2 Tutorial
In this chapter we go through a step-by-step tutorial of
defining a new method specification in MetaEdit+. The tutorial example shows how
one can extend MetaEdit+’s available methods and reuse existing method
specifications to develop new ones. You need the Method Workbench version of
MetaEdit+ to carry out the steps in the tutorial fully. The tools are visible in
other versions of MetaEdit+, but changes can only be made in the Symbol Editor
and Dialog Editor.
In the example we extend the ordinary State Diagram
technique. Normally states in a State Diagram do not contain information about
the object that they are characterising, and therefore it is difficult to find
states of a particular object. To overcome this limitation, state diagrams are
often drawn only for one object at a time. Another possibility is to improve the
State Diagram technique by extending the State type with information about the
class that the state is characterising.
To complete this chapter, you should be familiar with the
basic tools of MetaEdit+ and the GOPRR data model.
To start the tutorial, you should have the UML project
open and selected as the default. You can do this at start-up time, or later
through the browsers (see the User’s Guide for logging in and opening
projects).
If you do not want the definition of the new method to
become part of your method base, please commit any current transaction before
proceeding and abandon changes after the tutorial!