ADL - Archetype Definition Language

Introduction

This section describes whole ADL artefacts. The relationship of the cADL-encoded definition section and the ODIN-encoded terminology section is discussed in detail.

Some syntax validity rules are defined, but validity in general is defined by the rules stated in the AOM specification, which can be checked by a compiler as soon as an AOM structure is parsed from an ADL document (or other serialisation format).

The general structure of ADL artefacts is as follows (the full definitions are shown in [Syntax Specification] below):

adl_artefact: artefact_type meta_data?
        ARCHETYPE_HRID
    ('specialize'
        ARCHETYPE_REF)?
    'language'
        odin_text
    'description'
        odin_text
    'definition'
        c_complex_object
    ('rules'
        el_text)?
    ('rm_overlay'
        odin_text)?
    'terminology'
        odin_text
    ('annotations'
        odin_text)?
    ;

artefact_type: 'archetype' | 'template' | 'template_overlay' | 'operational_template' ;

meta_data: '(' meta_data_item  (';' meta_data_item )* ')' ;

The syntax for meta_data_item, ARCHETYPE_HRID and ARCHETYPE_REF can be found below in [_syntax_specification].

The 'archetype' artefact type can have any or all of the above sections. The other artefact types are more specific in their form.

An ADL source template has the following structure.

adl_template: 'template' meta_data?
        ARCHETYPE_HRID
    'specialize'
        ARCHETYPE_REF
    'language'
        odin_text
    'description'
        odin_text
    'definition'
        c_complex_object
    ('rules'
        el_text)?
    ('rm_overlay'
        odin_text)?
    'terminology'
        odin_text
    ('annotations'
        odin_text)?
    ;

An ADL template overlay has the structure shown below.

adl_template_overlay: 'template_overlay'
        ARCHETYPE_HRID
    'specialize'
        ARCHETYPE_REF
    'definition'
        c_complex_object
    ('rules'
        el_text)?
    ('rm_overlay'
        odin_text)?
    'terminology'
        odin_text
    ;

The structure of an operational template is as follows.

adl_operational_template: 'operational_template' meta_data?
        ARCHETYPE_HRID
    'language'
        odin_text
    'description'
        odin_text
    'definition'
        c_complex_object
    ('rules'
        el_text)?
    ('rm_overlay'
        odin_text)?
    'terminology'
        odin_text
    ('annotations'
        odin_text)?
    'component_terminologies'
        odin_text
    ;