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Agilian is a visual modeling tool that provides all well-known modeling toolsets to cover all aspects of modeling and documentation, from business process modeling to detailed system specification. Agilian supports more than 20 diagram types including all diagram types in UML, BPMN, SysML, ERD, DFD and more. Visual Paradigm strives to continuously enhance the diagramming environment to increase effectiveness and efficiency of modeling, as when using Agilian, most of your working time is with diagrams.
In this chapter you will learn:
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Figure 2.1 - Diagram pane
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You can create diagrams in different ways:
To use toolbar to create:
Click on the icon on the toolbar.
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Figure 2.2 - New Class Diagram icon on the toolbar |
To use New Diagram dialog box to create:
1. Select File > New Diagram > New Diagram... from the main menu. The New Diagram dialog box is displayed.
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Figure 2.3 - New Diagram dialog box
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2. Then, select the category and select a diagram type in the category. You should also specify a diagram name. You may also specify the type of documentation.
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Figure 2.4 - Select Class Diagram
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To use the popup menu of Diagram Navigator to create:
Right click on the diagram type node in Diagram Navigator and select New Class Diagram in popup menu.
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Figure 2.5 - Select New Class Diagram from popup menu of Diagram Navigator |
After creating a new diagram, you can create diagram elements using the diagram toolbar. In this section, we will introduce the techniques of how to create diagram elements and connectors:
To create a shape, click on a diagram element button from the diagram toolbar and click on the diagram pane to create it. The element generated will have a default size.
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Figure 2.6 - Click to Create Shapes |
You can also drag a specific boundary before releasing the mouse to define a shape's initial size.
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Figure 2.7 - Create Shapes with specific size |
Alternatively, you can also create a diagram element by dragging a diagram element button then dropping it on the diagram pane.
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Figure 2.8 - Drag and drop to Create Shapes |
Apart from that, you can use the diagram popup menu to add a shape.
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Figure 2.9 - Create Shapes using diagram popup menu |
To create a connector, select the desired connector from the diagram toolbar and click on the source shape. Drag the connector to the destination shape.
Agilian provides continuous UML syntax checking. You will see a stop sign when you try to create an invalid connection, e.g. you cannot create a generalization relationship between an actor and a use case.
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Figure 2.10 - Try to create an invalid connection |
If the connection is valid you will see a blue rounded rectangle surrounding the destination shape.
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Figure 2.11 - Try to create a valid connection |
You may also use resource to create connectors.
Click on the Association resource of a shape and drag over the shape you want to connect to. If you release the mouse on an empty space, a shape will be created with the connector.
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Figure 2.12 - Click on resource
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Figure 2.13 - Drag over the shape
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Some of the shapes can have a connection to itself, for example Self-Association of a Class or Self-Link of an Object in a Communication Diagram. To create a self-connection, click on the connector button on the diagram toolbar and click once on the target object.
Alternatively, you can click on the Self Association resource.
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Figure 2.14 - Create Self-Connection | Figure 2.15 - Self-Connection |
Visual Paradigm is the first vendor to introduce the resource centric diagramming interface. The resource centric interface greatly improves the efficiency of modeling. You no longer needs to go back and forth between the toolbar and the diagram to create diagram elements, make connections and modify the diagrams. The resource centric interface can make sure the modeler is able to create a diagram with correct syntax more quickly.
There are three types of resource:
It is designed for creating elements and making connections. Here, the connection between an actor and a use case is used as an example.
To use Connection Resource:
1. Move mouse over Association - > Use Case resource.
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Figure 2.16 - Association - > Use Case resource |
2. Drag resource to empty space on diagram pane.
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Figure 2.17 - Drag resource
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3. Release the mouse, new connector and shape are created.
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Figure 2.18 - Connector and shape created |
You can use Manipulation Resource to modify properties or appearance of elements. For example, you can show or hide compartments, add references, add sub-diagram and fit size.
To use Manipulation Resource, simply click once on it.
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Figure 2.19 - Reference of Manipulation Resource |
Branching Resource helps you to create decision structure in diagram.
