In-Depth

Altova Delivers on UML 2.1

Altova demonstrated a new version of its UModel 2007, which displays the full UML 2.1.1 compatibility, at VSLive! San Francisco 2007.

• By Peter Varhol
• March 1, 2007

VSLive! San Francisco 2007 exhibitor Altova demonstrated at the show a new version of its UModel 2007 UML modeling tool, displaying full the UML 2.1.1 compatibility. UModel has a number of features that make developing a UML model and producing an application from the model easy and productive.

Specifically, UModel lets you select the diagram type that you want to build, and it automatically changes the menu to only the selections that apply to the specified model. UModel also lets you turn a UML model into either C# or Java code. Further, you can make changes to the generated code and round-trip it back into the model. You can even can take existing source code or binaries and convert them into UML diagrams. These diagrams can then be used to regenerate source code to effectively implement the same components again.

Altova has a number of other developer tools, including XMLSpy, the classic XML editor, and DatabaseSpy, the multi-database query and design tool. These tools help you work with databases, implement XML and XML access to databases, build Semantic Web structures, and model and generate applications.

According to David McGahey, product manager for UModel, while the product supports both C# and Java code generation, the company does not track which language or development platform is more popular. "The vast majority of our sales come from Web site downloads," he said. "We don't have a way of tracking what UModel is being used for."

While UModel does not currently integrate into Visual Studio, Altova is a Microsoft Visual Studio Integration Partner (VSIP), and XMLSpy currently plugs into Visual Studio using the VSIP interface. McGahey said that a future version of UModel will have the same integration.