XGraphML-A Tool for Transforming UML to GraphML

Abstract

This paper proposes and implements XGraphML, a tool which transforms a file from a UML format to a GraphML using XSLT and JAXP technologies. The tool connects ArgoUML with VEGGIE through this transformation. ArgoUML is an open-source tool used to model software artifacts through UML diagrams and uses UML as a standard saving mechanism. On the other hand, VEGGIE (i.e., the Visual Environment for Graph Grammar Induction and Engineering) utilizes GraphML as a standard saving mechanism. XGraphML takes a UML file as input and produces a corresponding GraphML file. Based on XGraphML, software engineers use ArgoUML to model software artifacts and then pass the designed model to VEGGIE for further analysis. A stylesheet is used to transform UML format to a GraphML. The stylesheet is processed using the XGraphML tool that has been introduced through this paper. XGraphML provides a way to transform one major graph format to another. This tool is built on the base of Java, which is one of the most common programming languages and enhances extendibility for further use. Furthermore, a graphical user interface has been implemented which enables the users to view the transformation on the screen and then save it to the desired location on the system.