To use branching resource:
1. Move mouse over a Branching Resource.
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Figure 2.20 - Branching Resource |
2. Drag resource to empty space on diagram.
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Figure 2.21 - Drag resource |
3. Release mouse, a branch is created.
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Figure 2.22 - Create branch
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Alternatively, if a shape in the branch already exists, you can drag the resource over it.
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Figure 2.23 - Drag resource over existed shape
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When mouse is released, a branch is created involving the target shape.
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Figure 2.24 - Create branch
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To enable/disable the resource centric interface feature, select/deselect menu View > Resource Centric > Resources. This option will be applied to all diagrams.
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Figure 2.25 - Enable/Disable Resource Centric Interface
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Group resources appear when two or more shapes are selected. They are used to perform actions on the selected shapes, e.g. alignment and distribute shapes.
To enable/disable, select/deselect menu View > Resource Centric > Group Resources. This option will be applied to all diagrams.
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Figure 2.26 - Group Resources Centric Interface for use case |
By default the resource centric interface displays the most commonly used resources of a diagram element. You can choose to view less common resourcesby clicking on the View > Extra Resources in the main menu. The figures below show the view of a Action element with "Show Extra Resources" turned off and on.
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Figure 2.27 - Resource-Centric of Action | Figure 2.28 - Action with an Extra Resource-Centric |
Generic Resource is a special kind of resource in the Resource-Centric Interface. Unlike other resources, the type of the connector and/or shape type that will be created is undetermined, you will be asked for the desired connector/shape type when the creation is confirmed.
To show/not to show Generic Resource Only, select/deselect menu View > Resource Centric > Generic Resources Only.
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Figure 2.29 - Show Generic Resources-Only |
Multiple selection can be made with mouse alone or with keyboard and mouse.
With mouse alone:
Click on an empty space of the diagram and drag to include desired shapes in the dashed-line rectangle.
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Figure 2.30 - Multiple selection using mouse
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With keyboard and mouse:
With the Shift or Ctrl key held down, click on the shapes to select them. After selecting a shape, you may click it again to deselect it.
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Figure 2.31 - Multiple selection using mouse and keyboard |
Agilian diagram editor supports true WYSIWYG diagram editing. You can move shapes with the mouse or keyboard.
With mouse:
Click on a shape to drag it to the desired direction to move it.
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Figure 2.32 - Shape before moving to the right
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Figure 2.33 - Shape after moving to the right
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With keyboard:
1. Select shape(s) which you want to move.
2. Press the up/down/left/right arrow key to move the shape(s).
Instead of moving shapes in any direction, you may restrict the shapes to move in one direction only for easier alignment, i.e. you may move the shapes vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.
This can be done by pressing Shift key while dragging the shapes.
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Figure 2.34 - Restrict moving direction
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The main difference between CASE Tool and drawing tools is that CASE Tool has a Model and View concept. The model is where information is stored, while the view is a presentation of the model. A model can have multiple views, for example, you can show the same class in different class diagrams. Upon pressing 'delete', Agilian will assume you are deleting the view of the model, but will prompt you to delete the model if all views of a specific model are deleted. This section will show you how to delete models and views.
To delete view together with model:
1. perform one of the following action:
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Figure 2.35 - Select Delete
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Figure 2.36 - Delete dialog box for confirming deleting
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Figure 2.37 - Confirm deleting from the repository
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To delete view(diagram element of model) only:
1. Select Delete > Delete View Only in the popup menu of that element.
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Figure 2.38 - Select Delete View Only |
2. A Delete dialog box will display and ask you if you want to delete. Click Yes to confirm. If you want to set this option as default, check Use this option as default and don't ask again.
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Figure 2.39 - Delete dialog box to confirm deleting |
Agilian support various copy and paste options. By default your copy will only within Agilian and will not affect the content in your system clipboard. If you want to copy the content to other application, you can copy to clipboard as image then you can paste your design to other application. This section, we will show you different copy and pasts options Agilian provides.
Copying diagram elements within Agilian allows you to copy selected diagram elements to the application clipboard. You can paste the diagram elements to other Agilian diagrams from the current project or across another project.
