>     Hello,
>
>  on 09/24/2005 09:05 PM Peter Howard said the following:
>  > Timing.  Just as I'm thinking about looking at this again, the first
>  > person to mail anything about it!
>
>  Great.
>
>
>  > Manuel, has anything happened to that script since I last touched it a
>  > year ago?
>
>  No, that I know.
>
>
>
>  > Can you point me to Teoni's work?  I'd be interested in having a look.
>
>  He is testing some AJAX classes to build a Web interface.
>
>  He has already published a package for generating PHP Classes from UML
>  definitions in XMI. He has made it generate Metastorage components but
>  it is a PHP GTK program. I will see if publishes the Metastorage
>  version. Meanwhile the PHP Classes version is available here:
>
>  http://www.phpclasses.org/uml2classes
>
>
>  > Allyson: The problem is that certain tags changed their name between
>  > umbrello versions; I intended to auto-detect which was in use but never
>  > got back to it.  The script, as I left it, was very much a "first
> pass &
>  > proof of concept", not a finished product.
>
>  As you may have noticed in my other message, changing the UML namespace
>  declaration solved the problem. I just don't understand why.
>

My interpretation is that even though the namespaces have the same "name",
if their definition files are different they aren't the same namespace.  I
ran xsltproc with the -v option and it was stating that it couldn't find a
template for all the UML:* entities with the two different.

PJH

Hello,

A new release of Metastorage is out!

- This release adds support for generating functions to manage transactions.

- Metastorage now lets the developer integrate handwritten code
customizations in PHP with the code of the classes generated by
Metastorage. The integration is done without loosing the customizations
when the classes are regenerated.

- It is also possible to retrieve object identifiers of reference
variables (1-many relationships) of classes of external components.

- Several bugs were fixed to handle uncommon situations.


Please read the full release news article here:

http://www.meta-language.net/news-2005-11-02-metastorage.html


--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

PHP Reviews - Reviews of PHP books and other products
http://www.phpclasses.org/reviews/

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.meta-language.net/metastorage.html

Hello,

I have been presenting Metastorage in several places in Brazil lately.
The Metastorage presentation has been improved. Now there is also a
tutorial presentation.

For now the presentation materials are only available in Portuguese.
Maybe I will prepare english versions of these materials if I am invited
to give the presentations to non-Portuguese speaking users.

Anyway, the updated presentation files are available here:

http://www.meta-language.net/presentations.html

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

PHP Reviews - Reviews of PHP books and other products
http://www.phpclasses.org/reviews/

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.meta-language.net/metastorage.html

Hello,

This is just a notice to let you know that the Metabase SQLite driver
was updated to support native auto-increment fields and primary keys
thanks to a contribution of John Walton. So, now you can use it with
Metastorage generated code.

This driver works with the SQLite extension that comes with PHP 5 but
also works with PHP 4 if you download the extension separately from the
PECL repository.

Just download the version from MetaL CVS repository and you are ready to
use this update.

So far Metastorage generated code can work with MySQL, PostgreSQL,
Oracle, Microsoft SQL server and SQLite.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that if you want
to work with Metastorage generated code using a database that is not yet
supported but you are willing to work on whatever is necessary to write
or update the respective Metabase driver, just let me know and I will
guide you through the necessary steps.


--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Hello,

I have just finished implementing the support for BLOBs as class
variables.

These types are stored by variables of type largedata. By default
largedata variables are binary (BLOB) but they may also be of text (CLOB).

Two new types of functions were introduced to lazy load and store
largedata variables. They can be stored or retrieved from string
parameters or from files. This simplifies greatly the access to these
types of database fields and usually they require the use of prepared
queries.

I will be writing the necessary documentation this weekend. It will be
posted on the site soon. Meanwhile the latest changes are available
from the CVS repository:

http://www.meta-language.net/download.html#cvs

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Hello,

A new version of Metastorage was released featuring support for large
data variables, also known as BLOBs - Binary Large OBjects, and
providing means to upgrade database schemas without destroying
previously stored objects when classes, variables or collections are
renamed.

Here is the full new article:

http://www.meta-language.net/news-2005-12-21-metastorage.html

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Hello,

In order to get greater visibility to the Metastorage project, it would
be good if all of you that appreciate it could rate it in Hotscripts and
Freshmeat. That would help getting greater visibility to the project and
so attract more users to contribute at least to help testing Metastorage
or suggest new features.

