Exporter for Graphical DSL Instance

General

The data schema described here is expected for the transfer of an instance of the graphical DSL instance from the frontend to the backend.

Graphical DSL Instance

The model used for the generation is then filled from this predefined data structure in the backend. The data to be transported is read from the UI state of the JointJS framework used in the frontend.

Exporter Structure

Basically, the data is transmitted in a JSON format, which has the in basic structure defined entities at the top level.

Basic Structure

Definition of the top level of the graphical DSL instance.

{
   "name": "String",
   "classes": [],
   "references": [],
   "enums": [],
   "attributes": [],
   "methods": [],
   "uiState":"{json}"
}

Definition:

Key	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the graphical DSL instance
classes	List of Nodes	List of all in the graphical DSL instance modeled nodes
references	List of Edges	List of all in the graphical DSL instance modeled edges
enums	Empty list	Deprecated data structures
attributes	Empty list	Deprecated data structures
methods	empty list	Deprecated data structures
uiState	JSON structure	Actually: Empty. In Future: The UI state of the (yFiles) graph

Deprecated Data Structures

At the highest level, the definitions of enums, attributes and methods are no longer supported by the backend. However, since the model in the backend still expects the entities, an empty placeholder must also be passed.

Nodes

Nodes represent the instances of entities defined in the concept.

"nodes": [
   {
      "name": "String",
      "className": "String",
      "outputEdgeNames": ["String"],
      "inputEdgeNames": ["String"],
      "attributes": [],
      "attributeValues": {},
      "methods": []
   }
]

Definition of a node:

Key	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the node
className	String	Name of the concept entity that is instantiated by the node
outputEdgeNames	Strings	List of all edges starting from the node
inputEdgeNames	Strings	List of all edges that go into the node
attributes	List of Attributes	List of definitions of the properties of the attributes that are used
attributeValues	Object	Values of the attributes
methods	empty list	Deprecated data structures

Edges

Edges represent the instances of references defined in the concept for specific entities.

"edges": [
   {
      "name": "String",
      "referenceName": "String",
      "sourceNodeName": "String",
      "targetNodeName": "String",
      "attributes": [],
      "attributeValues": {},
      "methods": []
   }
]

Definition of an edge:

Key	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the Edge
referenceName	String	Name of the concept reference that is instantiated by the Edge
sourceNodeName	Strings	ID of the source node
targetNodeName	Strings	ID of the target node
attributes	List of Attributes	List of definitions of the properties of the attributes that are used
attributeValues	Object	Values of the attributes
methods	empty list	Deprecated data structures

Attributes

The definition of an attribute is divided into two areas. On the one hand, "attributes" defines the properties of an attribute, while "attributeValues" stores the values belonging to the respective attributes.

The connection between those two areas is made using the name of the attribute. The name is defined in "attributes" and used as a key in "attributeValues". These must match.

attributes

"attributes" defines the properties required for the specific attribute. These can differ from the properties defined in the concept and must therefore be specified individually for each attribute.

"attributes": [
   {
      "name": "AttributName",
      "globalUnique": "Boolean",
      "localUnique": "Boolean",
      "type": "String",
      "default": {
         "value": "String",
         "type": "String"
      },
      "constant": "Boolean",
      "singleAssignment": "Boolean",
      "expression": "String",
      "ordered": "Boolean",
      "transient": "Boolean"
   }
]

Definition of an attribute:

Key	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the Attribute
globalUnique	Boolean	Deprecated propertie Defines whether the attribute should be globally unique
localUnique	Boolean	Deprecated propertie Defines whether the attribute should be locally unique.
type	Strings	Type of the Attribute
default	Object	Default value for the attribute. Corresponds to the structure of an attributeValue
constant	Boolean	Deprecated propertie
singleAssignment	Boolean	Deprecated propertie
expression	String	Deprecated propertie
ordered	Boolean	Deprecated propertie
transient	Boolean	Deprecated propertie

attributeValues

"attributeValues" is defined by the name of the attribute that contains a list of values. Each value must define the type of the attribute again in addition to the actual value. Regardless of whether the multiline property of the attribute is set or not, a list of attributes is always expected.

"attributeValues": {
   "anAttributeValueName": [
      {
         "value": "String",
         "type": "String"
      }
   ]
}

Definition of an attribute value:

Key	Type	Description
value	String	Value of the Attribute
type	String	Type of the Attribute

An attribute always returns a list of values, regardless of whether multiline is set in the properties or not.

The type information is defined both in "attributes" and in "attributeValues", which leads to redundancy. Therefore, care should be taken to always use the same type. Or it is recommended to resolve this redundancy in the future.

Example

Example:

{
  "name": "exampleGrapicalDslInstance",
  "graphicalDslId": "543efc93-6501-4bcf-8fa1-15ea2444fc53",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "0b82ac75-5255-4c1a-a4a4-5c0d14036e28",
      "className": "Klasse",
      "outputEdgeNames": [],
      "inputEdgeNames": ["2c4a2b20-b816-471a-9d5c-901a2088c4d0"],
      "attributes": [
        {
          "name": "anAttibute",
          "globalUnique": false,
          "localUnique": false,
          "type": "String",
          "default": {
            "value": "",
            "type": "String"
          },
          "constant": false,
          "singleAssignment": false,
          "expression": "",
          "ordered": false,
          "transient": false
        }, {
          "name": "anotherAttribute",
          "globalUnique": false,
          "localUnique": false,
          "type": "String",
          "default": {
            "value": "",
            "type": "String"
          },
          "constant": false,
          "singleAssignment": false,
          "expression": "",
          "ordered": false,
          "transient": false
        }
      ],
      "attributeValues": {
        "anAttibute": [
          {
            "value": "anExampleValue",
            "type": "String"
          }
        ],
        "anotherAttribute": [
          {
            "value": "anotherExampleValue",
            "type": "String"
          }
        ]
      },
      "methods": []
    },
    {
      "name": "d3af3baa-0567-476f-b1a6-7fb2b3625aab",
      "className": "Klasse",
      "outputEdgeNames": ["2c4a2b20-b816-471a-9d5c-901a2088c4d0"],
      "inputEdgeNames": [],
      "attributes": [],
      "attributeValues": {},
      "methods": []
    }
  ],
  "edges": [
    {
      "name": "2c4a2b20-b816-471a-9d5c-901a2088c4d0",
      "referenceName": "hasReference",
      "sourceNodeName": "d3af3baa-0567-476f-b1a6-7fb2b3625aab",
      "targetNodeName": "0b82ac75-5255-4c1a-a4a4-5c0d14036e28",
      "attributes": [
        {
          "name": "edgeAttribute",
          "globalUnique": false,
          "localUnique": false,
          "type": "String",
          "default": {
            "value": "",
            "type": "String"
          },
          "constant": false,
          "singleAssignment": false,
          "expression": "",
          "ordered": false,
          "transient": false
        }
      ],
      "attributeValues": {
        "edgeAttribute": [
          {
            "value": "ExampleValueInEdges",
            "type": "String"
          }
        ]
      },
      "methods": []
    }
  ],
  "attributes": [],
  "attributeValues": {},
  "methods": []
}