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You cannot paste the selected content to other applications. |
To copy selected diagram elements within Agilian, perform one of the following actions:
Copy within Agilian is the default copy action. For more details about the default copy action, please reference to the section "Setting Default Copy Action" below.
Copying diagram elements as JPG image will copy the selected diagram element as a JPG image to the system clipboard, which you can copy to other applications.
To copy selected diagram elements to the system clipboard as JPG image, perform one of the following actions:
Copying diagram elements as EMF (Enhanced Metafile) image will copy the selected diagram element as an EMF image to the system clipboard, which you can copy to other applications. Unlike copy as JPG image, the copied content is in EMF format, which is a more scalable format where image quality can be retained even after being resized/zoomed.
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The copy to system clipboard as EMF image feature is available on Windows platforms only. |
To copy selected diagram elements to the system clipboard as EMF image, perform one of the following actions:
The default copy is triggered when the hotkey Ctrl + C is pressed. The actual action performed by default copy follows the Agilian application option (as configured in the Options dialog box -> Diagramming category -> Environment page). The default copy action can be set to one of the following:
You can select different paste methods according to what you have copied.
The pasted diagram elements share the same content of the copied diagram elements. Any changes made on the pasted elements will result in the same changes appearing on the elements copied, as the model elements are shared on the diagram elements.
To paste diagram element with model sharing, perform one of the following actions:
It clones a copy of the copied diagram elements and the model element, then pastes them to the diagram. It is enabled to copy within Agilian.
To paste diagram element without model sharing, perform one of the following actions:
With image shape, you can easily annotate and document your diagrams with related images. Instead of creating an image shape manually, you can copy an image from any application to the clipboard and then paste it to the diagram as a new shape.
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Figure 2.40 - Paste as Image Shape |
To paste an image shape, perform one of the following actions:
When you create and edit a diagram, you may make mistakes like accidentally deleting a diagram element. You can use the Undo function to cancel the previous action. On the other hand, you may re-perform the action using the Redo action. The undo/redo feature in Agilian is diagram based.
You can roll back undesirable changes by performing Undo. To undo an action, perform one of the following actions:
This feature is to re-perform actions that were just undone. To redo an action, perform one of the following actions:
After you have applied alignment to a group of shapes, you may want to keep its configuration and not want them to get messed up. Grouping feature is designed for this usage. After shapes are grouped, you can treat the grouped shapes as a single shape.
In Agilian, you can perform multiple level grouping - that is, group a shape with other shapes, and even with other groups.
To group shapes, select shapes in the diagram and perform one of the following actions:
To ungroup shapes, select the grouped shapes in the diagram and perform one of the following actions:
In some cases, you may want to resize multiple shapes on the diagram, Agilian allows you to resize the shapes in a group, which in turn reduces the handling time for resizing the shapes individually. When you resize one shape of the selected shapes, all the selected shapes will resize by the same amount, regardless of their original sizes.
To resize the shapes in a group:
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Figure 2.41 - Multiple desired shapes on diagram |
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Figure 2.42 - Resize one of the selected shapes. All selected shapes will resize proportionally |
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If the size of the resizing shape returns to its original shapes before resizing, all selected shapes will not resize accordingly |
Reverse Connector can be used to reverse the direction of connector.
Here, the direction of connector between Shipper and FAS Online System is inverted.
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Figure 2.43 - Before reversing Connector Direction
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To reverse the connector, right-click on the connector and select Reverse Connector from the popup menu.
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Figure 2.44 - Select Reverse Connector
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The direction of connector is now inverted.
