Austrian software tools company Altova continues the mission to refine its software modeling technologies this month with the release of UModel 2012. This UML tool now supports Model Driven Architecture (MDA) through platform-independent models in its enterprise edition release. This allows users to focus exclusively on the logic of the subject domain, rather than worry about the characteristics of any particular programming language.
Through the new model transformation selection in UModel, software architects can transform a model to any "supported" language — and supported options in this instance include Java, C#, Visual Basic, databases, XML Schema, or even from one source code language to another. Additional new features introduced in UModel 2012 include: JDBC database driver support (in addition to ODBC and ADO drivers); a new native, "totally revamped" Java API in addition to the existing COM API (to give Java developers an easier way to automate UModel functionality in custom applications); and visual alignment guides to direct elements in any UML, SysML, BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), or database diagram by dragging them in the drawing pane.
"In response to numerous customer requests, UModel now supports Model Driven Architecture with platform-independent models that can be described without concern for the details of any specific programming language," said Alexander Falk, president and CEO of Altova. "The addition of MDA support in UModel 2012 makes this advanced yet affordable UML modeling tool even more attractive to software architects."
Altova specifies that three editions of UModel are now available to meet specific customer requirements: the Basic Edition contains all the functionality previously included in UModel 2011 Professional Edition; support for all 14 UML 2 diagram types, code generation, and reverse engineering in C#, Java, and Visual Basic; and generation of project documentation and teamwork support.
Altova's Pro Edition includes all of the features of the Basic Edition, plus support for SysML, BPMN, database modeling, integration with Visual Studio and Eclipse, automatic synchronization of code and model, and much more. Rounding out the set, the Enterprise Edition includes all the features of the other two editions, plus support for Model Driven Architecture as described above.
