What's New in Visual Paradigm for UML 10.2?

Flexible report composer

• Improved report template to support filtering element by tagged values and reference

  The report template language has been improved to support filtering elements by tagged values and reference.

Convert your design to report by few mouse click. The generated report can preview and compare with the design side by side.

Tutorial

• Building a report with report composer
• Report Customization with Report Composer

User's Guide

• Report composer templates

Know-how

• How to Share Report Composer Templates Effectively with VP Teamwork Server
• Creating Report with Report Composer using Open API

Customizable instant code generation

• Supported retrieving constraints information for Instant Generator

  The instant generator template engine has been enhanced to allow the retrieval of constraint information from elements like classes, attributes, operations, etc.

The instant code generator employs the Apache Velocity template engine in code generation. You can customize the templates to generate code to fit into your company specification. For example, insert organization -specific information in header of code file.

User's Guide

• Customizing code generation

Model refactoring

• Supported pulling project content from referenced project to current project in refactoring

  Refactoring now supports multiple directions - pushing project data to referenced diagram and pulling project data from referenced diagram.

Move project data (i.e. model elements/diagrams) from current to referenced project through model refactoring. This ease the sharing of common project data, improves readability as well as to reduce complexity of project.

Model refactoring

Step 1 of 4: Open the project

Open the project file where the part you want to refactor is stored.

Step 2 of 4: Refactor

Open the Model Explorer. Right click on the model element(s) you want to refactor to referenced project and select "Refactor to Referenced Project..." from the popup menu. Alternatively, you can also refactor a diagram by right clicking on diagram background and selecting "Utilities > Refactor to Referenced Project..." from the popup menu. Choose Yes when you are prompted for confirmation.

Step 3 of 4: Include related diagram

If the master view of any of the selected elements is being visualized on a diagram, you will be asked to include those diagram as well. You can either include the diagrams or remove the master views from the diagram in order to refactor. Click Include Diagram at bottom right corner to proceed.

Step 4 of 4: Review elements to refactor

Check and elements to refactor. If everything alright, click Continue. If succeed, you will find the selected elements moved to the referenced project.

Current project file

Referenced report file

Tutorial

• Identify and move classes to library project
• Move identified glossary terms to base project

Compare diagrams with an old revision

The "Visual History" feature shows any backup copies of your great design. It allows you to see the evolvement of a diagram and revert it to an earlier revision if necessary. By comparing the latest design with an earlier revision, you can easily tell at glance what was added to, removed from and/or updated in a design.

* This feature is only available in VPository/Coporate Edition of Teamwork Server
* Can only trace back to revisions committed with version 10.0 (or any higher version)

Compare model properties with an old revision

Further to comparing diagram revisions, you can also compare model properties such as name, documentation, etc. Clear symbols are used to indicate the various kind of changes, which helps you find out easily an old name of an element, or to study an earlier version of its specification.

* This feature is only available in VPository/Coporate Edition of Teamwork Server
* Can only trace back to revisions committed with version 10.0 (or any higher version)

Get specific change from specific revision

When you found an earlier revision of your design better than the latest one, or when mistake was made and require correction, you can take advantage of the 'restore revision' function to rollback your work to the state it was before. To restore changes is straightforward. Whenever you have performed a comparison between revisions of diagrams, models or whatsoever, you can always find a restore button nearby for you to grab the change you want, instantly.

* This feature is only available in VPository/Coporate Edition of Teamwork Server
* Can only trace back to revisions committed with version 10.0 (or any higher version)

Generating PDF report

• Supported generating ERD sample data in report generation

  Add sample data to your database design. Generate a full HTML/PDF/Word report for your design, with a list of sample data presented.

Visual Paradigm for UML supports generating design blueprints to PDF files. The paper size, cover page design, TOC, page header and footer are all customizable. You may select to include/exclude diagrams and model elements, and reorder the content. There are various options to control the styles and formatting of the generated PDF. The PDF generation feature is available in Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and Unix platform. The following movie demonstrates how to generate PDF report with business process diagrams and use case diagrams. The movie also shows how to customize the order of model elements, as well as to setup cover page, page header and page footer.

Tutorial

• Controlling elements being generated in report

User's Guide

• Generating report
• Configuring report

Know-how

• Decipher symbols when generating report

Generating HTML report

• Supported SVG image in HTML report

  As a kind of vector graphic type, SVG enables the viewing of image content with unrestricted zoom level, without any blur or distortion. HTML report generation supports using SVG as the type of diagram images.

Visual Paradigm for UML supports generating design blueprints to HTML report. The customization capability and output format are similar to PDF report. The front page design, TOC, page header and footer are all customizable. You may select to include/exclude diagrams and model elements, and reorder the content. There are various options to control the styles and formatting of the generated HTML reported. The HTML generation feature is available in Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and Unix platform. The following movie demonstrates how to generate HTML report with sequence diagrams and class diagram. The movie also shows how to customize the order of model elements, as well as the setup of front page.

