Vocabulary
Openflexo has its own words for ideas you probably already know. This table maps them.
| Usual name | Openflexo name | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| model | virtual model | a model made of concepts whose properties come from other models |
| concept | flexo concept | a concept of a virtual model, with its properties and behaviours |
| port | model slot | the connection between a virtual model and a resource |
| connector | technology adapter | the component giving access to one kind of resource |
Federation
Model. Any source of information is a model: a spreadsheet, an XML document, a database, a drawing. How its content is interpreted can be explicit (a schema) or implicit; technology adapters are there to give it meaning.
Technology adapter (TA). The contract Openflexo has with one kind of resource (Excel files, XML documents, EMF models…). It offers one or several model slots, and through them the operations to read the resource and, where supported, create, update and delete its content and be notified of changes. Adapters are also called connectors. Each one has a status, see the repository map.
Resource. An external source of information managed by Openflexo but not stored by it: a file, a database, a server.
Resource center. A place Openflexo looks for resources and models: a directory, or a jar on the classpath. Everything Openflexo can see comes from a registered resource center.
Model slot. The port through which a virtual model reaches a resource. There are three kinds:
- a free model slot, when the structure of the data is an external meta-model written as a Java API;
- a type-aware model slot, when the structure is described in another format, such as an XML Schema or a JSON Schema;
- a reflected model slot, when there is no external meta-model and an FML virtual model itself defines the structure.
Virtual model. The model in which federation happens. It is made of flexo concepts and declares its model slots.
Flexo concept. A concept of a virtual model. Its properties can be plain values, links to other concepts, or values read from a model slot, or computed. Its behaviours describe what can be done with it: creating and deleting an instance, running an action, navigating.
Virtual model instance. The running side of a virtual model: the concrete instances of its concepts, bound to actual resources. It can be saved and loaded again.
Languages
FML (Flexo Modeling Language). The textual language in which virtual models and flexo concepts
are written (.fml files). It is the language that connects the models.
FML script. The imperative side of FML (.fmlscript files): commands and scripts to load
resources, run behaviours and check results, used from the command line and in tests.
The frameworks underneath
Connie. The expression language and binding framework: the expressions you write in FML are evaluated by Connie.
Pamela. The modeling framework on which Openflexo's own model objects are built.
Gina. The framework for user interfaces, used by the Openflexo applications.
Diana. The framework for diagrams and 2D drawings.
The repository map lists the repository of each of them.