exff, (pronounced "XF"), is a new open-source software project initiated by Eurostep. exff has two main goals:

1. to lower barriers to the implementation of STEP by enabling the use of widespread, professional software engineering tools – and that means tools based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML^TM);
2. to lower barriers to the implementation of other standards by making STEP models available in the languages used in other disciplines.

exff release 0.1a features include:

• translating an EXPRESS schema into a UML model
• translating a UML model into an EXPRESS schema
• translating a UML model into OWL;
• translating an EXPRESS schema into OWL, through the UML model.

Download:

The exff open-source project is hosted at exff.sourceforge.net.

There is also a supporting Web site including additional white papers and presentations at www.exff.org.

Version 0.1a can also be download here.

Licensing:

exff is open-source available under CPL (Common Public License).

The demonstrations currently use the Eurostep EXPRESS parser, which is freeware, to create an XML representation of the EXPRESS schemas.

Requirements:

The exff open-source components are all XSLT and so work on all platforms supporting an XSLT engine, such as xalan.

eep is a Windows-based parser.

Problems:

For more information or to contribute to the exff open-source project, please contact david.price@eurostep.com.

UML is a trademark of the Object Management Group.