IBM Rational Rose Model Import Feature - Release notes

If you attempt to open an imported Rose model that contains errors, you may see an "Unable to Create Part" error message. Now, if the model error is due to an incomplete association, in which the associated class cannot be located, a more detailed message is displayed; for example: "Incomplete association name. Unable to locate associated class name."

When you import a Rose model (MDL), all controlled unit content (CAT, SUB, PRC, and PRP files) is automatically copied to a new UML 2 model with a file name extension of EMX. The controlled unit no longer resides as a separate file and is incorporated into a standard, monolithic model in Software Architect or Software Modeler. This is not selectable. In addition, having a single large file may cause performance problems during the import process.

This issue has been addressed by a new feature. See the New in this release section.

Actors imported from a Rose model are shown as a stick figure instead of a UML 2.0 shape.

The option to choose whether to apply the UML 2.0 or Rose profile for icons and shapes is provided with a new check box, Use Rose Icons and Shapes [Uncheck this option to use UML2 Icons and Shapes], on the Rational Rose Model Import Preferences page of the Rational Rose Model Import wizard.

Verify Rose model before importing

Before you attempt to import a Rational Rose model, verify that the original model opens in Rose without errors.

In Rational Rose, the name label on an association can use a different font from the role labels. By default, the Rose association name label is italic and role labels are roman. In the new UML modeling products, the association has only a single font setting that is applied to all labels.

Swimlanes (shape compartments) are transparent by default; color cannot be assigned to them. In most cases, they inherit their container's color.

If your Rational Rose model has associations with role constraints defined on the diagram, the constraint will be migrated but the notation on the diagram will not appear. Currently, association role constraint notation as a label attached to the association connector is not supported.

Stereotype icons are currently not supported by state or pseudostate elements because the default icon is basically the same as the shape image.

If your Rose model has connector labels with multiple lines of text, the text will be imported as a single line of text because multiple-line connector labels are currently not supported. Some labels may overlap other items in the diagram editor, making the diagram difficult to read. You may need to manually arrange shape and connector views to accommodate for longer name labels.

Rose sequence diagrams that include lifelines with stereotyped classes and that have an associated image (a decoration) will change after import so that the lifeline appears without the stereotype image. The lifeline's class is still stereotyped, but there is no decoration of the lifeline to indicate that this is the case. Rational Software Architect and Rational Software Modeler do not support lifeline stereotype images or decoration icons.

In Rose, an object in a Sequence diagram, Collaboration diagram, or Activity diagram shows the stereotype icon (if any) that is applied to the class that is the object's type. This is currently not supported in Software Architec, Software Modeler, or Systems Developer.

Using import wizard while model import is in progress results in error

If you click a button on the Rational Rose Model Import wizard once the import operation has started and the Progress Information window is open, an error will result. You need to close and restart the wizard. To stop the import operation while the Progress Information window is open, click the Cancel button in the window.

Workaround: Do not select any Rational Rose Model Import wizard buttons while the model is being imported and the Progress Information window is open.

If your Rational Rose model has a note that is attached to a text element through a note attachment, the note attachment will not be imported. Note attachments are only supported from a note to a UML element.

When using the Rose Classic appearance style in Software Modeler, Software Architect, or Systems Developer, a white dot is visible on the right side of a Node element. Note that the appearance preference is set by clicking Window > Preferences, expanding Workbench, and clicking Appearance.

In Rational Rose, Statechart and Activity diagrams are implemented in a single state/activity model. The elements available in Activity diagrams are a superset of the Statechart diagrams. Upon importing a state/activity model, Software Architect, Software Modeler, or Systems Developer checks whether it contains any Activity diagrams or elements that can only be visualized on Activity diagrams in Rose. If so, then all of the Statechart diagrams are converted to UML Activity diagrams in the new UML modeling product model, states are converted to structured activity nodes, and transitions are converted to control flows.

Workaround: If the conversion of Statechart diagrams to UML Activity semantics is a problem, you can separate Statechart diagrams and Activity diagrams into separate state/activity models in the Rose model before importing it. Because a package can only own a single state/activity model, this may require creating additional packages. The state/activity models containing only Statechart elements will be imported as UML state machines.

UML 2.0 compliance not reported upon import

The Rose Model Import wizard does not show an error message when importing a model that is not compliant with UML 2.0.

