The UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a modeling language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting systems. It also supports systematically the design and development of systems. There may be a large number of models to be managed in a real modeling environment. A methodology to save and retrieve the models effectively, therefore, needs to be developed.
This thesis focuses on the class diagram which is the core part of UML. It proposes a database supported methodology for the management of class diagrams. In the proposed methodology, class diagrams are saved in and retrieved from a relational database. To save a class diagram in the database, the constitution of the class diagram is translated in terms of relational tables. To retrieve a class diagram from the database, the user- specified query is translated into the SQL (Structured Query Language), and then the constituent of the class diagram is searched from the tables in the database.
The proposed methodology can exploit the function of the relational database such as managing a large number of models, sharing the models among users, and fast queries. It, therefore, provides a powerful framework for an effective management of UML models and a fast development of systems.