Re: [Java-gnome-developer] UML Class diagram editor

[Joao V. <jvi...@ya...>]

Mark,

your idea is *great*, and this could definitely be a killer app. *But* i must tell you it's not
going to be an easy work, this is a huge application ;)

J.V.


 --- Mark Howard <mh...@ti...> escreveu: 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm quite interested in creating a new application (using java-gnome, of course)
> and I'm wondering if anyone here is intrested in helping. It's a huge task, so I
> might not even start without extra help. In fact, it's very huge. But there are
> a lot of libraries out there to help us. ANTLR will be especially important. 
> 
> The basic idea is to create an app for editing UML diagrams, like Rational Rose,
> or Visio (sorry, I don't know of any open source/free/ or even linux-based
> alternatives). 
> 
> This new application would be slightly different to these as it would be far
> more greatly linked to the source code. (and of course it would be open source
> and gnome-based and ...)
> 
> Here are a few use cases, limited to class diagrams since we can't expect to
> do everything straight away:
> 1) The user is designing a new application.
>    They start by dragging classes into the screen
>    They might then drag relationships between the classes, or add attributes or
>    operations to the classes. I have ideas for other data to include, but this
>    is just an overview
>    They print, or save as html.
> 
>    To illustrate a particular point, they create an illustration diagram. This
>    allows them to drag existing classes onto a new diagram, arrange them how
>    they like, select how much information is shown for each (e.g. just show a
>    few methods), add notes, etc.
>    Again, this can be printed, etc.
> 
>    Now the clever bit. They go away, think about the design and review it. 
>    After a few modifications, the software then generates code for this design.
>    This includes all methods, fields, and even comments as javadoc. They then
>    write their well-designed application
> 
> 2) The user wants to draw the design of an existing application so that they can
> modify the design.
>    The application automatically generates full class information, including all
>    fields and methods, as well as all javadoc information. It creates an
>    overview class diagram, showing everything with their relationships as in the
>    code. This is an unreadable mess (as you would expect -- far too much
>    information)
>    They then create a new illustration, as a copy of the class diagram. They
>    remove irrelevant classes from the illustration (but not from the model), add
>    comments, change what should be shown for each class and end up with a
>    diagram illustrating how the software works. They use this to explain how the
>    software works to the rest of their team
> 
> 3) The user has source code and a class diagram, but wants to change the source
> code
>    (at this point, the user would either have to manually update the diagram, or
>    leave it out of date, if using a competing product).
>    The application scans the source code for changes. It detects them and asks
>    the user what to do. They choose to have the model updated. They go to each
>    illustration in turn and add classes, based on a list of classes newly added
>    to the library.
> 
> 4) The user wants to change the overall architecture of the software. This needs
> redesign of the class diagrams. 
>    They change the diagrams with drag and drop. This is reviewed by their team
>    mates and a solution agreed upon. Their source code is automatically updated
>    with stubs for the new parts and the old parts commented out.
>   
> What do you think? Interested in helping create this?
> 
> -- 
>   .''`. Mark Howard
>  : :' :
>  `. `'  http://www.tildemh.com 
>    `-   mh...@de... | mh...@ti... 
> 
> 
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