Workaround: UML 2.0 compliance errors will be reported when a validation is performed.

The Statechart's Initial State and Activity's Initial Node use the LINE COLOR attribute as their colors; they ignore the FILL COLOR attribute value. The statechart's Final State and Activity's Activity Final Node (both bulls-eye style icons) set the outer circle color to the FILL COLOR attribute and inner circle color to the LINE COLOR attribute.

If you install and use the Rational Rose Model Import wizard on a computer that does not have Rational Rose installed, the imported diagrams will not include the expected stereotype icons in the imported model. In addition, the list of stereotype configurations on the Map Stereotypes page of the wizard is empty.

Note: The following workaround assumes the same operating system is being used for Rose and the new UML modeling product—Software Modeler or Software Architect.

Workaround: To retain stereotype icons in diagrams, either use the same computer for Rose as well as Sofware Modeler, Software Architect, or Systems Developer, or use the following procedure to make the stereotype artifacts available during import:

1. Export the Rose data from the Windows or MainWin registry of a machine that has Rose installed and transfer the resulting file to the computer with the new UML modeling product installed. Use the following steps to export the Rose registry keys:
   1. Use the regedit or regedt32 tool to export the following registry key:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Rational Software\Rose
   2. Name the file rose_user.reg.
   3. Using regedit or regedt32, export the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Rational Software\Rose
   4. Name the file rose_local.reg.
   5. Combine the files, rose_user.reg and rose_local.reg, using one of the following methods:
      • On Windows^®, from the command line, type:
        C:\> copy rose_user.reg + rose_local.reg rose.reg
      • On Windows, in Notepad, open both files, copy the contents of one to the end of the other, and save the result. Be sure to save it with the Unicode encoding, specified in the Save As window. Name the file rose.reg.
      • On Linux^® or UNIX^® platforms, from a command line, type:
        $ cat rose_user.reg rose_local.reg > rose.reg
2. From the same Rose computer, copy the stereotype configuration INI files from the base Rose installation and all installed add-ins, plus all of the associated image files, to the computer that is running the new UML modeling product. Be careful to maintain the identical Rose directory structure because the registry and stereotype INI file information depends upon the same structure.
3. In the Rational Rose Model Import wizard, specify the registry export file created in the first step in the Registry file field on the first page of the wizard.
4. Proceed through the wizard to the Map Stereotypes page and ensure that all of the stereotype configuration files obtained in step 2 appear and are mapped to existing or new UML profiles.
5. Finish the wizard to complete the import.

If you encounter an out-of-memory error when loading large Rose models, you will need to increase the heap size for the workbench JVM.

Workaround: You increase memory by passing the "-vmargs -Xmx<size>" arguments on the workbench command line. For example, to specify a 1 GB heap, assuming a typical product installation location:

• On Windows:
  C:\Program Files\IBM\Rational\SDP\6.0\rationalsdp.exe -vmargs -Xmx1024M
• On Linux:
  /opt/IBM/Rational/SDP/6.0/rationalsdp.bin -vmargs -Xmx1024M

For Rose models up to 50 MB in size (including all CAT files), the default JVM settings are usually sufficient. For larger models, consider increasing the heap size.

For Rose models of 50 MB or larger, consider re-factoring the model into smaller units after importing it. Packages can be extracted into separate models using the Create Model from Package command on the pop-up menu. This can help to reduce the amount of model data that is loaded in memory at one time.

When importing a Rational Rose model, if the UML model and profiles are to be created in new projects in a dynamic view in Rational ClearCase Version 6.13, then the model file will be imported, but property sets and stereotypes may fail to be converted to UML profiles. You may see an error indicating that the project in which the profiles were to be generated could not be created; for example, "Cannot create project in non-writable location: test1project_profiles."

Workaround: To use ClearCase dynamic views for imported models:

1. Open the Rose Model Import wizard and create the model and profile projects in some location not in a ClearCase dynamic view.
2. Continue to the next page of the wizard to import the Rose model and stereotypes.
3. Delete the projects from the workspace (do not delete the project contents).
4. Using Windows Explorer, move the project directories into the ClearCase dynamic view.
5. Use the Import Existing Project into Workspace wizard to bring the projects back into the Rational Software Architect, Rational Software Modeler, or Rational Systems Developer workspace.

