[Uml-devel] user story

[Andrew Sutton]

> Feature-Request #622966
> Luis De la Parra
> 2002-08-28 00:23
>
> > add tipical "stereotypes" as enumeration, so that the user can choose
> > from one of them, but leave the option to enter user-defined stereotypes
> > as "free text", the way it is now.  (having the most common stereotypes
> > as enum instead of free text could be helpfull for codegeneration)

i woke up way too early today (5 am) :)

anyway, while waiting to rebuild the cvs version, i've been casually combing 
thru the uml standard (you know, for kicks). there's an excellent section on 
the specification of stereotypes that shows just about what visio does for 
stereotype specification.

anyway, there's ways to introduce new elements into the UML metamodel without 
building any new code. stereotypes, as we know, are one of those. in the UML 
design, a Stereotype is a class derived from Class that has some default 
attributes and something called "Tags"  (also a class) - oh. it has 
Constraints too. Tags are user defined extension attributes for elements. 
actually,  IIRC, tags can be applied to any model element. hmm... i'll have 
to check. nope. Tags are only associated with Stereotypes. that's 
interesting.

anyway, the notation section (3.35.2) shows a tabular notation for defining 
stereotypes. here's the example given:

Stereotype		Base Class		Parent	Tags		Constraints
------------		-------------	-------	------		-------------
arch elem		Gen Element	N/A		N/A		N/A
capsule		Class			arch elem	isDynamic	self.isActive=true

then they give a tabular tag notation:
Tag		Stereotype		Type		Multiplicity
----		------------		------		------------
isDynamic	capsule		Boolean	1

there are some descriptions as well. neat stuff. anyways, visio does "almost" 
exactly this. they don't include the parent or tag stuff - not the way that 
the standard indicates. visio allows the definition of tagged values on any 
model element. it's all text - sort of like yeah old environment.

sorry i can't get a screen shot. i'd have to reboot. i'll get a bunch in the 
next week.

andy