model2roo - A Model Driven Approach for Web Application Development based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework and Spring Roo

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GNU GPL v3
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Modeling, Eclipse, SpringRoo

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jccastrejon

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Introduction

Inherent complexity in web application development is continually increasing due to changes in both functional and non-functional requirements, as well as to technological changes like new programming languages, tools, frameworks and development processes. An adequate management of this complexity is required in order to generate high quality software systems.

We propose an approach based on model-driven techniques in order to guide the development of web applications, by focusing on model abstractions rather than implementation details. In order to do so, we propose a set of model extensions, such as profiles and annotations, to describe both the static structure and a subset of functional and non-functional requirements usually associated to web applications.

Note: Model2Roo is a work in progress. Please consider that the current version doesn't support the full gamut of Spring Roo commands, and that there are still some details that need refinement. To see the list of supported commands, please check the SpringRooSupportedCommands page.

Model2Roo in action!

Generating a Spring Roo script from a UML diagram (Try it out by downloading the PetClinic UML sample application):

Generating a Spring Roo script from an Ecore diagram (Try it out by downloading the PetClinic Ecore sample application):

Note: In the latest version of the Model2Roo plugin, the top-level menu has been disabled. The Ecore actions are now available when you make a right-click over the Ecore file that you want to transform.

A more comprehensive tutorial based on the Ecore example can be found in the Generate Roo from Ecore wiki page.

Installation

Recommended steps

Download and install the latest distribution of Spring Roo and Eclipse Modeling Tools
Inside Eclipse, install the Model2Roo plugin (Help->Install New Software) using the following update site: http://model2roo.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/fr.imag.model2roo.update.site/

Alternative steps

You may install the Model2Roo plugin in alternative Eclipse distributions, such as the SpringSource Tool Suite. In this case, if you only install the Model2Roo plugin, you'll be able to generate the Roo scripts from UML diagrams. If you also want to use Ecore diagrams, please install the 'Ecore Tools SDK' from the Help -> Install New Software menu, working with All available sites.

Additional notes

Make sure the Roo executable is available in the command line:

Windows users: add %ROO_HOME%\bin to your path
*nix users: create a symbolic link to $ROO_HOME/bin/roo.sh (eg sudo ln -s ~/spring-roo-1.x.x/bin/roo.sh /usr/bin/roo)

Finally, in order to execute the generated Spring Roo scripts, make sure you install the latest Maven distribution.

Note: If you have an old version of Model2Roo installed in your Eclipse distribution, you can uninstall it by deleting the 'mx.itesm.model2roo_0.1.x.jar' from your Eclipse 'plugins' directory.

Reference

Castrejón, J., López-Landa, R., Lozano, R.: "Model2Roo: A Model Driven Approach for Web Application Development based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework and Spring Roo". In: Electrical Communications and Computers (CONIELECOMP), 2011 21st International Conference on, pp. 82-87, Feb. 28 2011-March 2 2011. doi: 10.1109/CONIELECOMP.2011.5749344.

Note: A public version of this paper can be found right here.