AUML-2 & Interaction Diagram Tool

This web page describes a textual notation for describing interaction diagrams and interaction protocols in a (subset of) AUML-2. There is also an associated (prototype!) tool that takes these textual descriptions and generates a graphical diagram (in encapsulated postscript).

Further information:

Some slides describing the tool (ppt, pdf, pdf-6up)
The textual notation and tool support is covered in the following papers. The ISEAT paper was the first published description, the demonstration just mentions the support in PDT briefly, whereas the more recent journal paper is the most comprehensive (and definitive) version.
- Michael Winikoff. Towards Making Agent UML Practical: A Textual Notation and a Tool. First international workshop on Integration of Software Engineering and Agent Technology (ISEAT 2005). September 2005, Melbourne, Australia.
- Lin Padgham, John Thangarajah, Michael Winikoff. AUML Protocols and Code Generation in the Prometheus Design Tool. Accepted as a demonstration to be given at the Sixth International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2007).
- Michael Winikoff. Defining syntax and providing tool support for Agent UML using a textual notation, International Journal Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.123-144, 2007.

NEW: Similar functionality has now been built into the Prometheus Design Tool (PDT), making the prototype tool obsolete.

Usage

Prepare a text file with a description. In the steps below we assume that this is in a file called test.

Download auml.pl
./auml.pl test
wish test.tk
ghostview test.eps

Notes:

Wish requires an X display to be available, so run it on an xterm or under vncviewer, not using telnet/ssh
auml.pl is written in perl and generates a Tcl/Tk script. Both Perl and Tcl/Tk are installed on yallara.

Download: auml-new.pl. (or older version or even older version)

Input Format

An input file consists of a series of commands, one command per line. Usually, the first few commands define agents/roles and then the rest of the file defines messages between them. The order that agents appear from left to right is the order in which they are defined.

Available commands are the following: (guard, sub, goto and label are new)

start protocol name - occurs at the start and gives the protocol name. This indicated that an AUML-2 protocol is being defined rather than an interaction diagram.
finish - occurs at the end of the file and indicates the end of the protocol. Only used if you have start.
agent shortname longname - defines an agent. The shortname is used to refer to the agent in messages whereas the longname is what is displayed in the diagram. For example, agent c Customer.
role shortname longname - same as agent shortname longname.
invis shortname longname - used to create an agent with no lifeline. Useful for having a source for initial messages (see the examples below). Note that the longname isn't used but something must still be there.
message from to message description - a message; note that short names are used to refer to agents. For example, message c s Response.
backup - used to shift the current point backwards. Normally having two messages has the first message occuring before the second. By putting a backup before the second message the two messages will be simultaneous (see the examples below).
skip - opposite of backup. Creates space.
box type - creates an AUML box. For example, box alt.
next - creates a dashed line within an AUML box indicating the next region.
end type - closes an AUML box. Note that the type is optional, if it is given it must match with the opening box.
guard guard text - places a guard
sub sub protocol name - invokes a sub-protocol
goto name of label - a "goto" continuation
label name of label - a "label" (or target) continuation
action agent action text - this is one way of presenting actions. It is not conformant with the AUML-2 standard. It's basically a variant of a guard: the action text is placed centered over the lifeline of the named (using the short name) agent.

Converting Postscript to Other Formats

Firstly, why postscript? Because it produces high quality printouts and can be scaled to any resolution.

Converting to bitmap formats (e.g. for the web, for powerpoint presentations) can be done using ghostview. Under windows, ghostview offers a convert option. Under unix, you can call gs with various command line arguments to convert postscript to a range of formats.

For example, the following command converts eg1.eps to eg1.jpg:
gs -sDEVICE=ppm -sOutputFile=- -r100x100 -sNOPAUSE -q eg1.eps -c showpage -c quit | pnmcrop| cjpeg > eg1.jpg

Examples

Firstly, a simple interaction diagram (download: txt, eps). Note the use of backup to have two simultaneous messages.

agent T Tutor
agent L Lecturer
agent S Student
message S L Question
message L S Answer
backup
message L T Answer CC

Secondly, a simple interaction protocol (download: txt, eps). Note that indentation makes no difference to the tool, but makes the protocol's textual description more readable to humans.

start FIPA query protocol
agent I Initiator
agent P Participant
box alt
    message I P query-if
next
    message I P query-ref
end alt
box alt
    message P I not-understood
next
    message P I refuse
next
    message P I failure
next
    message P I inform
end alt
finish

Thirdly, an example illustrating the use of invis (download: txt,eps).

invis env environment
role p Proxy
role ws Web Server
message env p Page Request
message p ws Page Request
message ws p Page
message p env Page
Finally, a silly example illustrating some of the new features. (download: txt,eps).

agent a An agent
agent b Another agent
message a b Hello
message b a G'day
box alt
guard [sunny]
message a b Lovely weather!
goto Farewell
next
guard else
message a b Ah the rain!
sub Complain about the weather
end alt
label Farewell
message b a Indeed
finish

Bugs

Yes :-)

Seriously, this is a prototype. Use at your own risk. If you find bugs please let me know. if you want to fix bugs yourself or enhance the tool feel free to do so. If you add cool new functionality please send me a copy!