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Figure 2.45 - After reversing Connector Direction
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To toggle the visibility of grid lines, perform one of the following actions:
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Figure 2.46 - Select Grid
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Figure 2.47 - Select Grid Visible
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Figure 2.48 - Check Visible
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Figure 2.49 - Check Grid visible
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This feature is used to set whether diagram elements should stick to grid lines when moving in the diagram. To turn the option on/off, perform one of the following actions:
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Figure 2.50 - Select Snap to Grid
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Figure 2.51 - Select Snap to Grid using popup menu
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Figure 2.52 - Select Snap to grid |
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Figure 2.53 - Check Snap to grid in Specification
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To adjust the grid size, perform one of the following actions:
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Figure 2.54 - Adjust grid size in property table |
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Figure 2.55- Adjust grid size in specification
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To adjust the grid color, perform one of the following actions:
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Figure 2.56 - Select Grid Color
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Figure 2.57- Select Color
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Figure 2.58- Select Grid Color
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The grids must be visible before setting the grid color. |
The zoom in feature allows you to get a close-up view of the diagram. To perform zoom in, perform one of the following actions:
The zoom out feature allows you to see more of the diagram at a reduced size. To perform zoom out, perform one of the following actions:
The zoom to 100% feature allows you to view the diagram in its actual size (100%). To restore the zoom ratio to 100%, perform one of the following actions:
The zoom to a specific ratio feature allows you to choose the zooming ratio from the dropdown list. To perform zoom to a specific ratio, perform one of the following actions:
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Figure 2.59 - Select zoom ratio | Figure 2.60 - Enter zoom ratio |
Beside standard zoom in/out and zoom to ratio, there are dynamic zoom options that allow you to zoom the diagram to fit its content to the window.
Click on the Select Zoom drop down button on the toolbar (or click on the Zoom ratio combo box in the Property pane when a diagram is active), scroll down and you will see the Page, Width and Height zoom items.
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Figure 2.61 - Select zoom ratio to fit with page |
Just select the zoom item to apply the corresponding zoom option.
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Figure 2.62 - Zoom to show all the Page |
The zoom to region feature allows you to zoom the diagram to any selected region.
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Figure 2.63 - Zoom to region |
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Figure 2.64 - Select the zoom region in the diagram |
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Figure 2.65 - Zoom to the Region |
Agilian provides a quick previewer in Diagram Navigator tree. You can preview the diagram before open the diagram.
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Figure 2.66 - Quick Previewer |
To preview a diagram, move the mouse cursor over a Diagram node on Diagram Navigator. This displays the Quick Previewer.
To open the diagram, click the button on the toolbar.
To resize the Quick Previewer window:
Apart from preview image, Quick Previewer also shows the documentation of diagrams. To display the documentation of a diagram, Click the button on the toolbar of the previewer and choose Documentation.
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Figure 2.67 - Preview documentation |
Agilian records the size and position of the previewer and restores this when displaying again. To reset this record, double-click the toolbar of the previewer window.
Fast Scroll Window allows you quickly scan through diagram by providing an instant display to a selected portion of diagram.
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Figure 2.68 - Fast Scroll |
To open fast scroll click the button on the bottom-right corner of the diagram. Click on the fast scroll window to select the portion of diagram to display on diagram pane. The fast scroll window will close after it has lost focus.
Besides using the Fast Scroll window, if you are using a 3-button mouse, you can hold down the middle mouse button and drag to quickly scroll the diagram to the desired direction. Note that the direction you drag will be opposite to the direction that the diagram scrolls. i.e. if you want the diagram to scroll down, you need to drag upwards.
A generic connector allows you to connect any shapes, so it can represent the idea beyond the standard UML notation.You can edit the connector using resource.
To edit an arrow head of a connector using Format Arrow Head resource:
1. Click on the Format Arrow Head resource. The Format Arrow Head resource which is nearer to one end of line controls the arrow head at that end.
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Figure 2.69 - Resources for Format Arrow Head |
2. Select a format of arrow head in the popup menu.
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Figure 2.70 - Edit arrow head of generic connector |
To edit the line style of a connector using the Format Line resource:
1. Click on the Format Line resource (located in the middle of the connector).
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Figure 2.71 - Resources for Format Arrow Head |
2. Select a style of line
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Figure 2.72 - Select line of generic connector |
You can also apply your favorite connectors. There are two methods:
You can right click on the connector and select Format from popup menu and select Favorite Connectors > Apply Favorite Connectors....
