Overview of UML-to-JSF or -SDO transformation

In this article, I describe how the transformation works and the current limitations. I then walk through an example that takes a UML model of the database, marks it up, generates, and then tests the resulting Web pages.

Let's start with an overview of what the transformation does: It simply takes a marked-up class in the UML model and generates a page for a list of results, which then links to pages to create and update or delete the specific entry (see Figure 1).

If Class A is modelled as related to Class B, then a list of related B items will be shown on the Details page for A (Figure 2), thereby enabling navigation around the data in the database.

This transformation can take a significant data model and generate a working Web site for data update and management. The generated Web pages will require additional manual work, because they need to be cosmetically updated to match the UI guidelines for your organization. Or the transformation could be updated to do as much of this as practical by default.

Limitations

The transformation currently has several limitations:

• It supports only Java™Server Faces and Service Data Objects (SDO) architecture.
• It supports only IBM® DB2® databases (you will need DB2 installed to follow the steps in this article).
• It does not support joins (although this could be achieved through the use of views)

Now that you know a little more about what the transformation does and doesn't do, it's time to install it and use it in an example.

Install the transformation

The installation of the UML to JSF/SDO transformation is straight-forward.

1. Download the RAS file (Downloads) to a location on your hard drive.
2. Start IBM Rational Software Architect and select File > Import.
3. Choose RAS > RAS Asset and click Next.
4. Browse to the downloaded RAS file and click OK in response to the information warning about installing a feature or plug-in.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the feature, accept the license agreement, and then click Finish.
7. Click OK in the Import Results dialog that says that the import was successful but not enabled for this session.
8. When prompted, restart to enable the plug-in.

Now switch to the Modeling perspective and go to Modeling >Transform >New Configuration to confirm that you have the UML to JSF/SDO transformation under IBM Rational Web Transformation.

Installing Source (Optional)

1. Download the zip file to a location on your project.
2. Open up Rational Software Architect, and choose Import > General > Existing projects, and then select archived file, and then point at the downloaded zip file.

This will then import the source projects into your workspace, and you can modify the transformation as desired.

Mark up the model

Now you're ready to complete this model example.

Import the example model

The project is contained as an archived file, inside the documentation plug-in.

1. Select File > Import, and then General > Existing projects Into workspace.
2. Click Next, and then select Archive File > Browse, and browse to the C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP70\plugins directory.
3. Open the com.ibm.uk.transformations.umltojsfsdo.doc folder, and select the com.ibm.uk.transformations.umltojsfsdo.example.zip file.
4. Select Open, and then click Finish.

In the Project Explorer, you should now have a project called:
com.ibm.uk.transformation.umltojsfsdo.example

Open the model

1. Go to the Modelling perspective.
2. Open the model called STORE_SCHEMA.emx (do not open the one with the profile applied, because it has already been marked up).
3. Open the Overview diagram (Figure 3).
4. Review the model.

Apply the profile

1. Select the STORE_SCHEMA model, and go to the Profiles tab on the Properties page.
2. Choose Add Profile, and select the CRUD_JSF_pages profile from the deployed profiles list (Figure 4).

Create the database

The model must contain an abstraction of the database.

1. Select the model, right-click, and choose to Add UML > Component.
2. Call the component STORE.
3. Select the STORE component, and in the Properties view, go to the Stereotype tab, choose Apply stereotype, and select DB (Figure 5).

4. Now, still in Properties, go to the Advanced tab, and under DB, set the databaseUser to db2admin in the Value column.

Create the schema

1. Select the STORE_SCHEMA model.
2. In the Properties view, apply the Schema stereotype by selecting the Stereotypes tab and then Apply Stereotype > Schema.

Mark up the key gen table

The key gen table is the table that is used to generate a primary key on insertion.

1. Open the KEYGEN table in Project Explorer, select the SETCOL attribute, and apply the PK stereotype.

Mark up the tables

To mark up the tables, you need to stereotype them, mark their foreign keys, and align their key gen tables to KEYGEN.

