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. Pricing for normal licenses starts at 5500 €. 

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.