The interface is clearly suffering from some oldschool design choices and I was wondering if it's actually possible to add something a long the lines of what Blender has for spacebar search menu. Dragging the mouse all over the place to do something is rather hindering work flow. I'd love to see something that gives users quick access to all actions/elements to use/place.
Basically how this would work :
1. I hit space
2. floating dialogue appears at mouse position with a search bar and short list of common/last actions
3. As I type, for example "Asso", Assocation and Directed assocation are listed ( or anything else matching those letters ).
4. I click whatever I was looking for.
5. dialogue dissapears and im on my way.
This would improve workflow tremendously. I'm suprised I can't even find shortcuts for all the elements for the current diagram. Mapping them to 0-9 would be start?
( I couldn't create a ticket)
Last edit: Anonymous 2015-12-11
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When you create a new element and hover the cursor over its name editor you will see some hints for keyboard shortcuts like <= >= --. So if typing like --c2 you will see an associated class created.
Matching text with available elements may be more complex and potentially slow down the application It would require some more investigation to check if it is feasible.
Assigning shortcuts to individual model elements probably will not help much with a typical workflow. The number of elements may easily exceed avaliable shortcut pool and probably it is not common to return to one element after it was initially created and configured. Still some bookmark system basing on existing attachments could be considered.
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Actually the connection options for some elements should be given in a graphical way as in other modelling tools. If you hover an object on the diagram, a new canvas around it is displays with options to create other object from there. That should be the direction IMHO as in fact the graphics of the diagrams is really the piece that is starting smelling old in comparison with latest HTML5 applications.
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It should not come as a surprise that this program feels old as over 90% of code was written before even Windows Vista showed up and probably a large chunk of code dates back to the previous century. (StarUML was started around 1998).
Regardless of the fact if making diagram drawing more flashy will bring anything crucial to UML modeling there is a substantial problem with the manpower behind this project. The number of people contributing to this project is not a secret and frankly is not impressing at all. It is really hard to start working on a task requiring regular commitment knowing how unlikely it is to be finished before getting preempted by some more urgent business. I have some own ideas that are 2 years or so overdue.
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The interface is clearly suffering from some oldschool design choices and I was wondering if it's actually possible to add something a long the lines of what Blender has for spacebar search menu. Dragging the mouse all over the place to do something is rather hindering work flow. I'd love to see something that gives users quick access to all actions/elements to use/place.
Basically how this would work :
1. I hit space
2. floating dialogue appears at mouse position with a search bar and short list of common/last actions
3. As I type, for example "Asso", Assocation and Directed assocation are listed ( or anything else matching those letters ).
4. I click whatever I was looking for.
5. dialogue dissapears and im on my way.
This would improve workflow tremendously. I'm suprised I can't even find shortcuts for all the elements for the current diagram. Mapping them to 0-9 would be start?
( I couldn't create a ticket)
Last edit: Anonymous 2015-12-11
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Meh - mix of clicking and typing, moving your hands back and forth between mouse and keyboard seems more work than click and dragging.
Methinks.
When you create a new element and hover the cursor over its name editor you will see some hints for keyboard shortcuts like <= >= --. So if typing like --c2 you will see an associated class created.
Matching text with available elements may be more complex and potentially slow down the application It would require some more investigation to check if it is feasible.
Assigning shortcuts to individual model elements probably will not help much with a typical workflow. The number of elements may easily exceed avaliable shortcut pool and probably it is not common to return to one element after it was initially created and configured. Still some bookmark system basing on existing attachments could be considered.
View and moderate all "General Discussion" comments posted by this user
Mark all as spam, and block user from posting to "Discussion"
Actually the connection options for some elements should be given in a graphical way as in other modelling tools. If you hover an object on the diagram, a new canvas around it is displays with options to create other object from there. That should be the direction IMHO as in fact the graphics of the diagrams is really the piece that is starting smelling old in comparison with latest HTML5 applications.
It should not come as a surprise that this program feels old as over 90% of code was written before even Windows Vista showed up and probably a large chunk of code dates back to the previous century. (StarUML was started around 1998).
Regardless of the fact if making diagram drawing more flashy will bring anything crucial to UML modeling there is a substantial problem with the manpower behind this project. The number of people contributing to this project is not a secret and frankly is not impressing at all. It is really hard to start working on a task requiring regular commitment knowing how unlikely it is to be finished before getting preempted by some more urgent business. I have some own ideas that are 2 years or so overdue.