New USE release 4.2.0 and huge ModelValidator update!

Improved usability of the diagrams and interface changes for the Model Validator are new in this version. The list of changes includes:

• [GUI] Improved selection of nodes in diagram views
  • It is now possible to select multiple nodes at once by drawing a selection rectangle around them with the left mouse button
  • Holding down `Shift' during the selection adds objects to the selection
• [GUI] Exporting a diagram now exports the complete diagram instead of only the parts visible in the GUI
• [GUI] In the class diagram it is possible to group multiplicities and rolenames to easier adjust their positions
• [OCL] Improved identification of tautologies and contradiction in OCL parser regarding collection types
• [USE] Added interface to the shell allowing plugins to ask for user input. This takes into account currently read files opened via the shell
• [USE] Many bug fixes in the diagram views

Model Validator 4.2-r1

Along with the new USE version, a compatible version of the Model Validator is released. Many bugs have been squished, a configuration GUI added and warnings help to identify possible problems during the validation of models. Also the latest version of the source files is readily available as an archive. Download plugin here.

• Compatibility to USE 4.2.0
• Added support for derived attributes
• Improvements to the classifying terms
  • Commands fail before entering classifying terms if other parameters lead to failure anyway (e.g. properties file does not exist)
  • Classifying terms can now be named and their values are displayed whenever a solution is shown
  • Tautology and contradiction warnings for classifying terms
• Added support for multiple properties in one file. Categorize your configurations with a name `[category]'. See below for an example. (All commands are updated to use this feature, see documentation in release archive for the syntax)
• Improved interpretation of configuration file
  • Entries like `String = Set{}' to specify that no strings shall be used can and should now be omitted
  • The parser for configuration values is more robust
  • Comments in properties files are now properly handled (line comment: --'; block comment:/ ... /')
  • Fixed bugs when omitting entries
• Added a configuration dialog to create and edit configurations from within the USE tool
• Configuration command is now case-insensitive when chosing a solver and prints a list of loadable solvers on error
• Interface of invariant independency command changed to allow for a property file to be specified
• A lot of warnings were added to help identify possible problems during the validation
  • Print warnings when evaluations (including intermediate expressions) result in Bag or Sequence type. The Model Validator will treat them as Sets, which might differ from the modelers intention
  • Print clear warning for sum operation on Bag and Sequence that it will operate on Set and the result might be wrong
  • Print warning when the configuration contains numbers larger than the used bitwidth
• Fixes for encoding of oclAsType operation
• Bug fixes regarding scrolling commands (including classifying terms)

Configuration file example with multiple configurations

[config1]
Integer_min = -10
Integer_max = 10

[config2]
Integer_min = -30
Integer_max = 30

Usage example: modelvalidator -validate 'file.properties' config1
See documentation (packaged in the archive) for the full description of the syntax for all commands.