AndroMDA <> entities

AndroMDA is an excellent open source solution for auto-magically generating code from a UML model. This is a description of my experience trying out the <> stereotype. This stereotype appears to allow you to auto-generate data entry screens just by adding the <> stereotype to an entity.

My steps to generate a manageable entity:

Just a little background, I am developing EJB3 entities using JPA /Hibernate/Mysql.
My EJB/Servlet server is Sun Glassfish v2.1 running the Liferay Portal v5.2.3
Maven v2.0.9, Java JDK v1.6.0_13

'out of the box', Andromda will NOT generate any projects properly for Glassfish. I had to make a modified ejb3 cartridge which works on GLASSFISH. I am not going to describe what I had to do in this post, but will try to remember to detail that at a later time. If anyone needs that info, or just wants a copy of the modified ejb3 cartridge I am using, feel free to ping me.

Step 1 - create a new Andromda project.

From command line>

mvn org.andromda.maven.plugins:andromdapp-maven-plugin:3.3:generate

A variety of questions will be asked, below are the options I selected:
Options: 
Rich Client
J2EE
c:/development/andromda_test_portlet
Brad Rideout
UML2
Brad Test Portlet
bradtestportlet
1.0-SNAPSHOT
com.mdahatter.bradportlettest
ear
ejb3
mysql
no
yes
jsf
jsf2
portlet
no
no

Step 2 - modify mda/pom.xml
Since I am using Maven 2.0.9 I had to modify the mda/pom.xml v2.0.8 does not require this step...
find the model.uri section and change it to:

file:${pom.basedir}/src/main/uml/bradportlettest.uml2

Step 3 - Open /mda/src/main/uml/bradportlettest.xml with your uml tool.
I use Magicdraw community version.
The first time you open the project, make sure you set the maven2.repository to your .m2/repository. This can be done in the Options-Environment Options tab.

Step 4 - Create a class diagram
In MagicDraw, right click on the 'Data' folder and click 'New Element--Model', name it 'mdahatter'
Right click on 'mdahatter' and select 'New Element'--'Package' name it com.mdahatter.bradportlettest
Right click on com.mdahatter.bradportlettest and select 'New Diagram'-'class diagram' .. name it 'VOPC'
Add a new class called 'User' with 3 string attributes: 'firstName', lastName', 'email'
Make sure all attributes are public, and use the String [datatype]
Right click on the class and go to the 'Stereotypes' section, select 'Entity' and 'Manageable'... Note: make sure you select the stereotypes from the org.andromda.profile.persistence profile

Step 5 - Export model
Save the model, and select File-Export-EMF UML2 (v1.x) XMI

Step 6 - modify maven pom.xml files

Step 6(A) open the pom.xml in the root of your project.
I modify the org.andromda.cartridge dependency to point to my 1.0-GLASSFISH version of the cartridge. If you are using JBOSS, you should be able to leave this...

org.andromda.cartridges
andromda-ejb3-cartridge
1.0-GLASSFISH
runtime


I also added the Apache maven repository under the area:


apache
Apache Repository
http://people.apache.org/repo/m2-snapshot-repository/


Step 6 (B) Modify the web/pom.xml

In the web/pom.xml find the 'org.apache.myfaces.tomahawk' dependency, and change it like so:


org.apache.myfaces.tomahawk
tomahawk
1.1.7-SNAPSHOT
jar


Step 7 - Run the maven build

From the command line, navigate to the root of the new project and run the command: mvn

**** Right now this creates all of the files, etc. but there is still a bug preventing it from totally compiling for me ****** more once I get that bug fixed!