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Figure 2.73 - Select Apply Favorite Connectors
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Alternatively, you can click on the Format Line resource and select Apply Favorite Connector....
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Figure 2.74 - Select Apply Favorite Connectors |
Then, select your favorite connector to apply it.
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Figure 2.75 - Save your favorite connectors |
Apart from apply, you can organize your favorite connectors:
1. Right click on the connector and select Format from the popup menu.
2. Select Favorite Connectors > Organize Favorite Connectors.
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Figure 2.76 - Select Organize Favorite Connectors |
3. You can choose to Create..., Duplicate..., Edit... or Remove any connectors.
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Figure 2.77 - Organize Favorite Connectors |
A Text Box allows you to add free text to a diagram.
To add text using Text Box:
1. Click on the Text Box in the toolbar.
2. Click on the diagram pane where you want to add text.
3. Add text in the box provided.
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Figure 2.78 - Add a free text
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Figure 2.79 - Select Diagram Info Shape from popup menu |
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Figure 2.80 - Diagram info shape is added
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Figure 2.81 - Select Add Item |
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Figure 2.82 - New item added |
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Figure 2.83 - Diagram info shape added
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In Agilian, you can add rich text documentation on different models and diagrams. The styles and formats of the documentation can be included when you generate a document.
Rich text documentation can also be used in:
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Figure 2.84 - Note with rich text documentation |
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Figure 2.85 - Text box with rich text documentation
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To add rich text documentation:
1. Right click the diagram element and select Open Specification from popup menu.
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Figure 2.86 - Select Open Specification
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2. Specify the documentation.
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Figure 2.87 - Specify the documentation |
You can then switch to the Documentation pane to preview.
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Figure 2.88 - Documentation pane |
You can also see the result in the report generated.
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Figure 2.89 - Documentation generated
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You can further visualize your concept by incorporating images into documentation.
1. Select an element in the diagram.
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Figure 2.90 - Select a diagram element
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2. Place the text cursor in the Documentation pane to locate where you want to insert the image, and then click the Insert image... button on the documentation toolbar (if this button is hidden, click the double-arrow button to expand the toolbar).
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Figure 2.91 - Select Insert Image... |
3. Select one or more images to insert.
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Figure 2.92 - Choose one or more images |
4. The image(s) will be inserted to the documentation.
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Figure 2.93 - Image added |
By using template, you can reuse pre-defined documentation structures to save time and effort.
To save documentation as template:
1. Open the specification dialog box of a model.
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Figure 2.94 - Select Open Specification |
2. After editing the documentation, click the Save as template... button on the documentation toolbar.
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Figure 2.95 - Save the template |
3. Specify the template name and click OK to save the template.
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Figure 2.96 - Specify the template name |
To load documentation from a template:
1. Open the specification dialog box of a model. Click the template drop-down button on the documentation toolbar to select a saved template.
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Figure 2.97 - Select a saved template |
2. The template content is loaded. Even if you edit the documentation of the model, the template will still remain the same.
