My First Model, Project creation
Previous step: UI Overview - example model
Next step: My First Model : Data Types
Contents
Description of our example projectProject creation
In the previous sections we saw how to install AlPiNA, and how to
create an example model. We will now see how to create and execute a
custom model.
Description of our example project
The model we want to implement can be described with the following Business Project, created with Intalio|BPM.
We model a simplist user identification process. The process starts when the system receives an identification request from a user. Two actions are simultaneously performed: the system asks the user his PIN code and it retrieves the stored PIN corresponding to the user ID from a database. The two values are then compared and an appropriate answer is sent to the user. We will now see a possible model creation that correspond to this description. Please note that our model isn't a direct translation from the BPMN but is more an implementation of the general idea.
Project creation
The first thing to do when Eclipse is opened is to check that the AlPiNA perspective is selected. You should see the tabs shown in the image below:
If it's not the case, select Window -> Open Perspective. If AlPiNA was properly installed, there should be a perspective called AlPiNA in the list.

In order to create a Project, clic on File -> New -> Project, and select the option AlPiNA project.


Click next and give a name for your project (in this example we will name it PinCheck). Click next again, and you will obtain the following menu, where you will be able to choose a name for your Petri Net and you First ADT. In this case we will name our Petri Net PinCheckAPN and our ADT Users.

Clic finish. A project will be created, whose contents should be similar to those in the next image.

We can see:
- A file for the graphical description of a Petri Net, called PinCheckAPN.apn_diagram.
- A file that contains the structure of the Petri Net, called PinCheckAPN.apn. Most users will never need to open this file, as they should work on the graphical description instead.
- A file that will contain our ADT, i.e. the first Data type we will define, called Users.spec.
- The standard AlPiNA ADTs, namely blackToken, boolean, listOfNats and nat. This list may grow in the future.
The AlPiNA project has now been created. In the next Step, My First Project : Data Types, we will show the data types that will created in order to model our system.