Chapter 2 - Integration with NetBeans/Sun™ ONE

Overview

VP-UML Professional and Enterprise Edition allows you to integrate the VP-UML module with NetBeans, providing full software development life cycle support. By designing your software system in VP-UML, you can generate programming source code from class diagram to a NetBeans project. Also, you can reverse engineer your source code into class models in VP-UML.

Installation

First of all, please make sure your machine has NetBeans IDE 4.0 or above / Sun™ ONE Studio 5 or above properly installed.

To install NetBeans Integration from VP-UML:

Start VP-UML
Select Tools > IDE Integration... from the main menu of VP-UML.



This displays the VP-Suite dialog box.



Check NetBeans / Sun ONE Integration.
Click Next. This displays the Product Configuration page.
Locate the NetBeans home directory in the Directory field. You can enter the path directly in the text field, or press ... to select the directory from the Open dialog box.
Click Next. This displays the Installing Files page and starts the installation process.



Click Finish to close the dialog box when the installation is completed.

You can install NetBeans Integration only on a "clean" copy of NetBeans. A clean copy of NetBeans is one which has no other kinds of integration such as SDE for NetBeans and DB-VA for NetBeans installed.

NetBeans Integration can only be installed on ONE NetBeans directory only. The next time you start the VP-Suite dialog from VP-UML you will see the option NetBeans/Sun ONE Integration is selected.

Creating a VP-UML Project in NetBeans

To create a VP-UML Project in NetBeans:

Start NetBeans.
Select the NetBeans project for which you want to create a VP-UML project for it.
Right-click on the selected project and choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > New VP-UML %EDITION% Project from popup menu.



This displays the Project Structure dialog box.



Select from the Project Structure dialog box the location of the VP-UML project is to be saved. The VP-UML project, with .vpp extension, is the UML project file that is going to be associated with the selected NetBeans project file. Select Create in default path result in saving the VP-UML project to %NetBeans_Project_Directory%/vpproject while selecting Create at external location require you to specify the project path.
Click OK.

This starts a new instance of VP-UML on a separate window. The project opened from VP-UML is associated with the NetBeans project.

Opening a VP-UML Project from NetBeans

Start NetBeans.
Select the NetBeans project for which you want to open the VP-UML project from it.
Right-click on the selected project and choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Open VP-UML %EDITION% Project from popup menu.



This starts a new instance of VP-UML on a separate window. The project opened from VP-UML is associated with the NetBeans project.

Reverse Engineering from Code to Model

Code reverse engineering updates UML class models from source code in NetBeans. You can update the whole project, package (s) and class (es) from NetBeans to VP-UML. Before reverse engineering, you must open the UML model of the desired project. More information about how to open a VP-UML from NetBeans can be found from the section Opening a VP-UML Project from NetBeans in this Chapter.

Project Based Reverse Engineering

You can update models in VP-UML from a NetBeans project. Models of the selected project, child packages and classes will be updated or created (if the models are not already exists).

To reverse engineer code from a NetBeans project to UML model, right-click on the project node in NetBeans and select Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Update VP-UML %EDITION% Model from popup menu.

This updates/creates the corresponding UML model in VP-UML.

Package Based Reverse Engineering

You can update models in VP-UML from a NetBeans project. Models of the selected package, child packages and classes will be updated or created (if the models are not already exists).

To reverse engineer code from a package in a NetBeans project to UML model, right-click on the package in NetBeans and select Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Update VP-UML %EDITION% Model from popup menu.

This updates/creates the corresponding UML model in VP-UML.

Class Based Reverse Engineering

You can update models in VP-UML from a NetBeans project. Models of the selected class and child classes (inner class) will be updated or created (if the models are not already exists).

To reverse engineer code from a class in a NetBeans project to UML model, right-click on the class file(s) in NetBeans and select Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Update VP-UML %EDITION% Model from popup menu.

This updates/creates the corresponding UML model in VP-UML.

Selecting Corresponding Elements in VP-UML from NetBeans

VP-UML helps selects class models in VP-UML corresponding to the source code in NetBeans. To select corresponding models in VP-UML from NetBeans, perform one of the following actions:

Select on the desired piece of source elements from the Projects Windows of NetBeans. Right-click on the selection and choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Select in VP-UML %EDITION% Model from popup menu.



When the code editor for the desired piece of source is active, choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Select in VP-UML from NetBeans main menu.



In both cases, the corresponding model in VP-UML is selected.

