Migration of previous AIXM 5.1 extension

This section provides guidelines for the migration of previous AIXM 5.1 extensions, which have been created with the Rational Rose Data Modeller. The migration of an existing extension implies two essential steps:

UML migration - export of the extension from Rational Rose Data Modeller and import of the extension in Sparx EA;
XSD regeneration - creation of the new XML Schema extension files from the new EA Sparx UML model extension package

UML migration

The process that was found to work consists in five steps:

export of the full Rose model (core plus extension) in XMI format
import of the full Rose model (core plus extension) in Sparx EA
re-export of just the extension from Sparx EA
import of the extension in the AIXM 5.1.1 Sparx EA Project
manual addition in Sparx EA of the elements lost in this process (all associations between the extension and core model)

XMI Export from IBM Rational Rose

In Rose, the extension is typically located in a package that is controlled through a .cat file, as in the following example:

The migration to Sparx requires passing through an XMI format. For this purpose, the Rose XMI export plug-in ({+}http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21131368+) may be used. The version actually used was "Rose XML Tools-1.3.9A-1.4.1A.exe", which is not available on the IBM Web site, but may be requested.
The UML - XMI / UML 1.3 Tool was used for the XMI export, with the parameters visible in the screenshot below.:

This results in a single XML(XMI) file that contains both the core model and the extension(s).

Full XMI import in Sparx EA

As a general process, attempting to import directly the XMI exported from Rose in the AIXM 5.1.1 .eap file would fail. Therefore, the full XMI is first imported into a new Sparx EA project.
Create a new project in EA Sparx. Import the full AIXM 5.1 with the extension, as generated from Rational Rose in this clean EA Project.

This results in a complete copy of the AIXM 5.1 core model and of the extension in Sparx EA. However, this is not synchronised with the official AIXM 5.1.1 EAP file.
The internal UID in the AIXM 5.1.1 model and in this ad-hoc AIXM 5.1 EAP file are not the same.

Extension XMI export from intermediate Sparx EA project

Select the extension package in the project Browser and then use the menu Project / Model Import/Export / Export package to XMI. Select the location of the export file name.

This will result into a single XML file that contains just the extension classes, properties, associations, diagrams, notes, etc.

Extension XMI import in the AIXM 5.1.1 EA Sparx Project

Open the AIXM 5.1.1 Sparx EA Project, which is the final target of the extension UML migration. Select the AIXM Application Schemes package. Use the menu Project / Model Import/Export / Import package from XMI with the following parameters:

The extension package will appear in Sparx EA, including all its sub-packages, classes and diagrams.

However, all associations to classes outside the extension have most likely been lost. They will have to be manually re-created.

Manual corrections

Class by class and diagram by diagram, add the missing elements.
For example, the AirspaceActivation <<extension>> class has lost its derivation association from the core AIXM AirspaceActivation class. This needs to be re-created in the extension. The same is the case for all other associations that involve classes from the extension and classes from the core model. The associations that are internal to the extension (such as the AirspaceActivation to the MilitaryActivity) are preserved by the migration process described in this chapter.

Re-generation of the Extension XSD Schema

First, apply the same process as for the generation of a newly created extension.
Second, an additional step might be required: re-order the XML extension properties (child elements) that correspond to associations in the UML model so that they appear in the same sequence as in the original extension.