Comments on: UML Use Case Modeling - A Little Help?

By: Ross

Ross — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:31:57 +0000

I find Visio so cumbersome, (even after wrestling with it for a couple of years), that you loose the thread of what you are trying to document. I think a UML tool should allow for quick brainstorming of ideas, which can then be used to promote discussion. Now I’ve got my standard set of icons, its better, but I still loose that moment of insperation when I need to branch off to find some icon I”ve not used for a while. I personally use NovaGraph Chartist, as its cheap and very quick to bang out quite detailed diagrams. I usually then copy the lot inot a jpeg, and paste it into whatever word doc I need to produce. Give it a go, its cheap and cheerful. http://www.novagraph.com

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:56:41 +0000

A lot of nice ideas in this thread.

I take it, however, that there really is NO way to capture for easy review and transfer to different types of documents the UML documentation and properties that MS Visio (2007) allows you to enter.

If anyone has discovered a way to do this please share it.

By: matt

matt — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:31:41 +0000

I’ve used Rational for years, but I started using StarUML when the company I worked for wouldn’t pay the license. The auto documentation generation capabilities are really nice and probably make up for some of the clunkyness.
I find Visio really annoying (though it does make pretty diagrams). The fact is, it’s a drawing tool, the constraints they tried to apply to the UML templates to enforce integrity across the model tend to get in the way a lot. (Not to mention it’s not free either)

By: Craig Brown

Craig Brown — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:53:41 +0000

Have you? Maybe you’ll do a little round up for us on what is good nd what is great here one day (soon)?

By: JB

JB — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:46:51 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Craig. I’ll definitely check out the discussion on the free RM tools.

I’ve looked at a couple open source RM tools myself, and found some to be fairly good - especially for a smaller operation, or if you’re just trying to get your feet wet before spending a ton on software from a major player.

By: JB

JB — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:42:14 +0000

Good stuff, Robert. Thanks for commenting. I like EA from the little I’ve used it. It appears to output nice docs, too.

Given the price, I’d consider buying for my own use even if we don’t adopt it in our “shop”.

By: Craig Brown

Craig Brown — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:41:29 +0000

I am in the visio word cmp myself. I’m keen to see what answeres you get.

(I also recently asked a question about free RM tools here. You might want to track the answers.)

By: Robert Winter

Robert Winter — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:28:19 +0000

I’ve been using Enterprise Architect for a year or two and as you say, it does a thorough job at a very reasonable cost.

One significant advantage that EA has over using Visio with Word, is the ability to collaborate on models with colleagues, thus promoting sharing and reuse of information. The main drawback I find is that the template editor (used for configuring RTF reports) is a little fiddly. It is worth the effort though and allows you to output the same information in different formats to different documents.

For use cases, EA allows basic flow and alternate specs to be added to the properties of the use case itself (on the scenarios tab). The text box is a little restrictive, so for complex use cases, setting up a ‘linked document’ is preferable. Linked documents open in an MS Word window in EA itself.