Patent ID: 7281015

Claim:
A method for providing an interface between SYSTEM ARCHITECT® (SA) and OPNET, the method comprising: determining if a file is a first extensible markup language (XML) file in a first data structure or is a second XML file in a second data structure, wherein the first data structure has a tree subnet structure and the second data structure has an array of diagrams having parent-child relationships, wherein the first XML file is in an OPNET data structure and the second XML file is in an SA data structure, and wherein the first objects are OPNET objects and the second objects are SA objects; if the file is the first XML file in the first data structure, reading the first XML file in the first data structure, the first XML file containing one or more first objects that represent first data, the one or more first objects including subnets, nodes, and links connecting the nodes; translating the first data into second data in the second data structure, the translating step comprising: creating a unique object identifier for each object in the SA data structure; translating the OPNET objects into the SA objects; tagging SA objects that are potential SA diagrams; and populating SA diagrams with the SA objects; writing the translated second data into the second XML file in the second data structure, the second XML file containing one or more second objects, the one or more second objects including diagrams, child diagrams, system nodes, communication nodes, communication connections, and system entities, if the file is the second XML file in the second data structure, reading the second XML file in the second data structure; translating the second data into the first data in the first data structure; and writing the translated first data into the first XML file in the first data structure, wherein translating the file from the first data structure to the second data structure is different from translating the file from the second data structure to the first data structure.