The Hotscripts rate box may be found here:

http://www.meta-language.net/metastorage.html

Or here:

http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/55432.html

Metastorage rating page in Freshmeat may be found here:

http://freshmeat.net/rate/33243/

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

After more than a year, I've finally done some more playing on this.  I
thought I'd put it up in it's current form so that you can have a look.
Files have been updated at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metal-
dev/files/metastorage/xmi2metastorage/

I'm working against Umbrello 1.4.1

The two main things to note are:
      1. Since I started, Umbrello has removed the name I used for the
         component name in the xmi.  As a result, the xsltproc invocation
         now has to look like: "xsltproc --stringparam project {name}
         conv.xslt {xmi file} > {xml file}
      2. The script now expects the classes it will deal with to be in a
         package named "Persistent".  If you compare test/singleTest.xmi
         to test/singleTest2.xmi you'll see the change needed.

Also, class member functions require a stereotype to indicate what type
of function it should be for metastorage purposes.

The resultant output still can't be processed by metastorage without
hand-editing of the xml output, but it is getting much closer.

--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello,

on 12/22/2005 10:40 PM Peter Howard said the following:
> After more than a year, I've finally done some more playing on this.  I
> thought I'd put it up in it's current form so that you can have a look.
> Files have been updated at
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metal-
> dev/files/metastorage/xmi2metastorage/
>
> I'm working against Umbrello 1.4.1
>
> The two main things to note are:
>      1. Since I started, Umbrello has removed the name I used for the
>         component name in the xmi.  As a result, the xsltproc invocation
>         now has to look like: "xsltproc --stringparam project {name}
>         conv.xslt {xmi file} > {xml file}
>      2. The script now expects the classes it will deal with to be in a
>         package named "Persistent".  If you compare test/singleTest.xmi
>         to test/singleTest2.xmi you'll see the change needed.
>
> Also, class member functions require a stereotype to indicate what type
> of function it should be for metastorage purposes.
>
> The resultant output still can't be processed by metastorage without
> hand-editing of the xml output, but it is getting much closer.


Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a news
system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
generated code.

I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able to
test your XSLT soon.


--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

On Fri, 2005-12-23 at 21:46 -0200, Manuel Lemos wrote:
> Hello,
>
> on 12/22/2005 10:40 PM Peter Howard said the following:
> > After more than a year, I've finally done some more playing on this.
> I
> > thought I'd put it up in it's current form so that you can have a
> look.
> > Files have been updated at
> >
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metal-
> > dev/files/metastorage/xmi2metastorage/
> >
> > I'm working against Umbrello 1.4.1
> >
> > The two main things to note are:
> >      1. Since I started, Umbrello has removed the name I used for
> the
> >         component name in the xmi.  As a result, the xsltproc
> invocation
> >         now has to look like: "xsltproc --stringparam project {name}
> >         conv.xslt {xmi file} > {xml file}
> >      2. The script now expects the classes it will deal with to be
> in a
> >         package named "Persistent".  If you compare
> test/singleTest.xmi
> >         to test/singleTest2.xmi you'll see the change needed.
> >
> > Also, class member functions require a stereotype to indicate what
> type
> > of function it should be for metastorage purposes.
> >
> > The resultant output still can't be processed by metastorage without
> > hand-editing of the xml output, but it is getting much closer.
>
>
> Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a news
> system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
> generated code.
>
> I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able to
> test your XSLT soon.
>

Oh, goody.  This should provide extra motivation for me to get the
conversion to the point that metastorage processes it without errors.

There is one or two problems I still have with the XML metastorage
accepts, but they are not an immediate issue; they are only of issue
once I try to do comparisons on re-generation.


