Abstract
The UML has recently been extended by an Object Constraint Language (OCL). This formal language can be used for specifying constraints on a model in order to restrict possible system states. We present some examples for illustrating main concepts of OCL. Problems with the current definition of OCL resulting from imprecise or ambiguous definitions are investigated. A comparison of OCL with a language for specification of queries and integrity constraints in an Extended Entity-Relationship model shows similarities between both approaches. This comparison could lead to a better understanding of OCL.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
ATZENI, P., BATINI, C., LENZERINI, M., and VILLANELLI, F. (1981): INCOD: A System for Conceptual Design of Data and Transactions in the Entity-Relationship Model. In P. P. Chen (ed.): Proc. 2nd Int. Conf on the Entity-Relationship Approach (ER’81). North Holland, 375–410.
BEERI, C. (1990): A Formal Approach to Object-Oriented Databases. Data & Knowledge Engineering, 5(4), 353–382.
BOOCH, G. (1994): Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications. Benjamin/Cummings.
BU’l’IERWORTH, P., OTIS, A., and STEIN, J. (1991): The GemStone Object Database Management System. Communications of the ACM, 34(10), 64–77.
CARDELLI, L. and WEGNER, P. (1985): On Understanding Types, Data Abstraction and Polymorphism. ACM Computing Surveys, 17(4), 471–522.
CAIELL, R. G. G. (1997): The Object Database Standard: ODMG 2. 0. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.
CHEN, P. P. (1976): The Entity-Relationship Model—Toward a Unified View of Data. ACM Trans. on Database Systems, 1(1), 9–36.
DEUX, O. (1991): The O2 System. Communications of the ACM, 34(10), 34–48.
DOS SANTOS, C. S., NEUHOLD, E. J., and FURTADO, A. L. (1979): A Data Type Approach to the Entity-Relationship Approach. In P. R Chen (ed.): Entity-Relationship Approach to Systems Analysis and Design. Proc. 1st International Conference on the Entity-Relationship Approach. Los Angeles, California, USA. North Holland, 103–119.
EDER, J., KAPPEL, G., TJOA, A. M., and WAGNER, R. R. (1987): BIER—The Behavior Integrated Entity-Relationship Approach. In S. Spaccapietra (ed.): EntityRelationship Approach: Ten Years of Experience in Information Modeling, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Entity-Relationship Approach, Dijon, France, November 17–19, 1986. North-Holland, 147–166.
ELMASRI, R., WEELDREYER, J., and HEVNER, A. (1985): The Category Concept: An Extension to the Entity Relationship Model. Data & Knowledge Engineering, 1, 75–116.
JACOBSON, I., CHRISTERSON, M., JONSSON, P., and OVERGAARD, G. (1992): Object-Oriented Software Engineering: A Use Case Driven Approach. Addison-Wesley.
LAMB, C., LANDIS, G., ORENSTEIN, J., and WEINREIB, D. (1991): The ObjectStore Database System. Communications of the ACM, 34(10), 50–63.
PARENT, C. and SPACCAPIETRA, S. (1989): Complex Objects Modeling: An Entity- Relationship-Approach. In: S. Abiteboul, P. C. Fischer, and H.-J. Schek, (eds.): Nested Relations and Complex Objects, Papers from the Workshop “Theory and Applications of Nested Relations and Complex Objects”, Darmstadt, Germany, April 6–8, 1987,Vol. 361 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science,272–296.
RATIONAL (1997a): Unified Modeling Language, Version 1.1. Rational Software Corporation, 2800 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051–0951 (USA), URL: http://www. rational. com.
RATIONAL (1997b): UML Semantics. Published as part of RATIONAL (1997a).
RATIONAL (1997c): Object Constraint Language Specification. Published as part of RATIONAL (1997a).
RICHTERS, M. and GOGOLLA, M. (1997): A Web-based Animator for Validating Object Specifications. In: B. C. Desai and B. Eaglestone (eds.): IDEAS’97: International Database Engineering & Applications Symposium, Montreal, Canada, August 25–27, 1997, 211–219.
RUMBAUGH, J., BLAHA, M., PREMERLANI, W., EDDY, F., and LORENSON, W. (1991): Object-Oriented Modeling and Design. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (NJ).
WARMER, J., HOGG, J., COOK, S., and SELIC, B. (1997): Experience with Formal Specification of CMM and UML. In: H. Kilov and B. Rumpe, (eds.): Proceedings of the ECOOP’97 Workshop on Precise Semantics for Object-Oriented Modeling Techniques, Jyväskylä, Finland, 10 June 1997. TU München, TUM-I9725.
WEI, G. and TEOREY, T. (1991): The ORAC Model: A Unified View of Data Abstraction. In: T. J. Teorey, (ed.), Proc. 10th Int. Conf. on Entity-Relationship Approach (ER’91). ER Institute, Pittsburgh (CA), 31–58.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gogolla, M., Richters, M. (1998). On Constraints and Queries in UML. In: Schader, M., Korthaus, A. (eds) The Unified Modeling Language. Physica-Verlag HD. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48673-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48673-9_8
Publisher Name: Physica-Verlag HD
Print ISBN: 978-3-7908-1105-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-48673-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive