Model

With a MAL language (e.g. coreLang) defined in a .mar or .mal-file, a maltoolbox.model.Model can be created either from a model instance file or empty.

Assets and associations

A model consists of assets and associations.

• An asset is an instance of an asset type (LanguageGraphAsset)

• An association is a relation between two or more assets (an instance of a LanugageGraphAssociation)

The MAL language defines which assets can have an association between each other and what the ‘field names’ between them are called.

Example: Application is an asset type defined in the MAL Language coreLang. The association AppExecution is defined in coreLang. It can exist between Application and Application through field names hostApp and appExecutedApps, this is defined in the MAL language coreLang but can look different in other MAL languages.

Load/create a model

With the MAL GUI

You can use the MAL GUI to create models. This is a program that lets you drag and drop assets and associations given that you have a MAL language define already. It will output model files.

In Python code

First, you have to load the MAL language:

from maltoolbox.language import LanguageGraph

# First load the language either from .mal / .mar / .yml / .json
lang_graph = LanguageGraph.load_from_file(lang_file_path)

With existing model instance file (see example):

from maltoolbox.model import Model

# Load the model (i.e. the simple_example_model.json, can also be .yml/yaml)
model_file_path = "example_model.yml"
instance_model = Model.load_from_file(model_file_path, lang_graph)

Without existing model instance file:

from maltoolbox.model import Model

# Create an empty model
instance_model = Model("Example Model", lang_graph)

# Create and add assets of type supported by the MAL language
asset1 = instance_model.add_asset('Application', 'Application1')
asset2 = instance_model.add_asset('Application', 'Application2')

# Create association between the assets
asset1.add_associated_assets('appExecutedApps', asset2)

For more info on how to use MAL Toolbox, Read the tutorial docs.