Getting my head around a class model

Article

John Murray · Mar 4, 2016 1m read

There's plenty of goodness in the %-packages InterSystems supplies, and it seems that every new version of Caché brings something new. The browser-based class documentation (a.k.a. Documatic) generally provides a good level of information, but on the basis that "a picture is worth a thousand words" I sometimes want a diagram.

For example, when trying to navigate the %Dictionary package for a project that needed to find out about class definitions, here's one of the UML class diagrams I created.

It was generated from a 2008.1 system using Umlanji to extract the data from Caché and Enterprise Architect to produce the diagram. There were several other UML modelling tools I could have used, including the open source ArgoUML.

For the full-size PNG file, click on the image above.

Who else uses UML class diagrams in their Caché Objects development work? Any tips to share?

Discussion (7)1

Stefan Wittmann · Mar 4, 2016

A couple of years ago I built my own UML class diagram viewer, but it was more for the fun of it. I just like to visualize relationships and workflows as I believe it helps the mind to understand complex entities better.

There is a UML Explorer tool available at this GitHub repo:

https://github.com/intersystems-ru/UMLExplorer

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Evgeny Shvarov · Mar 4, 2016

I've fixed image size if you don't mind.

Quite a popular idea.

I know at least two examples of this approach:

UML Class Explorer,

xmi generator for Enterprise Architect.

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John Murray · Mar 4, 2016

Thanks for fixing the image size so it doesn't bleed across other areas of the forum UI.

If anyone would like to have a full-size image, or the EA model file, or even the XMI that Umlanji emits, reply to this comment and I'll find a way to make them available.

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Scott Beeson · Mar 4, 2016

Yeah It's not even readable now. Could you update the OP with a link to the full size image?

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John Murray · Mar 6, 2016

Certainly Scott. You can now get the full-size PNG file by clicking on the image.

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Evgeny Shvarov · Mar 5, 2016

This is open online working demo of UML Class Explorer

Here is sample picture screenshot from Samples/Cinema class Package I just did.

You can change namespaces with dropdown in right top corner.

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John Murray · Mar 14, 2017

This recent post about Ontodia and Caché describes an interesting variation on the UML class diagram presentations we previously discussed here.

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