You can use associationEndsWithType when inspecting an MDriven model in OCL and you need association-end names together with their type information.
What it returns
associationEndsWithType returns a collection of strings. Each string contains an association name and type information for an association end.
This is model metadata: it describes associations and their ends rather than evaluating the ordinary attribute values of an object.
For example, if your model contains an association between Customer and Order, the returned collection contains string information that identifies the relevant association end and its type. Use the returned strings when you need to inspect or validate the association structure in the model.
Use the result
Use collection operations to test or process the returned values.
- Evaluate
associationEndsWithTypein the OCL context where you are inspecting model metadata. - Store the result in, or pass it to, an expression that expects a collection of strings.
- Use collection predicates when you need to check whether the collection has entries. For example, use isEmpty to test whether the result contains no association-end information.
The exact text format of each returned string is not defined here. Do not build expressions that depend on punctuation or a presumed ordering of the strings unless you have verified that format in your model and target runtime.
Relationship to type inspection
associationEndsWithType reports association-end metadata. It is not a runtime type test for an object.
Use the following operators for inheritance-related questions instead:
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| Check whether an object is a specified type or a subtype | oclIsKindOf |
| Get the direct parent types of a class | superTypes |
| Get all parent types in the inheritance hierarchy | allSuperTypes |