Interlis UML diagrams in VS Code

geowerkstatt has updated their plug-in “INTERLIS 2” for Microsoft Visual Studio Code. Starting with version 0.3.0, the plug-in has the ability to automatically draw the (live) UML¹ class diagram of Interlis models (ili files). The UML diagrams can be exported (and refined) as SVG files² or in Mermaid syntax³. In my quick tests, the drawing feature mostly worked; it couldn’t render some models⁴.

Here is part of the ARA_DB_REP_V1_2 model as drawn by the geowerkstatt plug-in:

UML diagram of the model “ARA_DB_REP_V1_2”

The plug-in continuous to offer the following features:

• Syntax highlighting of object names, data types, keywords, and string patterns for ili files
• Snippets for commonly used Interlis blocks (MODEL, TOPIC, CLASS, STRUCTURE, ASSOCIATION, and Role)
• Auto-generation of documentation in Markdown for ili files

The plug-in is open-source under the MIT license.

Footnotes

1. Unified Modeling Language

2. Scalable Vector Graphics, an open standard for two-dimensional vector graphics

3. Mermaid is a JavaScript-based diagramming tool that takes Markdown-inspired text definitions and creates diagrams dynamically. Mermaid is supported in GitHub, for example.

4. In my random sample, Amphibien_Laichgebiete_V1_2.ili, BLN_V1_2.ili, and Flachmoore_V1_2.ili didn’t render visually. I haven’t tested them in the umleditor.