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Figure 2.98 - A template is loaded
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Figure 2.99 - Compartment Visibility Control |
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When you reverse the code into class diagram(s) the attributes and operations are visible by default. The compartment visibility control is useful when you want to hide the attributes or operations in one click (saves time from choosing the presentation option in the popup menu). |
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Figure 2.100 - Print preview dialog |
Icon | Button | Function |
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Print the diagram(s). The Print dialog box will be opened. | |
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Quick Print | Print diagrams without previewing them. The Quick Print dialog will be opened. |
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Page Setup | Set up the page properties such as paper size and orientation. |
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Adjust Margins | Adjust the margins of the pages. |
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Use Gradient Color | Select to use gradient color in printout. Since printing gradient color will use up lots of memory, it is recommended to turn this option off for better performance. |
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Zoom | Select the percentage to reduce/enlarge the print preview of diagrams. |
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Paper Base Layout/Diagram Base Layout | If the Fit to Pages option is selected, and there are multiple pages in the printout, selecting Paper Base Layout will cause the distribution of pages to be paper-oriented (the diagram size is ignored in arranging the preview); while selecting Diagram Base Layout will cause the distribution of pages to be diagram-oriented. Note that this option affects the preview only; the order of the printout remains unchanged. |
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Paper Place Style | To change the order of the printout. A large diagram is divided into many pages, selecting From left to right will arrange the printout order from the pages on the left to the pages on the right, while selecting From top to bottom will arrange the print order from the pages on the top to the pages on the bottom. |
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Fit to Ratio | Set the diagram size to fit to the specified ratio. |
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Fit to Pages | Set the diagram to be printed on the number of pages specified. |
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Overlapping | Set the percentage of the margins to overlap among adjacent pages. |
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Show/Hide Clip Marks on Page | Select/deselect to show/hide the clip marks on the printout. |
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Edit Header/Footer | Edit the header and the footer of the printout. |
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Multiple Page Mode | Switch to the Multiple Page Mode to set the multiple page options. |
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Help | Calling the Agilian help file |
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Close Print Preview | Close the print preview pane and return to the design area. |
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Figure 2.101 - Diagram Preview |
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Figure 2.102 - Print the Diagram |
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Figure 2.103 - Page setup |
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Figure 2.104 - Adjusting Margins |
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Figure 2.105- Set the Zoom ratio |
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Figure 2.106 - Preview in the preview dialog |
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Figure 2.107 - Preview in paper Base Layout |
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Figure 2.108 - Preview in Diagram Base Layout |
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Figure 2.109 - Printout order is left to right |
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Figure 2.110 - Fit to ratio |
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Figure 2.111 - Select multiple pages Page |
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Figure 2.112 - Fit to page |
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Figure 2.113- Multiple page without overlap |
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Figure 2.114 - Multiple page with overlap |
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Figure 2.115 - Select option from drop-down menu |
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Figure 2.116 - Printing with frame
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Figure 2.117 - Printing with border
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Figure 2.118 - Printing with no border
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Figure 2.119 - Clip marks |
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Figure 2.120 - Editing Header/Footer of the Pages |
Icon | Name | Description |
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Select Font | Select the font to use for the selected section. Note that you must click on the section once in order to select it |
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Insert Page Number | Insert the page number |
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Insert Number of Page | Insert the total number of pages |
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Insert Date | Insert the date that the printing starts |
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Insert Time | Insert the time that the printing starts |
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Insert File Name | Insert the file name of the Agilian project |
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Insert Project Name | Insert the name of the Agilian project |
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Insert Diagram Name | Insert the diagram name |
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Figure 2.121 - Page with header and footer |
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Figure 2.122 - Select multiple page |
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Figure 2.123 - Distributes diagram in multiple page |
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Figure 2.124- Quick Print dialog |
Field | Description |
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Print Range | Click on either of the below options to specify the print range. All - Print all the diagrams within the current project Active - Print only the active diagram Diagrams - Check from the diagram tree to select the diagram(s) for printing |
Scaling | Select No scaling to print with diagrams' original size. Numbers of pages used for each diagram are subject to the scale of diagrams. Select Fit to pages to print with specified number of pages per diagram with respect to the specified number of rows and columns. |
Border option | Select border option of printout. |
Page Setup... | Page Setup allows you to specify the page size, the orientation as well as the margins of the pages. |
Page numbers | Select to print diagrams with page number on it. |
Use gradient color | Select to use gradient color in printout. |
This feature provides a facility to align selected diagram elements. You can align using toolbar, popup menu or group resource.
All alignment methods calculate the resulting shape boundaries on a referenced shape. You can refer to the section 'Referenced Shape for Alignment' for details.
Before you use any one of the methods to align, you should first select more than one shape.
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Figure 2.125 - Three use cases selected
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Here, three use cases aligning towards the top is used as an example.
To align using toolbar, you can select Edit > Align Shapes > Top from the main menu.
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Figure 2.126 - Select Top from main menu
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To align using popup menu, you can select Alignment > Top in the popup menu.
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Figure 2.127 - Select Top from popup menu
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To align using group resource, you can select the Alignment resource > Align Top which appears when two or more shapes are selected.