1. First, apply the TableWithCRUDJSFPages stereotype to these:
   • ORDER
   • PRODUCT
   • SALE
   • INVENTORY
   • STORE
2. Then select ORDER, PRODUCT, SALE, INVENTORY, and STORE, go to the Advanced tab on the Properties page, and enter KEYGEN in the uniqueKeyTable field under TableWithCRUDJSFPages.
3. Add the PK stereotype to the following columns:
   • INVENTORY.ID
   • ORDER.ORDER_ID
   • PRODUCT.CODE
   • SALE.SALE_ID
   • STORE.STORE_ID
4. Finally, the product table will be referenced in a drop-down list from ORDER,INVENTORY and SALE. To display the description, rather than the code, you need to stereotype the Description column. Apply the Display stereotype to PRODUCT.DESCRIPTION.

In the Project Explorer, the completed model should look like Figure 8.

Correctly name the foreign keys

The last step is to make sure that the foreign keys are correctly defined for the relationships.

1. Open the Overview diagram tab. Select each composition relationship in turn, and set the role name at the composition end to STORE_ID. When you are finished, in the Project Explorer you should now see a STORE_ID column on the INVENTORY, ORDER, and SALE tables.
2. Select each relationship to the PRODUCT table in turn, and rename the product role to PRODUCT_CODE. Again, on completion you should see a PRODUCT_CODE attribute on SALE, INVENTORY, and ORDER.
3. The model should now look like Figure 9.

Transform a marked-up model to create the Web pages

To complete this setup, you need to create the database, configure and run the transformation, and then test the generated artifacts.

Create the database

1. Start the DB2 Control Center, and create a new database called STORE.
2. Then select the Schema folder under the database, and choose Create new schema.
3. Provide a name of STORE_SCHEMA and an authorization user name of db2admin.
4. In Rational Software Architect, switch to the Data perspective.
5. In the Database Explorer, create a connection to the STORE database, and call it STORE.
6. In the Data Project Explorer, open the ibm.uk.transformations.umltojsfsdo.example project, and select createDatabase.sql from the SQL Scripts folder.
7. Right -click, and select Run SQL. Choose to use an existing connection, and choose the store connection created previously.
8. Reconnect if necessary, and click Finish.
9. In the Data Project Explorer, select insertData.sql, right-click, and select Run SQL. Choose to use an existing connection, and choose the STORE connection already created.
10. Reconnect if necessary, and click Finish.
11. The database is now set up. You can verify that it is set up OK by going to the Database Explorer and selecting STORE > Schemas > STORE_SCHEMA > Tables.
12. Select STORE, right-click, and then select Data > Sample Contents.

You should see three rows returned, as Figure 10 shows.

Create a transformation configuration

1. Return to the Modeling perspective and select Modeling > Transform > New Configuration.
2. Enter UML to JSF as the name.
3. Within the IBM Rational Web Transformation folder, select UML to JSF/SDO Transformation.
4. Then select the example project as the configuration file destination for the transformation configuration (Figure 11).
5. When you have finished, click Next.

6. Choose the model as the source, and select the example project as the target (Figure 12).

7. Click Next.
8. Enter the name of the project that will be created, such as MyStore, and click Finish.

Run the transformation

1. Select the transformation configuration from the previous step, right-click, and choose Transform > UML to JSF/SDO Transformation.
2. This will generate MyStore Web and MyStoreEAR projects and all of the Web pages required to view, update, create, and delete data in the database.
3. From the MyStore project, open the Web site navigation diagram.

The diagram should show the generated Web pages (Figure 13).

Test the generated artifacts

1. Change to the Web perspective.
2. Start your application server.
3. Deploy the EAR file to the application server.
4. Select the store_list.jsp file, and choose Run on server.

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Table of contents

• Overview of UML-to-JSF or -SDO transformation
• Install the transformation
• Mark up the model
• Transform a marked-up model to create the Web pages
• Downloads
• Resources
• About the author
• Comments

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