ECO is akin to a UML model executor. Your business model is first defined using a mixture of UML classes and state diagrams, source code for your business classes is generated or updated automatically from this model. The developer may then modify this source code in order to implement modeled methods, add new methods, etc. Once source code has been generated it is still perfectly safe to refactor your business model by adding classes, renaming classes, renaming methods and so on; the ECO source generator is a "merge generator" so your changes will not be lost.
ECO supports UML features such as
- Inheritance.
- Class associations. Both ends of the association are automatically kept in sync' by ECO.
- Single/multiple association role ends.
- Ordered associations.
- One-way associations.
- Derived (calculated) associations / properties. Values may be calculated using user defined code or an OCL expression.
- Derived settable associations / properties. For example, entering "Mr/Peter/Morris" into FullName would split the values between Salutation, FirstName, and LastName.