Hi everyone,
I wonder if there is any tool that turns archetypes defined in ADL
(Archetype Definition Language) to UML automatically?
I appreciate everyone's attention.
Hi Legilmo,
I think the answer for now is no. The CIMI group is looking into developing a transform process which would make ADL and UML interchangable but you might want to read Graeme Grieve’s recent blog at http://www.healthintersections.com.au/?p=848 for some reasons why this might be difficult and ultimately not helpful. |The transform probably can be done but ADL captures a lot of clinical knowledge which is difficult to do in standard, tool-supported UML, particularly when you get into multl-lingual support , multi-layered constraint and terminology-bindings. The good argument in favour of UML is that it is well supported by off-the-shelf tooling. Unfortunately this no longer applies once you factor in the complexity required to replicate the power of ADL. Anyway we will know soon - a number of our CIMI colleagues are investigating the implemetation of the AOM in UNL and should be able to feedback their conclusiond afirly soon.
May I ask what was your reason for wanting to convert ADL to UML, remembering that openEHR data structures are ultimately all describable in standard UML, and that we are well down the road of generating model-driven implementable artefacts like C# and java databinding classes, XML schema and GUI skeletons?
Ian
Hi Legilmo
I agree with everything that Ian has written, but wanted to add that it is possible that OMG will consider making changes to UML so that it can fully represent an archetype natively without using extensions etc. This is obviously not a short term solution, however it illustrates why we are using ADL and not UML to create these models.
regards Hugh