ProductsUModelXML Schema in UML

UModel® 2008 includes a special diagram type and code generation support for XML Schemas.

The UModel® 2008 XML Schema diagram renders XML Schemas in a format similar to UML class diagrams.

The UModel® 2008 XML Schema diagram shows schema global elements (elements, simpleTypes, and complexTypes) as classes, with schema element attributes in the attributes compartment. UModel® 2008 uses UML notes to display schema details. (The operations compartment is empty, since the XML Schema specification has no corresponding feature.)

You can create a UModel® 2008 UML project from an existing XML Schema through the Project menu by selecting the Import XML Schema option.

The XML Schema is treated as application source code and reverse-engineered to create a UModel® 2008 project. The project file and the diagrams it contains are a model of the XML Schema, not the schema itself.

Since the UModel® 2008 project and the actual XML Schema are separate files, the UML model of the schema provides a level of abstraction between the schema design and the actual XSD. This allows developers working in teams to develop schema enhancements in a collaborative process by modifying the UModel® 2008 project, treating the UML model as a blueprint.

The UModel® 2008 XML Schema diagram features a special toolbar to provide easy access to XML Schema elements:

You can edit UModel® 2008 XML Schema diagrams using the same visual editing tools available for the other diagrams in your model.

Changes made to the UML model are not implemented in the XSD file until the model is synchronized through the UModel® 2008 Project menu:

UModel® 2008 also supports round-trip engineering for XML Schema files. If the schema is modified outside UModel® 2008 – such as in XMLSpy® 2008, the industry-standard XML development environment – you can use the UModel Project menu to synchronize changes back to the UModel project and XML diagram.

Of course you could design a brand new XML Schema from scratch using XML Schema diagrams in UModel® 2008. But for most XML data-modeling projects, you'll want to check out the powerful, specialized schema editing and validation features of Altova XMLSpy® 2008, the industry-standard development environment for all XML technologies. One developer on your team can create and maintain schema using XMLSpy® 2008, and other developers can keep their UModel® 2008 projects synchronized by round-trip engineering the XSD file.

A single UModel® 2008 project can include an XML Schema diagram to describe a data structure and class diagrams that generate code in a programming language for the application’s dynamic functionality. You can easily include both the XSD profile and a programming language profile in your project model tree.

The Include dialog allows you to add multiple profiles, for instance to use XSD and Java in a single project.

Separate components allow you to assign XML Schemas for XSD output and UML classes for Java output.

During code generation UModel® 2008 will write the XML Schema file and your Java source code files.

You can also take advantage of the UModel® 2008 Share Package feature to add a UModel® 2008 XML Schema-based model as a subproject.

See for yourself how easy it is to diagram XML Schema in your UModel® 2008 projects -- download a free 30-day trial today!