When importing Association Classes and Generalizations, please note the following issues:

• In Rational Rose, the dotted connectors that attach Association Classes to their Associations can be manually shaped with bendpoints. In Software Architect, Software Modeler, and Systems Developer diagrams, this attachment connector is not persisted in the diagram and is always rendered as a straight line; it cannot be manipulated by the user.
• In Rose, Generalizations are named elements. In UML 2.0, Generalizations are not named elements, so the names of any generalizations in the Rose model that have names will not appear in the diagrams in Software Modeler or Software Architect. The original name of the generalization is stored in the Rose stereotype on the UML generalization.
• In Rose, Associations and Association Classes are separate elements, linked together. In UML, the AssociationClass is represented as a single element. The Rose association and class may both be named, and these names may be different. When they are imported, only the name of the class is retained in the UML association class; the name of the Rose association is stored in the Rose stereotype on the UML association class.

• "Unable to create part" error message is displayed when attempting to open the main Use Case diagram.
• Components in the diagram appear to be distorted.
• Rational Software Architect or Rational Systems Developer stops.

Workaround: Add one VM argument ( -Djava.awt.headless=true) in the rationalsdp.ini file in the UML modeling product's installation directory and restart the product. Alternatively, exit the product and restart in a new workspace.

In addition, the following information, available in the readme for Rational Application Developer, Version 6.0, might be helpful:

Operations might make UML diagrams unusable

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, certain operations might make a UML diagram unusable. In each case, the following error message is displayed:

An internal error occurred while showing an internal error. You are recommended to exit the workbench. Subsequent errors may happen and may terminate the workbench without warning. See the .log file for more details. Do you want to exit the workbench?

The .log file will contain exceptions that are similar to the following ones:

!MESSAGE Failed to execute runnable (java.lang.InternalError: Can't connect to X11window server using ':0.0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable.)

!STACK 0
org.eclipse.swt.SWTException: Failed to execute runnable (java.lang.InternalError:
Can't connect to X11 window server using ':0.0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable.)
    at org.eclipse.swt.SWT.error(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.SWT.error(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Synchronizer.runAsyncMessages(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runAsyncMessages(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.runEventLoop(Workbench.java:1377)

!MESSAGE Can't connect to X11 window server using ':0.0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable.
!STACK 0
java.lang.InternalError: Can't connect to X11 window server using ':0.0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable.
    at sun.awt.X11GraphicsEnvironment.initDisplay(Native Method)
    at sun.awt.X11GraphicsEnvironment.<clinit>(X11GraphicsEnvironment.java:175)
    at java.lang.Class.initializeImpl(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.initialize(Class.java:350)
    at java.lang.Class.forNameImpl(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:116)
    at java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment(GraphicsEnvironment.java:91)
    at java.awt.image.BufferedImage.createGraphics(BufferedImage.java:1073)
    at org.apache.batik.ext.awt.image.GraphicsUtil.createGraphics(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.batik.gvt.filter.GraphicsNodeRed8Bit.genRect(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.batik.gvt.filter.GraphicsNodeRed8Bit.copyData(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.batik.ext.awt.image.rendered.TileCacheRed.genRect(Unknown Source)

To work around this issue, you must exit and restart the product.

Diagram links not imported

A Rational Rose note with a diagram link does not import correctly as a link. In Rose, it is possible to create a note on a diagram, and then drag another diagram onto that note to create a link to that diagram. Double-clicking the note then brings up that linked diagram. The import should preserve such links and allow for the same functionality.

Workaround: Either accomplish this functionality manually after import or create specific diagram links.

When using the Rational Rose Model Import wizard, the Interpret UML 2.0 conventions in the Rose model check box on the Rational Rose Model Import Preferences page has the following impact:

• If the check box is selected, the Rational Rose Model Import wizard will attempt to map Actors in the Rose model to UML 2.0 Actor elements, except in the following cases:
  
  • If the Rose Actor owns any attributes, operations, or state machines (all of which UML 2.0 Actors cannot own).
  • If the Rose Actor has a navigable association with a use case or other classifier (in UML 2.0, the Actor must own the association end in order to maintain navigability, but Actors cannot own properties).
    
    In these cases, the Rational Rose Model Import wizard will map the Actors as UML 2.0 classes.
    
• If the check box is not selected, the Rational Rose Model Import wizard will map the Actors as UML 2.0 classes with the stereotype.

To maintain consistency, do not select this check box and all Actors will be imported as classes.