--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

(See extra comment inline below)

On Sat, 2005-12-24 at 12:54 +1100, Peter Howard wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-12-23 at 21:46 -0200, Manuel Lemos wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > on 12/22/2005 10:40 PM Peter Howard said the following:
> > > After more than a year, I've finally done some more playing on
> this.
> > I
> > > thought I'd put it up in it's current form so that you can have a
> > look.
> > > Files have been updated at
> > >
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metal-
> > > dev/files/metastorage/xmi2metastorage/
> > >
> > > I'm working against Umbrello 1.4.1
> > >
> > > The two main things to note are:
> > >      1. Since I started, Umbrello has removed the name I used for
> > the
> > >         component name in the xmi.  As a result, the xsltproc
> > invocation
> > >         now has to look like: "xsltproc --stringparam project
> {name}
> > >         conv.xslt {xmi file} > {xml file}
> > >      2. The script now expects the classes it will deal with to be
> > in a
> > >         package named "Persistent".  If you compare
> > test/singleTest.xmi
> > >         to test/singleTest2.xmi you'll see the change needed.
> > >
> > > Also, class member functions require a stereotype to indicate what
> > type
> > > of function it should be for metastorage purposes.
> > >
> > > The resultant output still can't be processed by metastorage
> without
> > > hand-editing of the xml output, but it is getting much closer.
> >
> >
> > Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a
> news
> > system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
> > generated code.
> >
> > I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able
> to
> > test your XSLT soon.
> >
>
> Oh, goody.  This should provide extra motivation for me to get the
> conversion to the point that metastorage processes it without errors.
>

In particular, I'm having trouble working out how to translate
functions.  The reality of metastorage seems a bit behind the
documentation (e.g. "custom" functions not being supported yet).  If you
could provide me with an umbrello model containing a class which has a
function in it of each possible type (with the type being the
stereotype) along with a "hand-translation" of what you'd expect in the
resultant metastorage XML, it would make things much easier for me.

Also on functions, I'm considering having the xslt auto-add a
setreference and getreference function (once I understand the form
properly) for each collection a class has (either explicit UML attribute
or ULM relation).  Thoughts on that?

> There is one or two problems I still have with the XML metastorage
> accepts, but they are not an immediate issue; they are only of issue
> once I try to do comparisons on re-generation.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In metal-dev@yahoogroups.com, Manuel Lemos <mlemos@a...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> In order to get greater visibility to the Metastorage project, it would
> be good if all of you that appreciate it could rate it in Hotscripts
and
> Freshmeat. That would help getting greater visibility to the project
and
> so attract more users to contribute at least to help testing
Metastorage
> or suggest new features.
>
> The Hotscripts rate box may be found here:
>
> http://www.meta-language.net/metastorage.html
>
> Or here:
>
> http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/55432.html
>
> Metastorage rating page in Freshmeat may be found here:
>
> http://freshmeat.net/rate/33243/
>
> --

>
> Regards,
> Manuel Lemos
>
> Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
> http://www.metastorage.net/
>
> PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
> http://www.phpclasses.org/
>
Hi,

On another thread Manuel wrote...
>
>Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a news
>system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
>generated code.

YAY to that!!!

I think this under used piece of software is being overlooked by many
developers. Rating is a good thing, but I think that in order for
MetaStorage to get the recognition it truly deserves, examples of
real-world applications IMHO are the best way of gaining greater
visibility to the project.

Take a framework like Ruby on Rails for example, I get fed up with
hearing about it, it is very limited compared to the flexibility
offered by Metastorage, but it is adopted by many because it is
quickly accessable due the nature of it, and the excellent tutorial
documentation for it.  Its only after a while of using it that it's
shortcomings become clearer.

Metastorage on the other hand has taken a lot of understanding and
perserverance on my part to get any worthwhile usage out of it, and I
have nearly given up on it a few times due to the lack of clear and
accessable examples given for it,
particularly with regard to using the generated code.

Maybe a repository of user projects would clearer demonstrate the
advantages of using Metastorage would be a good thing.

Regards John

Hello,

on 12/23/2005 11:54 PM Peter Howard said the following:
>> Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a news
>> system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
>> generated code.
>>
>> I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able to
>> test your XSLT soon.
>>
>
> Oh, goody.  This should provide extra motivation for me to get the
> conversion to the point that metastorage processes it without errors.
>
> There is one or two problems I still have with the XML metastorage
> accepts, but they are not an immediate issue; they are only of issue
> once I try to do comparisons on re-generation.

