Jyväskylä , Finland—February 21, 2012—MetaCase (www.metacase.com), provider of the leading domain-specific modeling (DSM) environment, MetaEdit+®, today announced a new extension for Microsoft Visual Studio. The extension allows users to work with MetaEdit+ models directly from Visual Studio. It also automatically imports source code generated from the MetaEdit+ models into Visual Studio, and builds and runs it there.
Unlike other modeling approaches, Domain-Specific Modeling utilizes high-level models which describe things in the terms of a company’s individual problem domain, instead of attempting to visualize the code developers will write. These models directly mirror real-world objects, allowing developers to make better designs with less effort and enabling them to generate full, production-quality code that interfaces correctly with their existing software platforms, frameworks, components and libraries.
The MetaEdit+ extension brings to Visual Studio the possibility to use several domain-specific languages in an integrated manner. Model elements can be shared and reused in multiple models, even across different languages. Code generators can access multiple models in different languages, and generate to multiple files. The link to MetaEdit+ also broadens Visual Studio’s model visualization possibilities, allowing models to be expressed as diagrams, matrices and tables – even at the same time.
The extension allows also generators to import and integrate the generated code with other code in Visual Studio, e.g. third-party frameworks or hand-written business logic. The integration also enables debugging at the model level: while running the application code, the execution can be traced in the models as well as the code.
“By integrating multiple DSLs, the extension offers ideal support for team work. For example, interaction specialists can use their own DSLs to model the interactions while developers use other languages to specify details, and the code from both is generated into the same Visual Studio solution”, said Dr. Juha-Pekka Tolvanen, CEO of MetaCase.
The MetaEdit+ extension for Visual Studio is available from the Visual Studio Gallery. The extension comes with full guides for using the extension and taking best advantage of it in your own modeling. The source code of the extension is also available for customization at CodePlex (http://graphbrowser.codeplex.com/).
About MetaCase
MetaCase is the leading provider of Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) environments. Since 1991, MetaCasehas been enabling its customers to improve their productivity and competitiveness with modeling languages and generators designed to meet their needs. The company’s flagship product, MetaEdit+®, is providing thousands of developers worldwide with a more productive, higher-quality approach to system and software development. For additional information, including a full media kit and product evaluation details, visit www.metacase.com.
