- All Known Implementing Classes:
- XmiExternalReferenceElement, XmiInternalReferenceElement, XmiMappedReference, XmiReferenceAttribute, XmiReferenceElement
public interface XmiReference
This interface is used to abstract away differences between the various
types of XMI references allowed within the XMI format. XMI references are
found in both XML attributes as well as XML elements in an XMI source.
XMI ID's and XMI References.
XMI id's are system generated identifiers (typically UUID's) resulting from
the serialization of a model, typically a graph structure, as XML which is a
strict hierarchy. They are found within the (XMI namespace) xmi:id attribute
of many XML elements in a typical XMI formatted file. While the xmi:id attribute
uniquely identifies a single entity within a model, the id may be used to
refer to the entity from any number of other locations within XMI file. XMI
references may be encoded as attributes or elements and may be encoded in several
ways. In addition, multiple references may be found with the same XMI attribute
or element, referring to any number of other entities within the file.
Internal and External References
Internal XMI references are those that target model entities within the same XMI
source where the reference is found. For instance for an internal reference '123' to
be valid, some element within the same file must have an xmi:id attribute equal
to '123'. External XMI references target model entities from an XMI source outside
the source where the reference is found. External references are encoded differently
than internal references and are only found as XML elements.
- Author:
- Scott Cinnamond