User's Guide

• Generating report
• Configuring report

Social networking with PostMania

• Supported multiple shape and connector selection when posting a topic in PostMania

  Raise discussions around multiple shapes in your design. Simply make a multiple shape selection in PostMania and post your message. Both the web client and VP-UML are supported.

Chat with the analysts, designers, software developers or whoever in your team directly inside VP-UML, right in a diagram. PostMania, a private social networking platform designed for software development teams, facilitates easy discussion of software designs. It enables team members to post and reply discussions to a diagram or a shape. Just make a post to ask for change, and moments later you receive a reply from your teammate, saying "Done" and with a smiley face. PostMania simply breaks communication barrier and improves the bonding of development team.

Alias and 'other form'

• Supported 'other form' property (column) in glossary grid

  A keyword can appear in different forms in different parts of project. For example, the word 'model', 'models', 'modell' may all refer to the same thing. The 'other form' property provides you a way to define the alternate forms of a glossary terms. Meanwhile, VP-UML can underline in documentation keywords that are chosen as both primary and other forms.

Record the alternative or the "easier-to-understand" versions of glossary terms, with the alias function. For example, you may have 'shop', 'store' as the aliases of the glossary term 'Hello World Book Store'. Similar to alias, the 'other-form' function provides you a mean to record the varied form of a term, say to have 'documents' as the alias of the term 'document'. The alias and the other-form function together enriches your glossary, and facilitate the unique explanation of words that are in similar or same meaning. RTF documentation can also detect the terms and link them up with the glossary, which helps reader to know the meaning behind the words and their synonyms.

Having a model with multiple levels of abstraction is highly desirable, not only because it allows developers to focus fewer concepts at a time, but since it makes model refinement easier. In VP-UML, model can have unlimited levels of abstraction layers whereby different perspectives of system and different amounts of details are exposed to developers. For example, use case diagram represents high level system requirements, while the way to accomplish individual use case can be represented by sub sequence diagrams of use cases. Another example would be to add sub state machine diagrams to controller classes to show how objects change their state.

Class diagram

• Supported 'Derived' association and association end

  The derived property specifies whether the association or its end(s) is derived from other model elements such as other associations or constraints. You can set an association or association end derived.

• Supported 'subsets' of association end

  A subset means that the association end to which this constraint is applied is a specialization of association end that is part of the association being specialized. You can model subsetted association ends in the latest version of VP-UML.

• Supported association end owned by class

  Allows specifying the class that owns an association end.

Class diagram sample shows classes, associations and generalizations

Class diagram is the most widely used diagram in modeling object-oriented system. A class diagram is an important diagram in software development. It represents the static aspect of system with classes, interfaces, associations and generalizations. Package is commonly used model element for organizing elements in class diagram. Class diagrams are not just for visualizing and documenting structure models but also for constructing executable system with forward, reverse and round-trip engineering. There is also a synchronization engine for generating and updating entity relationship diagram from class diagram.

Tutorial

• Develop domain and implementation class model
• Organize class diagram with model
• Generate class diagrams from entity relationship diagrams
• Working with the initial value of attribute

User's Guide

• Drawing class diagrams

Online training

• Using class diagram (Free)

YouTube

• Grouping Generalizations by Creating Generalization Sets
• How to Generate Class Diagram from Existing Classes
• How to Create Template Class and Bound Class
• How to Draw an Association Class

Know-how

• Sharing models between class diagram and sequence diagram
• Adding and removing template parameters to a class
• Creating constructor to a class
• Drawing association class to a class
• Grouping Generalizations by Creating Generalization Sets

Plug-in support (Java)

• Improved plugin support

  The Open-API now supports adding diagram category as well as the button group and buttons in it. Besides, you can now define default tagged values for custom elements created by a plug-in, as well as to present the tagged values in the body of these custom shapes.

Visual Paradigm plug-in provides an extendable platform for developers to add functions to Visual Paradigm for UML. Developer can reference to the plug-in development guide to build their own plug-in to read, create, update and delete diagrams and model elements. Developer can use Java to develop plug-in. The following screenshots outline the steps to create plug-in for Visual Paradigm for UML.

Plug-in support (Java)

Step 1 of 5: Develop the plugin

Setup the environment for developing plugin and start developing the plugin. You need to first include the openapi.jar to the build path, which can be found under the lib folder of VP Suite installation directory. You may read the User's Guide to learn about how to develop plugin.

Step 2 of 5: Prepare the plugin configuration file

Create a file, name it as plugin.xml and place at the root of plugin. You need to fill in this file to provide information such as classpath, toolbar/menubar configuration, etc.

Step 3 of 5: Deploy the plugin

Create a folder "plugins" under the VP Suite installation directory. Copy the developed plugin to that folder.

Step 4 of 5: Using the plugin

Start the tool. If the implementation and configuration are both correct, you should be able to run the plugin.

Step 5 of 5: Using the plugin (Cont.)

With plugin, you may iterate the project data to perform operations such as create, read, remove and update of project data.

Sample plugin

Tutorial

• VP-UML Plug-in Development

User's Guide

• Introduction to plugin support
• Implementing plugin

Know-how

• Reload your plugin without restart the application