedsystems/micro-radiant

In this project, modify the following files:

  • In config/conf/expansionSettings.xml, add the *-metamodel expansionResource from your metamodel
  • In config/editor/editorConfig.xml, add a component reference with the name of your ontology

Then, you can use the expand-editor.nss script to expand the µRadiant ui with your metamodel included.

Run the µRadiant according to the instructions in the README.md file or package it and use one of the installers or the zip file.