[ubl-lcsc] Auto-generated Diagrams of Normalized Model11_0p70

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Subject: [ubl-lcsc] Auto-generated Diagrams of Normalized Model11_0p70_draft0pt07

Attached is a zip archive containing the latest auto-generated pictures of the normalized model (this message is an update to the previously published model http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-lcsc/200301/msg00017.html). The current package resolves the bug with the previous package where association ends were getting reversed.

The attached diagrams are a bit different from Carlson's diagrams. Carlson's diagrams start from the UBL schemas (XSD). The attached diagrams start from the UBL normalized model (spreadsheet). Both employ UML notation.

The pictures are generated from a January 9 version of the normalized model called "normalized_components11_0p70_draft0pt07.xls". That version appears to remedy the problems listed here (http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-lcsc/200301/msg00016.html). Since those problems are gone I no longer have to touch the model in order to generate pictures. Woo hoo!!!

Unfortunately, the model still appears to be missing exactly 52 association ends (i.e. role name + multiplicity). In spreadsheet terms that means we're missing 52 Association BIE Property lines. The pipeline elides associations for which only one end is specified. As a result the diagram is missing 52 edges. In a way that's good since it makes the diagram less cluttered. Of course, that clutter was probably important! Any word on those missing association ends? They're cataloged in my earlier post here (http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-lcsc/200301/msg00015.html).

There are two interesting diagrams in the package, each rendered two ways. If you have a look under the "generated" directory, you'll see files with these extensions:

The variants with "dot" in the name use the Graphviz dot tool to lay out the graph (UML class diagram). (I've cc'd a couple of the Graphviz folks) Dot lays out a graph in "ranks" from the top to the bottom of the page. It uses splines for associations so it draws pleasing wavy edges like Carlson's tool.

The variants with "neato" in the name use Graphviz neato to lay out the graph. Neato lays out a graph in a star pattern with straight edges for the associations.

The "svg" variants are the most compact. They're also the most usable since Adobe's SVG browser plug-in lets you zoom and pan conveniently. I've include the diagrams in the "png" raster format for those who can't get ahold of the SVG plug-in. I tried generating GIF's and JPEG's but in both cases I ended up with files I couldn't view. They were very large -- over 1 megabyte. I had to give up on those formats for now.

Included in the archive scriptage you can use to regenerate the diagrams as the model is updated. If you have a look in the archive under "doc" there are two diagrams (each in both Visio and PDF format). "Model-Recovery-Pipeline" shows how the Excel spreadsheet is turned into an XML document instance valid in a UML-like vocabulary I developed (see UMLModel.xsd). Once the model is recovered you can run the diagram generation pipeline on it -- described in "Diagram-Pipeline".