Chapter 3. Basic elements of the UML -F profile

Chapter 2 introduced a subset of UML that helps framework developers to document their products. However, framework developers want to describe more than the mere architecture and interaction patterns of a framework. They want to describe their intentions behind the architecture. The UML-F profile is designed for this purpose. The UML-F profile uses the UML 1.4 standard extension mechanisms in particular, stereotypes and tagged values to define these extensions.

Firstly, the profile mechanism is explained. Then the UML extension mechanism for defining profiles by unifying the concepts of tagged values and stereotypes are enhanced to what we call tags. A number of basic tags from the UML standard have proven useful for framework documentation. These tags are discussed and a UML extension as a set of UML-F tags that specifically support framework design and adaptation is provided. Finally, we present a mechanism that allows the definition of new tags.

In the tradition of UML, the methodical issues and the syntactic/semantic issues are presented separately. This chapter focuses on language elements, their representation, and their meaning. In succeeding chapters and in particular in the case studies numerous examples illustrate where and how to apply the UML-F set of language extensions.