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How to map hierarchical data structures in a model to relational data structures in a report

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Question

This technote describes how to map hierarchical data structures in a model to relational data structures in a BIRT report using IBM® Rational® Software Modeler or IBM® Rational® Systems Developer v7.0.5 or higher

Cause

The data stored in UML model is hierarchical (tree-like) as you can see by looking at
the organization of the Model Elements in Project Explorer.

BIRT reports on the other hand use data stored in a relational fashion.

Answer

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In order to create a BIRT report that can show the hierarchical structures found in the UML Metamodel,
there are some specific patterns that you can follow.

A typical scenario is constituted by the following type of relationships in the UML Metamodel:

    1. Metaclass A has a one to many relationship towards Metaclass B.

    2. An instance of Metaclass B has a property (called ref_to_parent in the sequel)
    to retrieve its associated instance of Metaclass A.
This is best seen with some familiar examples:

    A1. Package has a one to many relationship with Class

    A2. Class has a property that allows it to identify its parent Package.

    B1. Class has a one to many relationship with Operation

    B2. Operation has a property that allows it to identify its parent Class.
Under these conditions you can create a report that mimics the structure found in Project Explorer
as follows:
    1. Create a Data Set A that queries the model for all instances on Metaclass A
    This can be done by setting the following XPath expression in the Table Mapping:
    //MetaclassA
    which finds recursively all instances of MetaclassA no matter how deeply nested they are
    in the model.
    In the Column Mapping, ensure that you expose a column defined as:
    Name: uri
    XPath: getURI(.)
    Type: String

    where getURI() is a custom XPath function described in the on-line Help.

    2. Create a Data Set B that queries the model for all instances of MetaclassB, as above, and in addition
    expose one more column defined as:
    Name: parentURI
    XPath: getURI(ref_to_parent)
    Type: String

    3. Create a Joint Data Set C. Use A and B as Data Sets and create an Innner Join that equates the
    properties
    uri of Data Set A
    parentURI of Data Set B

    4. To layout this structure in a report, create a Table or List bound to the Joint Data Set C.

    5. Add to the Table or List a Group and group on the same column used to define the Joint Data Set.

    Examples:
    Display all Packages with Classes
    Display all Classes with Operations

    a. Given a Model so defined:



    b. Create a New Report based on the Blank Model Report (see technote 1294412 for a step-by-step description of this task)

    c. In the Report Designer Data Explorer view, open the Data Source and link it to your model

    d. Delete all existing Data Sets as we will create them one by one.

    e. Create a new Data Set called Packages with XPath Expression

    //Package as shown below:



    and make sure to expose the column:



    Name: uri
    XPath: getURI(.)
    Type: String




    as shown below. Expose any additional columns that you may be interested in.



    f. Create a new Data Set called Classes with XPath Expression

    //Class as shown below:





    and make sure to expose the column:
    Name: packageURI
    XPath: getURI(package)
    Type: String

    as shown below. Note that "Package" is a property of the Metaclass "Class" that you can see expanding the UML Structure tree. Add any other columns you may be interested in.



    g. Create a new Joint Data Set called: Packages With Classes.

    define an inner join that equates column Packages::uri to column Classes::packageURI



    h. Create a new Data Set called Operations with the Table Mapping

    //Class/ownedOperations
    which retrieves the ownedOperation's from all classes in the model, regardless of how deeply nested the classes are.
    However this will not not find any ownedOperation's that are not part of a class.



    and expose at least one column defined as:

    Name: classURI
    XPath: getURI(..)
    Type: String





    Here we are using the fact that the operation is contained in the class in the .emx file, so we can use an XPath expression that refers to the parent xml tag ("..").

    i. Create a Joint Data Set called: Classes With Operations

    Define an inner join that equates column Classes::uri to Operations::classURI




To display these data sets onto the Report:

1. Add a new List onto the Report Editor

2. Bind the list to the Packages with Classes data set

3. Inside the list add a new Group

4. Make it group on the column: Packages::uri



5. Inside the Group add a Table

6. Bind it to Classes With Operations

7. Make it group on the column: Classes::uri[</code>]

8. Add a filter like so:

row["Classes::packageURI"] Equal to row._outer["Packages::URI"]




This avoids the need to create one more Joint Data Set (packages with Classes With Operations).


    PackagesWithClassesWithOperations.zip

Related Information

Technote 1294412

[{"Product":{"code":"SSCLKU","label":"Rational Software Modeler"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud & Data Platform"},"Component":"Reports","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"}],"Version":"7.0.5","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB45","label":"Automation"}},{"Product":{"code":"SSJP3D","label":"Rational Systems Developer"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud & Data Platform"},"Component":"Reports","Platform":[{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"7.0.5","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB45","label":"Automation"}}]

Document Information

More support for:
Rational Software Modeler

Software version:
7.0.5

Operating system(s):
Windows, Linux

Document number:
95337

Modified date:
16 June 2018

UID

swg21294555

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