Eclipse Modeling Framework

EMF is a Java framework and code generation facility for building tools and other applications based on a structured model. For those of you that have bought into the idea of object-oriented modeling, EMF helps you rapidly turn your models into efficient, correct, and easily customizable Java code. For those of you that aren't necessarily sold on the value of formal models, EMF is intended to provide you with the same benefits and a very low cost of entry.

So, what do we mean when we say model? When talking about modeling, we generally think about things like Class Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams, State Diagrams, and so on. UML (Unified Modeling Language) defines a (the) standard notation for these kinds of diagrams. Using a combination of UML diagrams, a complete model of an application can be specified. This model may be used purely for documentation or, given appropriate tools, it can be used as the input from which to generate part of or, in simple cases, all of an application.

Given that this kind of modeling typically requires expensive Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA/D) tools, you might be questioning our assertion, above, that EMF provides a low cost of entry. The reason we can say that is because an EMF model requires just a small subset of the kinds of things that you can model in UML, specifically simple definitions of the classes and their attributes and relations, for which a full-scale graphical modeling tool is unnecessary.

While EMF uses XMI (XML Metadata Interchange) as its canonical form of a model definition, you have several ways of getting your model into that form:

• Create the XMI document directly, using an XML or text editor
• Export the XMI document from a modeling tool such as Rational Rose
• Annotate Java interfaces with model properties
• Use XML Schema to describe the form of a serialization of the model

The first approach is the most direct, but generally only appeals to XML gurus. The second choice is the most desirable if you are already using full-scale modeling tools. The third approach provides pure Java programmers a low-cost way to get the benefits of EMF and its code generator using just a basic Java development environment (for example, Eclipse's Java Development Tools). The last approach is most applicable in creating an application that must read or write a particular XML file format.

Once you specify an EMF model, the EMF generator can create a corresponding set of Java implementation classes. You can edit these generated classes to add methods and instance variables and still regenerate from the model as needed: your additions will be preserved during the regeneration. If the code you added depends on something that you changed in the model, you will still need to update the code to reflect those changes; otherwise, your code is completely unaffected by model changes and regeneration.

In addition to simply increasing your productivity, building your application using EMF provides several other benefits like model change notification, persistence support including default XMI and schema-based XML serialization, a framework for model validation, and a very efficient reflective API for manipulating EMF objects generically. Most important of all, EMF provides the foundation for interoperability with other EMF-based tools and applications.

EMF consists of two fundamental frameworks: the core framework and EMF.Edit. The core framework provides basic generation and runtime support to create Java implementation classes for a model. EMF.Edit extends and builds on the core framework, adding support for generating adapter classes that enable viewing and command-based (undoable) editing of a model, and even a basic working model editor.