You can select the way of aligning from the drop-down menu.
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Figure 2.128 - Select Align Top from Alignment resource
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By using any of the above methods, the shapes are aligned.
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Figure 2.129 - Shape aligned |
This feature provides a facility to distribute selected diagram elements with uniform space. You can use resource, toolbar and menu to distribute shapes.
Before you use any one of the methods to distribute shapes, you should first select more than two shapes.
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Figure 2.130 - Three use cases selected |
Here, three use cases distributing horizontally is used as an example.
Use resource to distribute shapes:
To align using group resource, you can select the Distribute resource > Distribute Horizontally which appear when more than two shapes are selected.
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Figure 2.131 - Select Distribute Horizontally |
The use cases after Distribute Horizontally.
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Figure 2.132 - Three use cases distribute horizontally |
This feature provides a facility to set selected diagram elements to the same width, same height, or both. You can use resource, toolbar and menu to make the shapes being the same width/height.
The methods calculate the resulting shape boundaries based on a referenced shape. You may refer to the section 'Referenced Shape for Alignment section' below for details.
You need to select two or more shapes in order to apply this feature. Here, making three use cases the same width is used as an example.
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Figure 2.133 - Three use cases selected |
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Figure 2.134 - Select Same Width |
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Figure 2.135 - Resultant use cases
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When there are multiple shapes selected, the last selected shape will be used as the referenced shape for alignment. That is, the alignment method will be performed based on the position/size of the referenced shape. The referenced shape will be rendered with its resize handles surrounded by white rectangles.
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Figure 2.136- before and after Alignment left |
You can set a shape as the referenced shape for alignment (if it is currently not) by shift-clicking on the shape for two times (the first time to deselect the shape, and the second time to reselect it).
You can invoke the Align Shapes Dialog either Edit > Align Shapes > Align shapes... in the menu bar or the toolbar, or using the hot key F12. The Align Shapes dialog box allows you to configure the top/bottom, left/right alignments and same width/same height options all at a time. Select the desired options and click OK to apply the settings.
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Figure 2.137 - Align Shapes Dialog |
When you move a shape, visual alignment guide helps you to align with the closest shape. The guide lines show the vertical edge of the closest shape if you move a shape horizontally. Similarly, the guide lines show the horizontal edge if you move a shape vertically.
Here, a use case moving horizontally to align with other use cases is used as an example.
To align with other shapes:
1. Move the use case which you want to align with others. You can see the Visual Alignment Guide line.
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Figure 2.138 - Use case with guide lines before alignment
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2. Move until the use case align with the others.
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Figure 2.139 - Move the use case |
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Figure 2.140 - Use case aligned
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Figure 2.141- Options dialog box |
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Figure 2.142 - Select Environment tag |
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Figure 2.143 - Enable/disable the guide lines |
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Figure 2.144- Change the style of guide lines
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Figure 2.137 - Show center of the closest shape
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Figure 2.145 - Show edges of the closest shape
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The option allows you to make certain diagram elements read-only so that you can focus on editing other elements. All diagram elements are selectable by default.
To make one or more diagram elements non-selectable:
1. Right-click on the elements and deselect from the popup menu to make the selected element non-selectable.
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Figure 2.146 - Deselect the selectable option |
2. When a diagram element is non-selectable, it can not be detected by mouse or key actions. This means that if you click or drag on it, it will be the same as clicking or dragging on the white space of the diagram and nothing with happen
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Figure 2.147 - Diagram element after deselection |
3. To make a non-selectable diagram element selectable again, right-click on it and select Selectable from the popup menu.
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Figure 2.148 - Diagram element can be selected again |
4. You may also right-click on the diagram and select Make All Non-Selectable/Make All Selectable from the popup menu to make all elements non-selectable/selectable.
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Figure 2.149 - Make all diagram elements Selectable or Non-selectable |
If a diagram is locked, you can only view but not change the elements on the diagram.
A diagram is locked by right-clicking the diagram and then selecting Lock Diagram from the popup menu.
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Figure 2.150- Locking a diagram |
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