Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

NIEM MPD Generation

Generating the IEPD can be considered an iterative process. You do not have to wait until your NIEM model is complete before you generate an IEPD from it.

Your NIEM MPD diagram should contain an instance specification of a Model Package Description. The MPD instance and its relationships to Conformance Target instances as well as other artifacts, is a representation of the MPD catalog. When you generate an MPD from your model, Enterprise Architect will generate a catalog file and other artifacts, based on the items in your MPD model. It will also generate NIEM schemas for the <<InformationModel>> Packages referenced by your model. The result will be a collection of files output into the directory you specify for the generation process.

Steps for generating an MPD

Step

Action

1

Your NIEM MPD diagram should contain an Instance Specification of a Model Package Description.

Select the MPD instance, either on the diagram or in the Project Browser.

2

Right-click the MPD instance to open the pop-up menu or go to the main menu, and select the 'Extensions | NIEM 3.0 | Generate NIEM 3.0 Schema' option.

The 'Generate NIEM MPD Schemas' dialog displays.

3

In the 'Directory' field, type or browse for the directory path into which to generate the MPD.

4

For NIEM 3.0 generation, the 'NIEM Version' field is preset to '3.0'. (This value is fixed.)

The 'MPD Artifacts' panel lists the static MPD artifacts and common artifacts (Catalog, Metadata) used in this model, each with its relative path.

Select or deselect the checkboxes beside these items to generate or skip these items.

The 'Namespace Schema(s)' panel shows the schema files that will be generated for the information models.

Select or deselect the checkbox beside a Namespace Schema to generate or skip that schema.

Select a Namespace Schema to display Package details for that schema.

Double-click on the Package details to update the values for 'Namespace' or 'Namespace Prefix' for that Package.

5

Click on the Generate button.

Once the generation has completed successfully, clicking the View Schema button opens Windows Explorer, showing the contents of the output directory used for generation.  If the Catalog Artifact has been deselected, then clicking the View Schema button will open an editor to view the schema file associated with the currently selected Namespace Package.

Notes

  • The output location of the static MPD artifacts (appinfo.xsd, structures.xsd, etc.) is determined using a path that is relative to the output location you specify for your MPD model's "niem-core" subset schema. The relative path for appinfo is "..\..\appinfo\3.0\". The output location of the niem-core subset schema is specified by the "pathURI" tag value on the usage connector that relates it to the ModelPackageDescription instance specification. This value is preset in the IEPD Starter Model pattern as "base-xsd\niem\niem-core\3.0\". If the niem-core pathURI value is not changed, then this results in an output path for appinfo that is "base-xsd\niem\appinfo\3.0\".