OPM Scheme Editor 2: A graphical editor for specifying object-protocol structures

Abstract

This document describes an X-window based Schema Editor for the Object-Protocol Model (OPM). OPM is a data model that supports the specification of complex object and protocol classes. objects and protocols are qualified in OPM by attributes that are defined over (associated with) value classes. Connections of object and protocol classes are expressed in OPM via attributes. OPM supports the specification (expansion) of protocols in terms of alternative and sequences of component (sub) protocols. The OPM Schema Editor allows specifying, displaying, modifying, and browsing through OPM schemas. The OPM Schema Editor generates an output file that can be used as input to an OPM schema translation tool that maps OPM schemas into definitions for relational database management systems. The OPM Schema Editor was implemented using C++ and the X11 based Motif toolkit, on Sun SPARCstation under Sun Unix OS 4.1. This document consists of the following parts: (1) A tutorial consisting of seven introductory lessons for the OPM Schema Editor. (2) A reference manual describing all the windows and functions of the OPM Schema Editor. (3) An appendix with an overview of OPM.