Great, I have been working on a plug-in for the forms generation and
validation class that allows to link several select inputs and use AJAX
to dynamically fetch groups of options from a database depending on the
option selected on the previous select input.

http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/view/html/file/9879/name/test_linked_select_pag\
e.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/forms-dev/files/beta/

Despite this can be used with Metastorage generated code, this
development is not related. I just wanted to mentioned that once I
finish this I will be working on the example Metastorage project. I just
finished it today, so I will be working on the example project after the
new year.

Happy new year! ;-)

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Hello,

on 12/26/2005 02:59 AM Peter Howard said the following:
>>> Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a
>> news
>>> system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
>>> generated code.
>>>
>>> I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able
>> to
>>> test your XSLT soon.
>>>
>> Oh, goody.  This should provide extra motivation for me to get the
>> conversion to the point that metastorage processes it without errors.
>>
>
> In particular, I'm having trouble working out how to translate
> functions.  The reality of metastorage seems a bit behind the
> documentation (e.g. "custom" functions not being supported yet).  If you

I am not sure what you mean. custom functions are supported since a
couple of months ago and are documented:

http://www.meta-language.net/news-2005-11-02-metastorage.html


> could provide me with an umbrello model containing a class which has a
> function in it of each possible type (with the type being the
> stereotype) along with a "hand-translation" of what you'd expect in the
> resultant metastorage XML, it would make things much easier for me.

Here you lost me. How would I define that in Umbrello? Can you give a
basic example?


> Also on functions, I'm considering having the xslt auto-add a
> setreference and getreference function (once I understand the form
> properly) for each collection a class has (either explicit UML attribute
> or ULM relation).  Thoughts on that?

Well, the way 1-many relationship collections work, is that you have to
define a reference variable in the class of the objects that belong to a
collection defined in another class. That reference is like foreign key
from the child object to the parent object.

Although in theory you could have collections without that back
reference variable in the child object, in practice that is how
collections are be used to implement 1-many relationships.

You do not necessarily need a setreference function in the child object
class to add the child object to the parent object collection. Calling
such setreference collection is the same as calling an addtocollection
function in the parent object class.

So, it may not be useful to automatically generate setreference
functions. Many developers may prefer using an addtocollection function
in the parent objecy class.

I am not sure whether this is what you were asking, nor whether it is
clear enough. Just let me know if you did not follow all what I wrote.

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Hello,

on 12/30/2005 01:57 PM jonbouyw said the following:
> On another thread Manuel wrote...
>> Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a news
>> system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user Metastorage
>> generated code.
>
> YAY to that!!!
>
> I think this under used piece of software is being overlooked by many
> developers. Rating is a good thing, but I think that in order for
> MetaStorage to get the recognition it truly deserves, examples of
> real-world applications IMHO are the best way of gaining greater
> visibility to the project.

Yes, I completely agree. Once I asked to people that have real world
applications using Metastorage to let me know so I can present them in a
page with cases of usage.

I understand that some developers are using Metastorage in pretty big
projects. I also understand that many developers may not disclose the
scope of their developments for policy reasons of their companies, but
if anybody can share enough information about their projects, not
necessarily disclose source code, I am still accepting contributions of
that kind.


> Take a framework like Ruby on Rails for example, I get fed up with
> hearing about it, it is very limited compared to the flexibility
> offered by Metastorage, but it is adopted by many because it is
> quickly accessable due the nature of it, and the excellent tutorial
> documentation for it.  Its only after a while of using it that it's
> shortcomings become clearer.

I have not spent enough time understanding exactly why there is much
noise about Ruby on Rails, but from the videos that I watched I also got
the same impression. It seemed that it works very well in the
presentations on which the speaker already knows all he needs to do to
achieve what he wants to show to impress the audience, but some things
do not look like they are very flexible to develop and maintain.

Not being a Ruby developer, it is true that I am not the right person to
judge.


> Metastorage on the other hand has taken a lot of understanding and
> perserverance on my part to get any worthwhile usage out of it, and I
> have nearly given up on it a few times due to the lack of clear and
> accessable examples given for it,
> particularly with regard to using the generated code.

Right. Many people have asked me about straight-forward examples of
realistic applications that they can learn from like a food recipe. It
has been on my to do list for several weeks now. So, now it is its turn
to get some of my time for reasearch and development.

I hope I can get plenty of feedback from everybody here so it can pass
the test for "Embrace or dump" in 5 minutes or less. ;-)


> Maybe a repository of user projects would clearer demonstrate the
> advantages of using Metastorage would be a good thing.

