Code Generation from UML Models

Abstract

Creating a generic, object-oriented, component-based, transactional business system, which covers the whole lifecycle, is possible only with the integration of commercial tools, component technologies, newly developed class libraries and by using code generators. Most of the recently used tools for development techniques are focusing on only one of the layers of the model from the code generation point of view. As a consequence, the inter-layer connections are lost in the generated code. In this article, we describe a code generator technique which uses a UML model as a starting point and generates several layers directly. While generating the code, it preserves the original interlayer relationships originated in the model. Based on our experiences with 4GL systems it is obvious that there is a need to provide customisation in the generated code. We offer a multi-paradigm approach [1] to let the developer choose the appropriate solution for her or his implementation.