1.9 Metamodel Browser
 | See
also the Menu Reference, Section
3.9. |
Metamodel
Browser
is a tool for viewing and editing method
specifications. Through the Metamodel Browser the method developer has access to
all method specifications available in currently open projects. To open a
Metamodel Browser select
Metamodel | Metamodel Browser in the
Launcher.

Figure 1-37. Metamodel Browser.
As
Figure 1-37 illustrates, the Metamodel
Browser is similar to the other browsers of MetaEdit+. The left-hand list shows
all the projects that are currently opened in the MetaEdit+ client. If the
project you want is not visible, you can open it explicitly from the
list’s pop-up menu.
The middle list shows all the available graph types,
filtered by the projects selected in the left-hand list.
The list on the right shows the types contained in the
graph type which is selected in the middle list. You may determine which element
types of the method are visible in the right hand list from the pull-down list
labelled Show. In
Figure 1-37, all
object types of the UML graph type Activity Diagram are shown.
The Metamodel browser also allows you to view the graph
types by their explosion and decomposition hierarchies, by viewing both
hierarchies simultaneously, or according to the subtype structure of the graph
types. This viewing option can be selected from the Tree pull-down list. In
Figure 1-37 the graph types are arranged
according to decomposition, and the first two entries in the middle list show
that some type in an Activity Diagram can decompose to another Activity
Diagram.
As in other browsers of MetaEdit+, you can choose the
default project for graph and type creation, and set wildcard string filters for
the middle and right-hand list contents.
In addition to browsing the method specifications, you can
open them for editing with the method development tools, and view more detailed
information about type usage.
Editing is carried out in the method development tools
described earlier (Graph, Object, Relationship, Role and Property tools). To
open these tools select the method component from the list and double click it,
or alternatively choose Edit from the component’s pop-up menu. This
opens a method development tool for that type.
The pop-up menu for a type also includes
Info,
which opens a Type Info tool showing which types use this type, and which types
it uses. The Type Info
tool is similar to the Info tool
for design data, and is illustrated in
Figure 1-38.

Figure 1-38. Type Info tool.
The Type Info tool has three
fields. The label at the top shows in which project the type is stored. The
upper list shows which types use this type, along with the project where they
are defined, and the function of this type within the using type. The lower list
shows which types are used by this type, along with the project where they are
defined.
In
Figure 1-38 a
Type Info tool has been opened for Class. This type is defined in the UML
project. It is used in Class diagram in the UML project, and as the data type of
the properties Class and Interface name. Class itself uses other types as its
properties, e.g. the Class name property type, which is defined in the MCC
project.
More information about a type shown in the Type Info tool
can be seen by selecting that type. From the pop-up menu you can then choose
Info... to open it in its own Type Info Tool, or double click the type to
open it in the appropriate method development tool.