3.1.2 Main Launcher

The Main Launcher is a tool for accessing the various components of MetaEdit+ as well as for configuring the functionality of the MetaEdit+ environment. Figure 3–5 shows a Launcher.

Please note that the appearance of the Launcher may vary depending on the MetaEdit+ version and current user privileges. Figure 3–5 illustrates a Launcher for the plain MetaEdit+ Modeler when logged in with ordinary user privileges. A Launcher for MetaEdit+ Workbench edition including API and metamodeling tools is shown in Figure 3–6.

Accessing MetaEdit+ tools

As illustrated in the figure above, tools can be accessed from the menus and toolbar buttons. Repository management, browsers, editors, and language development tools have their own menus in the Launcher. Browsers are also integrated as part of the main Launcher itself. Their functionality is explained in Section 3.2.

Exiting MetaEdit+

To exit MetaEdit+, simply close the Launcher window or select Repository | Exit.... If uncommitted changes have been made, you will be prompted whether to commit or abandon them before exiting.

If MetaEdit+ should be in a state where a normal exit is not possible, you can try to perform an emergency exit by holding Shift down while closing the Launcher. Note that some operating systems where windows are closed from a menu require that you first open the menu without Shift, and press Shift when selecting the close option from the menu.

Creating and opening projects

Once logged in you can open existing projects or create new ones. To open projects select Repository | Open Project... and choose one or more projects from the dialog that opens.

If you want to create a new project choose Repository | New Project.... This choice opens a window asking for a project name. Check with your system administrator about project creation, access rights, and naming conventions. Note that you must remember to set the new project as the default in order to add graphs and related design information to it.

It is also possible to open, create and close projects from Browsers; for more information about this, see Section 3.2.

Saving your work

The Commit and Abandon buttons (as in Figure 3–7) in the Launcher toolbar accept or reject the work you have done since the start of your current transaction: a transaction is started when you log in, and when you commit or abandon a previous transaction. You can also access these commands from the Repository menu.

The Changes & Versions button (Figure 3–8) lets you inspect the changes you have made in the current or previous transactions, add version comments and create versions: see Section 3.4. If your MetaEdit+ license includes the API features, this includes integration with external Version Control Systems such as git or TortoiseSVN: see Section 3.5.

Options

The Launcher allows you to configure the MetaEdit+ environment via the Repository | Options menu or the Options button from the Launcher toolbar (Figure 3–9). Both open an Options Tool, described in Section 3.1.3.

Statistics

Repository | Statistics... opens a window describing information about how many new objects have been created during the transaction, how many objects have been changed, and how many repository objects are currently loaded in the client. Other statistics include the size of the image and memory usage.

Load More Repository

Because MetaEdit+ intelligently loads information from the repository only as it is accessed, and flushes little-used objects when memory is low to improve performance, some objects may not be found when accessed by their type. Repository | Load More Repository allows you to load more of the repository contents, and can be used if you think there should be an object available but MetaEdit+ does not list it. Another way is to access the object by following links from objects already loaded, e.g. opening graphs or property dialogs.

In general, searching for design data by type will only show data that has already been read from the repository (all graphs in a project and their immediately contained objects, roles and relationships are read automatically when the project is opened). Searching for data by following links, e.g. explode or properties, is the preferred method, as it is always possible to follow these links in full. Especially at the start of a session, searches by type on data other than graphs are likely to miss many objects, as they have not yet been loaded.

Undo/redo

Operations can be undone or redone via the Launcher’s undo and redo buttons (Figure 3–10) or by selecting Undo or Redo from the Launcher’s Edit menu. However, bear in mind that as data can be shared across multiple models and editors, undo/redo is global for the whole MetaEdit+ environment, i.e. changes made in one editor can be undone/redone from another editor or from the Launcher.

Browsers and Graph Manager

Though browsers are integrated as part of the Launcher, it is also possible to open separate instances of them. Graph, Type and Object Browsers as well as the Graph Manager are accessible from the Browsers menu, while the Metamodel Browser can be found from the Metamodel menu. For more information on browsers, see Section 3.2.

Editors

Individual editors can be accessed from the Edit menu. For more information about the various editors, see Chapter 4.

Metamodeling tools

In MetaEdit+ Workbench, metamodeling tools can be accessed either from the Metamodel menu or from the Launcher toolbar (Figure 3–11). The metamodeling tools are described in ‘MetaEdit+ Workbench User’s Guide’.

Generator Editor

In MetaEdit+ Workbench the Generator Editor can be accessed either from the Metamodel menu or from the Launcher toolbar (Figure 3–12). A more detailed description of the Generator Editor can be found from ‘MetaEdit+ Workbench User’s Guide’.

Frequently used and import-export operations

In addition to the previous features, the Launcher toolbar also provides buttons (Figure 3–13) for creating a new graph, generating code or documentation, importing, exporting, and launching the API tool (with the optional API add-on product). Depending on the currently used modeling language, toolbar may also show quick-access buttons for various graph level generators.

Figure 3–13. Toolbar buttons for frequently used and import-export operations.