Hey, that was supposed to be a secret! ;-)

I am not going into much details right now until what I have mind
becomes a reality but I am planning something big more or less like
that. The Internet domain is reserved under the name of metacodigo.com .
I hope it be ready for release until April 2006.

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Help!

I got this error message when I tried to run Helloworld example from
MetaL distribution.

My system is:

Windows XP Home English
Apache 2.0.55 from http.apache.org
PHP 4.4.1 from php.net with xml support

The complete error message follows:

C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2
\htdocs\metal\metal\test\helloworld> php -q build.php PHP
Error: it specified a repeated optional argument ("value")
(File "build.input", Line 31, Column 4, Byte 798).

Vanner

Hello,

on 12/31/2005 07:35 PM vannerv said the following:
> Help!
>
> I got this error message when I tried to run Helloworld example from
> MetaL distribution.
>
> My system is:
>
> Windows XP Home English
> Apache 2.0.55 from http.apache.org
> PHP 4.4.1 from php.net with xml support
>
> The complete error message follows:
>
> C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2
> \htdocs\metal\metal\test\helloworld> php -q build.php PHP
> Error: it specified a repeated optional argument ("value")
> (File "build.input", Line 31, Column 4, Byte 798).

PHP 4.4.1 has a bug traversing arrays passed to functions by reference.
The bug was fixed in the latest PHP CVS. Please try with other version
of PHP or wait until PHP 4.4.2 is released.

Happy new year! ;-)

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

On Fri, 2005-12-30 at 23:33 -0200, Manuel Lemos wrote:
> Hello,
>
> on 12/26/2005 02:59 AM Peter Howard said the following:
>
> > In particular, I'm having trouble working out how to translate
> > functions.  The reality of metastorage seems a bit behind the
> > documentation (e.g. "custom" functions not being supported yet).  If
> you
>
> I am not sure what you mean. custom functions are supported since a
> couple of months ago and are documented:
>
> http://www.meta-language.net/news-2005-11-02-metastorage.html
>

It was me using an out-of-date metastorage installation.  Installing
again from the download site today solved that one.


--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Fri, 2005-12-30 at 23:33 -0200, Manuel Lemos wrote:
> Hello,
>
> on 12/26/2005 02:59 AM Peter Howard said the following:
> >>> Sounds great. I am going to create a small example project of a
> >> news
> >>> system with a Web interface to demonstrate how to user
> Metastorage
> >>> generated code.
> >>>
> >>> I already have UML diagrams done with Umbrello. So, I will be able
> >> to
> >>> test your XSLT soon.
> >>>
> >> Oh, goody.  This should provide extra motivation for me to get the
> >> conversion to the point that metastorage processes it without
> errors.
> >>
> >
> > In particular, I'm having trouble working out how to translate
> > functions.  The reality of metastorage seems a bit behind the
> > documentation (e.g. "custom" functions not being supported yet).  If
> you
>
> I am not sure what you mean. custom functions are supported since a
> couple of months ago and are documented:
>
> http://www.meta-language.net/news-2005-11-02-metastorage.html
>
>
> > could provide me with an umbrello model containing a class which has
> a
> > function in it of each possible type (with the type being the
> > stereotype) along with a "hand-translation" of what you'd expect in
> the
> > resultant metastorage XML, it would make things much easier for me.
>
> Here you lost me. How would I define that in Umbrello? Can you give a
> basic example?

Since writing the above (and upgrading metastorage earlier) I've been
re-reading the section in the documentation on class functions, plus the
example component at the end of the documentation.  My main problem is
getting the "function type" <-> "required+optional parameters" mapping
right in my head, let alone how to represent them in UML for
translation.

My problem has been trying to be too generic, too soon in how I handle
functions.  I'm now going to go back and attack it with explicit
translation code per function type, get that working, and then see what
can collapse into generic translation.  Watch this space.

