New MetaEdit+ 4.5 is released

MetaCase has released version 4.5 of MetaEdit+, its customizable modeling and code generation environment. MetaEdit+ is aimed at expert developers who want to generate efficient, complete code directly from domain-specific models.

The new version makes MetaEdit+ completely open by providing external access to both metamodels and models. Integration is available via XML or programmatically with any programming language based on .NET/SOAP/WebServices standard API.

New Introductory License for 150 €! As a special offer to accompany the new release, we offer companies their first license of the top of the line MetaEdit+ Workbench edition for 150 €. With this offer we want to make sure that nobody misses out on finding out just how much value MetaEdit+ can offer.

New 4.5 features in a nutshell: 

Enhanced Diagram Editor

  • Integrated sidebar with treeview browser and property sheet 
  • Rich symbols with fountain fills, conditional elements 
  • Autolayout with alternative directions and layouts (diagonal, manhattan) 
  • Access individual generators straight from the toolbar 
  • New export formats for diagrams (XML, PNG) 

Graphical metamodeling for language design 

  • Specify basic metamodels (concepts, their connections and rules) graphically 
  • Export graphical metamodels to XML
  • Importing XML metamodels in MetaEdit+ creates a new modeling language or multiple integrated languages for further extending 

New Generator Editor for making generators 

  • Generators are now compiled instead of interpreted (generators made with previous versions of MetaEdit+ update automatically) 
  • Regenerate files without losing any modifications 
  • Set protected blocks for the generated output 
  • Live code: click generated code to see the source model element which that part of the code came from
  • Syntax checking and error highlighting 
  • Sort and search generators, e.g. based on call structure, creation time, failed, debugged with breakpoints etc. 

Generator debugger to debug running generators

  • Shows model data accessed, current generator, variables used and output code generated so far
  • Breakpoints and various debug execution commands such as Step into/over/out and run to cursor
  • Generated code provides links back to models, allowing tracing back to models to see where the code is generated from

XML import/export for metamodels and models 

  • Store complete metamodels in XML, including its concepts, rules, symbols and generators 
  • Import metamodels into MetaEdit+ from any source that can generate XML following our schema 
  • Update metamodels via XML import 

Enhanced access to repository based on NET/SOAP/WebServices standard 

  • Programmatic external access for both the conceptual data and representations 
  • API supports all operations for create, read, update and delete 
  • Accessible from all major languages (Java, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Perl etc.) & platforms (Windows, Linux, HP-UX, Solaris etc.) 

Extended metamodeling power 

  • New constraint types for occurrence and uniqueness 
  • New property types such as Creation Timestamp, Radio buttons, and SOAP property type to add data to the language via a webservice 
  • Regular expressions to specify rules for property values
  • Export of Metamodels in XML 

Improved Symbol Editor

  • Import symbol elements for the language in SVG format (1.2 Tiny) in addition to bitmaps 
  • Fountain fills representation added to symbol definitions 
  • Regular expressions to specify symbol element conditions 
  • Modify symbol contents and elements dynamically with generators 
  • Symbol library to access all available symbols for reuse

Improved user interface 

  • Language symbols visible in lists, browsers, toolbars and menus 
  • Faster modeling operations (fewer clicks, fewer dialogs)

+ dozens of other improvements

The evaluation version of MetaEdit+ Workbench 4.5 for Windows is available to download.