Code Generation from Model to Code

Code generation creates/updates source code in a NetBeans project from UML models. You can select to update the whole project, package (s) and class (es) from VP-UML to NetBeans. Before updating/generating code, you must open the UML model of the desired project. More information about how to open a VP-UML from NetBeans can be found from the section Opening a VP-UML Project from NetBeans in this Chapter.

Furthermore, there are 2 ways in synchronizing (updating) model to code. They are Sync to Code and Force Sync to Code.

Sync to Code

Removed sources will not be recovered. Only the existing sources will be synchronized with the UML models.

Force Sync to Code

Removed sources will be recovered. Existing sources will be synchronized with the UML models, while removed sources will be reconstructed.

Project Based Code Generation

To generate all classes and/or packages within a UML project:

Right-click the project (the root) in the Diagram Navigator, in the Model Tree or in the Class Repository Tree.
Select Update Project to NetBeans from popup menu.

Package Based Code Generation

To generate a package together with class/classes inside:

Select the desired package for generating code on a class diagram, in the Diagram Navigator, in the Model Tree or in the Class Repository Tree.
Right-click on the selection and choose Update to NetBeans from popup menu.

Class Based Code Generation

To generate class/classes:

Select class/classes on a class diagram, in the Diagram Navigator, in the Model Tree or in the Class Repository Tree for generating code.
Right-click on the selection and select Update to NetBeans from popup menu.

Selecting Corresponding Elements in NetBeans from VP-UML

VP-UML helps selects element in VP-UML corresponding to the source code in NetBeans. To select corresponding piece of source code in NetBeans from VP-UML, perform one of the following actions:

Select on the desired UML model in the Diagram Navigator, in the Model Tree or in the Class Repository Tree. Right-click on the selection and choose Select in NetBeans from popup menu.



Select the desired model for generating code on a class diagram. Right-click on the selection and choose Select in NetBeans from popup menu.



In both cases, the corresponding source files will be opened and activated in NetBeans.

Importing a VP-UML Project into NetBeans

You can import another VP-UML project into a NetBeans project. If there is a VP-UML associating with the NetBeans project, importing a VP-UML project results in replacing the original one with the one going to be imported.

Before importing a VP-UML project, you must open the UML model of the desired project. More information about how to open a VP-UML from NetBeans can be found from the section Opening a VP-UML Project from NetBeans in this Chapter.

To import a VP-UML project:

Select the NetBeans project for which you want to import a VP-UML project into it.
Right-click on the selected project and choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Import VP-UML %EDITION% Project from popup menu.



This displays the Import Project dialog box.



Locate the file path of the source VP-UML project. The source project is the one that is going to be imported into the selected NetBeans project. If there is an existing VP-UML project associated with the selected NetBeans project, the target project path is the path of the existing VP-UML project. If there is no existing VP-UML project associated with the selected NetBeans project, the path is the default one, which is %NetBeans_Project_Directory%/vpproject.
Click OK.

This starts a new instance of VP-UML on a separate window. The project opened from VP-UML is the imported one which is now associated with the NetBeans project.

Exporting a VP-UML Project from NetBeans

You can export the VP-UML project that is associated with an NetBeans project. The exported VP-UML project has no association with both the NetBeans project and the VP-UML project it exported from.

Before exporting a VP-UML project, you must open the UML model of the desired project. More information about how to open a VP-UML from NetBeans can be found from the section Opening a VP-UML Project from NetBeans in this Chapter.

To export a VP-UML project:

Select the NetBeans project for which you want to export the VP-UML associated with it.
Right-click on the selected project and choose Tools > Visual Paradigm for UML %EDITION% > Export VP-UML %EDITION% Project from popup menu.



This displays the Save As dialog box.

Locate the project file path for the output project.
Click Save.

The VP-UML project is exported to the specified location.

Model Representation of Code

The following table shows some of the model representation of code.

	Model	Code
Class		public class MyClass { }
Abstract Class		public abstract class MyClass { }
Attribute
Instance Scope		public class MyClass { private Integer intValue; }
classifier Scope		public class MyClass { private static Integer intValue; }
Operation
Instance Scope		public class MyClass { private Integer intValue; public integer getIntValue() { } }
Classifier Scope		public class MyClass { private static Integer intValue; public static Integer getIntValue() { } }
Package		package Package;
Containment		package Package; public class MyClass { }
Inner Class		public class OuterClass { class InnerClass { } }
Generalization		public class MyClass extends OtherClass { }
Realization		public class MyClass implements MyInterface { }
Association		public class MyClass { Otherclass otherClass; }