>
> > Also on functions, I'm considering having the xslt auto-add a
> > setreference and getreference function (once I understand the form
> > properly) for each collection a class has (either explicit UML
> attribute
> > or ULM relation).  Thoughts on that?
>
> Well, the way 1-many relationship collections work, is that you have
> to
> define a reference variable in the class of the objects that belong to
> a
> collection defined in another class. That reference is like foreign
> key
> from the child object to the parent object.
>
> Although in theory you could have collections without that back
> reference variable in the child object, in practice that is how
> collections are be used to implement 1-many relationships.
>
> You do not necessarily need a setreference function in the child
> object
> class to add the child object to the parent object collection.
> Calling
> such setreference collection is the same as calling an
> addtocollection
> function in the parent object class.
>
> So, it may not be useful to automatically generate setreference
> functions. Many developers may prefer using an addtocollection
> function
> in the parent objecy class.
>

OK, you're thoughts are steering me away from the idea.  In various UML
tools (working usually to C++) I've been driven to distraction with
getting the "auto generation" rules right (i.e. auto-generating
functions based on variables/attributes/relations).  The fact that you
mentioned the conditional need first up tells me to put it in the "later
on" category.

> I am not sure whether this is what you were asking, nor whether it is
> clear enough. Just let me know if you did not follow all what I wrote.
>

It was all helpful thanks.


PS: Happy New Year to you too.


--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Manuel,

Ok. Muito obrigado. :-)

Feliz Ano Novo!!! :-)

Vanner

--- In metal-dev@yahoogroups.com, Manuel Lemos <mlemos@a...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> on 12/31/2005 07:35 PM vannerv said the following:
> > Help!
> >
> > I got this error message when I tried to run Helloworld example
from
> > MetaL distribution.
> >
> > My system is:
> >
> > Windows XP Home English
> > Apache 2.0.55 from http.apache.org
> > PHP 4.4.1 from php.net with xml support
> >
> > The complete error message follows:
> >
> > C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2
> > \htdocs\metal\metal\test\helloworld> php -q build.php PHP
> > Error: it specified a repeated optional argument ("value")
> > (File "build.input", Line 31, Column 4, Byte 798).
>
> PHP 4.4.1 has a bug traversing arrays passed to functions by
reference.
> The bug was fixed in the latest PHP CVS. Please try with other
version
> of PHP or wait until PHP 4.4.2 is released.
>
> Happy new year! ;-)
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Manuel Lemos
>
> Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
> http://www.metastorage.net/
>
> PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
> http://www.phpclasses.org/
>

Hello,

A new maintenance release of Metastorage was issued to fix a bug that
would make the MetaL engine halt in error while trying to compile the
source code generated by the persistence module. This MetaL engine
module is the core of Metastorage.

Full news article:
http://www.meta-language.net/news-2006-01-03-metastorage.html

--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

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   Description : Metanews UML model

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mallemos <mlemos@...>

Hello,

on 01/01/2006 01:00 AM Peter Howard said the following:
>>> could provide me with an umbrello model containing a class which has
>> a
>>> function in it of each possible type (with the type being the
>>> stereotype) along with a "hand-translation" of what you'd expect in
>> the
>>> resultant metastorage XML, it would make things much easier for me.
>> Here you lost me. How would I define that in Umbrello? Can you give a
>> basic example?
>
> Since writing the above (and upgrading metastorage earlier) I've been
> re-reading the section in the documentation on class functions, plus the
> example component at the end of the documentation.  My main problem is
> getting the "function type" <-> "required+optional parameters" mapping
> right in my head, let alone how to represent them in UML for
> translation.

Well, you need to read the documentation of each type of function in the
reference manual. I will try to be more explicit next time I review the
manual to make it clear which parameters are required and optional.
Anyway, in case of doubt, just try compiling the transformed component
and you will get complaints when you miss required argument.


> My problem has been trying to be too generic, too soon in how I handle
> functions.  I'm now going to go back and attack it with explicit
> translation code per function type, get that working, and then see what
> can collapse into generic translation.  Watch this space.

Right. I think generating a fully working component with the correct
variable names types is a good start.

I just tried the latest XSLT that you provided and even after fixing the
namespace declaration, it only outputted variables without component or
class declarations.

I am using Umbrello 1.3 that comes with KDE 3.4.2 . I cannot upgrade
now, but it was claimed that the latest versions of Umbrello generate
XMI more compliant with the standards. So, I am not sure whether it is
my Umbrello version fault.

