== XML Metadata Interchange (XMI)

> http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/473.html[The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.] __Andrew S. Tanenbaum__

Many users ask for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Metadata_Interchange[XMI]
support in PlantUML. So the `+-xmi+` flag has been added in the
command line (and in the ANT task also), for betatesting. This is only
working with class diagrams.

As explain on the http://modeling-languages.com/[Modeling Portal], XMI http://modeling-languages.com/blog/content/xmi-nightmares-argouml-xmi-format-change[theoretically]
allows to interchange data between programs.

So let's have a very simple example, with three classes:
<plantuml>
@startuml
class class1 {
  field
}
class1 - class2
class2 - class3
@enduml
</plantuml>
Imagine that you can have a XMI file that can be imported successfully on
several UML tools. It would be nice.

Unfortunately, having the very same file is difficult. For
example,
* On http://staruml.sourceforge.net/en[StarUML], you have to use http://plantuml.com/testStarUML.xml[testStarUML.xml]
* On http://argouml.tigris.org[ArgoUML], you have to use http://plantuml.com/testArgoUML.xml[testArgoUML.xml]
If someone manages to have an identical file that would work on both
tools, please post it there : **you will have a free licence of PlantUML :-)**

So, they are actually 3 flags:
* `+-xmi+` : only classes are exported, without any relationship. This is very basic but should work with on many tools
* `+-xmi:argo+` : to be read by http://argouml.tigris.org[ArgoUML]
* `+-xmi:star+` : to be read by http://staruml.sourceforge.net/en[StarUML]
Please note that this is an alpha version, and that many things will probably not work. http://forum.plantuml.net/[You should use the forum to ask for corrections.]


Update: now this feature is in production and is invoked as follows:
* `+-txmi:argo+` : to be read by http://argouml.tigris.org[ArgoUML]
* `+-txmi+` or `+-txmi:star+` : to be read by http://staruml.sourceforge.net/en[StarUML]