Tool integration: experiences and issues in using XMI and component technology

It is impossible to implement one tool that supports all activities in software development. Thus, it is important to focus on integration of different tools, ideally giving developers the possibility to freely combine individual tools. We discuss how tools can be integrated even in the context of conflicting data models, and provide an architecture for doing so, based on component technology and XML Metadata Interchange. As an example, we discuss the implementation of an electronic whiteboard tool, Knight, which adds support for creative and collaborative object-oriented modelling to existing computer-aided software engineering through integration using our proposed architecture.