3.1.2 Main Launcher
The Main Launcher
is a tool for
accessing the various components of MetaEdit+ as well as for configuring the
functionality of the MetaEdit+ environment.
Figure 3–5 shows a
Launcher.
Figure 3–5. MetaEdit+ Launcher.
Please note that the
appearance of the Launcher may vary depending on the MetaEdit+ version and
current user privileges.
Figure
3–5 illustrates a Launcher for the plain MetaEdit+ Modeler when logged
in with ordinary user privileges. A Launcher for MetaEdit+ Workbench edition
including API and metamodeling tools is shown in
Figure 3–6.
Figure 3–6. MetaEdit+ Workbench Launcher.
Accessing MetaEdit+ tools
As illustrated in the figure above, tools can be accessed from
the menus and toolbar buttons. Repository management, browsers, editors, and
language development tools have their own menus in the Launcher. Browsers are
also integrated as part of the main Launcher itself. Their functionality is
explained in Section
3.2.
Exiting MetaEdit+
To exit MetaEdit+,
simply close the
Launcher window or select
Repository | Exit.... If uncommitted changes
have been made, you will be prompted whether to commit or abandon them before
exiting.
If MetaEdit+ should be in a state where a normal exit is
not possible, you can try to perform an emergency exit
by
holding
Shift down while closing the Launcher. Note that some operating
systems where windows are closed from a menu require that you first open the
menu without
Shift, and press
Shift when selecting the close
option from the menu.
Creating and opening projects
Once logged in you can open existing
projects
or create new ones
. To open
projects select
Repository | Open Project... and choose one or more
projects from the dialog that opens.
If you want to create a new project choose Repository |
New Project.... This choice opens a window asking for a project name. Check
with your system administrator about project creation, access rights, and naming
conventions. Note that you must remember to set the new project as the default
in order to add graphs and related design information to it.
It is also possible to open, create and close projects
from Browsers; for more information about this, see Section
3.2.
Saving your work
The
Commit and
Abandon buttons (as in
Figure 3–7) in the Launcher toolbar
accept or reject the work you have done since the start of your current
transaction: a transaction is started when you log in, and when you commit or
abandon a previous transaction. You can also access these commands from the
Repository menu.
Figure 3–7. Commit and Abandon buttons.
The
Changes & Versions button (
Figure 3–8) lets you inspect the
changes you have made in the current or previous transactions, add version
comments and create versions: see Section
3.4. If your MetaEdit+ license includes the
API features, this includes integration with external Version Control Systems
such as git or TortoiseSVN: see Section
3.5.
Figure 3–8. Changes & Versions button.
Options
The Launcher allows you to configure the MetaEdit+ environment
via the
Repository | Options menu or the
Options button from the
Launcher toolbar (
Figure 3–9).
Both open an Options Tool, described in Section
3.1.3.
Figure 3–9. Options button.
Statistics
Repository | Statistics... opens
a window describing information about how many new objects have been created
during the transaction, how many objects have been changed, and how many
repository objects are currently loaded in the client. Other statistics include
the size of the image and memory
usage.
Load More Repository
Because MetaEdit+ intelligently loads information from the
repository only as it is accessed, and flushes little-used objects when memory
is low to improve performance, some objects may not be found when accessed by
their type.
Repository | Load More Repository
allows you to load more of the repository contents, and
can be used if you think there should be an object available but MetaEdit+ does
not list it. Another way is to access the object by following links from objects
already loaded, e.g. opening graphs or property dialogs.
In general, searching for design data by type will only
show data that has already been read from the repository (all graphs in a
project and their immediately contained objects, roles and relationships are
read automatically when the project is opened). Searching for data by following
links, e.g. explode or properties, is the preferred method, as it is always
possible to follow these links in full. Especially at the start of a session,
searches by type on data other than graphs are likely to miss many objects, as
they have not yet been loaded.
Undo/redo
Operations can be undone or redone via the Launcher’s
undo
and redo
buttons (
Figure 3–10) or by selecting
Undo or
Redo from the Launcher’s
Edit menu. However,
bear in mind that as data can be shared across multiple models and editors,
undo/redo is global for the whole MetaEdit+ environment, i.e. changes made in
one editor can be undone/redone from another editor or from the
Launcher.
Figure 3–10. Undo and redo buttons.
Browsers and Graph Manager
Though browsers are integrated as part of the Launcher, it is
also possible to open separate instances of them. Graph, Type and Object
Browsers as well as the Graph Manager are accessible from the
Browsers
menu, while the Metamodel Browser can be found from the
Metamodel menu.
For more information on browsers, see Section
3.2.
Editors
Individual editors can be accessed from the
Edit menu.
For more information about the various editors, see Chapter
4.
Metamodeling tools
In MetaEdit+ Workbench, metamodeling tools can be accessed
either from the
Metamodel menu or from the Launcher toolbar (
Figure 3–11). The metamodeling tools
are described in ‘MetaEdit+ Workbench User’s Guide’.
Figure 3–11. Metamodeling tools.
Generator Editor
In MetaEdit+ Workbench the Generator Editor can be accessed
either from the
Metamodel menu or from the Launcher toolbar (
Figure 3–12). A more detailed
description of the Generator Editor can be found from ‘MetaEdit+ Workbench
User’s Guide’.
Figure 3–12. Generator Editor.
Frequently used and import-export operations
In addition to the previous features, the Launcher toolbar
also provides buttons (
Figure
3–13) for creating a new graph, generating code or documentation,
importing, exporting, and launching the API tool (with the optional API add-on
product). Depending on the currently used modeling language, toolbar may also
show quick-access buttons for various graph level generators.
Figure 3–13. Toolbar buttons for frequently used and import-export operations.