Profiles: Stereotype inheritance

[Uffe]

Hey beveryody,


I'm working on a Profile and I'm wondering if what I'm experiencing is as it should be.

First off, I create two abstract Stereotypes MyStereo and MyTag which <<extend>> Class, then add four concrete Stereotypes MyStereoA and MyStereoB which Generalize MyStereo, and MyTagA and MyTagB which Generalize MyTag.
I then want MyStereoA to have a tag of type MyTagA, and MyStereoB to have a tag of type MyTagB. I can do this - but the tags cannot have the same name (MyTag). I must name them differently, eg aMyTag and bMyTag.

Secondly, I can specify that a Stereotype should be composite (_makeComposite, _defaultDiagramType) - but if I do that on the abstract MyStereo, the concrete MyStereoA and MyStereoB are not made composite when dragged in from the Resources tab.

Are these bugs or am I UMLing wrong?

Cheers,


/Uffe

[KP]

I then want MyStereoA to have a tag of type MyTagA, and MyStereoB to have a tag of type MyTagB. I can do this - but the tags cannot have the same name (MyTag). I must name them differently, eg aMyTag and bMyTag.

Yes, I'm afraid tag names must be unique at the profile level.

Secondly, I can specify that a Stereotype should be composite (_makeComposite, _defaultDiagramType) - but if I do that on the abstract MyStereo, the concrete MyStereoA and MyStereoB are not made composite when dragged in from the Resources tab.

EDIT: see Simon's answer below. Rightly or wrongly, _makeComposite and _defaultDiagramType aren't inherited. You will need to add them to all subclasses that need them (which is pretty easy: just drag and drop from the project browser).

[Uffe]

Hi again,

Thanks for that.

Yes, I'm afraid tag names must be unique at the profile level.

Well, not unique unique. I can reuse the same name for tags in different stereotypes, just not stereotypes with a common ancestor. Or is it because in the former case, my <<taggedValue>> connectors actually point to the same stereotype too, while in the latter they point to different stereotypes with a common ancestor? I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Either way, I can make the profile work so it's no biggie.

Rightly or wrongly, _makeComposite and _defaultDiagramType aren't inherited. You will need to add them to all subclasses that need them (which is pretty easy: just drag and drop from the project browser).

Weerrlll...

If I try to add the attributes to the stereotype itself, they come out as tags in the imported profile. Instead, I have to remove the <<extends>> from the abstract stereotype and make each concrete stereotype <<extend>> the metaclass. (If I retain the <<extends>> from the abstract stereotype I end up with two copies of each concrete one.)
This makes the profile diagrams a bit messy but again, it works.

[Eve]

http://www.sparxsystems.com/uml_tool_guide/sdk_for_enterprise_architect/creating_composite_elements.html

The _makeComposite attribute is applied to a metaclass element, not a stereotype element.