I just uploaded the XMI file that I created with Umbrello for the
example news system project, so you can take a look to what your
conversion XSL file generates.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metal-dev/files/metastorage/xmi2metastorage/test/m\
etanews.xmi



--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

On Wed, 2006-01-04 at 01:26 -0200, Manuel Lemos wrote:
> Hello,
>
> on 01/01/2006 01:00 AM Peter Howard said the following:
> >>> could provide me with an umbrello model containing a class which
> has
> >> a
> >>> function in it of each possible type (with the type being the
> >>> stereotype) along with a "hand-translation" of what you'd expect
> in
> >> the
> >>> resultant metastorage XML, it would make things much easier for
> me.
> >> Here you lost me. How would I define that in Umbrello? Can you give
> a
> >> basic example?
> >
> > Since writing the above (and upgrading metastorage earlier) I've
> been
> > re-reading the section in the documentation on class functions, plus
> the
> > example component at the end of the documentation.  My main problem
> is
> > getting the "function type" <-> "required+optional parameters"
> mapping
> > right in my head, let alone how to represent them in UML for
> > translation.
>
> Well, you need to read the documentation of each type of function in
> the
> reference manual. I will try to be more explicit next time I review
> the
> manual to make it clear which parameters are required and optional.
> Anyway, in case of doubt, just try compiling the transformed
> component
> and you will get complaints when you miss required argument.
>
>
> > My problem has been trying to be too generic, too soon in how I
> handle
> > functions.  I'm now going to go back and attack it with explicit
> > translation code per function type, get that working, and then see
> what
> > can collapse into generic translation.  Watch this space.
>
> Right. I think generating a fully working component with the correct
> variable names types is a good start.
>
> I just tried the latest XSLT that you provided and even after fixing
> the
> namespace declaration, it only outputted variables without component
> or
> class declarations.
>
> I am using Umbrello 1.3 that comes with KDE 3.4.2 . I cannot upgrade
> now, but it was claimed that the latest versions of Umbrello generate
> XMI more compliant with the standards. So, I am not sure whether it
> is
> my Umbrello version fault.
>
> I just uploaded the XMI file that I created with Umbrello for the
> example news system project, so you can take a look to what your
> conversion XSL file generates.

The latest xslt only works with classes inside a package titled
"Persistent"

I have uploaded your xmi so-modified as metanews-mod.xmi in the same
directory.

Then process with:

xsltproc --stringparam project metanews conv.xslt metanews-mod.xmi >
metanews-mod.xml

--
Peter Howard
pjh@...
Jabber Id: pjhacnau@...
AIM Id: pjhacnau



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Manuel.

I've been following the development of the Metanews example app. via
CVS, and I'm pleased to report that it is working really well with the
Metabase SQLite driver that I was able to contribute to ;)

I am interested in writing a 'Getting Started with Metastorage Guide'
in English, which would be written from an end users viewpoint, much
like the '4 Days on Rails' guide available for Ruby on Rails,
reference link. http://www.rubyonrails.com/media/text/Rails4Days.pdf ,
based on a practical application such as Metanews.

My belief in your project is founded on the fact that I have always
found your classes to be of the highest quality.  Also many of my
clients are hosted on virtual servers which makes usage of the PEAR
codebase impractical.  All of this makes MetaStorage a highly
attractive proposition.

However, I have found the learning curve to be very steep given the
comprehensive nature of the project.  Given that I feel many other
users will feel put off the undoubted usefulness of your immense
project for similar reasons, I feel it's wider adoption will be
enhanced by having a gentle approach to it, such as the user guide I
am proposing.

I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have with regard to this.

Regards John

Hello,

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   Description : Metanews UML model

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mallemos <mlemos@...>

Hello,

on 01/04/2006 03:22 AM Peter Howard said the following:
>> I am using Umbrello 1.3 that comes with KDE 3.4.2 . I cannot upgrade
>> now, but it was claimed that the latest versions of Umbrello generate
>> XMI more compliant with the standards. So, I am not sure whether it
>> is
>> my Umbrello version fault.
>>
>> I just uploaded the XMI file that I created with Umbrello for the
>> example news system project, so you can take a look to what your
>> conversion XSL file generates.
>
> The latest xslt only works with classes inside a package titled
> "Persistent"

I have just tried that in an updated XMI of Metanews and only functions
and variables are transformed. Component and class declarations do not
appear.


--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator
http://www.metastorage.net/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

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