path: root/doc/umbrello/working_with_umbrello.docbook

<chapter id="working-with-umbrello">
<title>Working with &umbrello;</title>
<!-- Umbrello basics: creating diagrams, creating classes, adding objects to diagrams,
   associations, editing properties, anchor points in associations, removing objects, removing
   diagrams
-->

<para>
This chapter will introduce you to &umbrello;'s user interface and will
tell you all you need to know to start modelling.  All actions in &umbrello; are accessible via the menu and
the toolbars, but &umbrello; also makes extensive use of &RMB; context menus. You can &RMB; click on almost any element in
&umbrello;'s work area or tree view to get a menu with the most useful
functions that can be applied to the particular element you are
working on. Some users find this a little confusing at the beginning because they are more used to working with the menu or tool bars, but
once you get used to <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking it will greatly speed up your work.
</para>

<sect1 id="user-interface">
<title>User Interface</title>
<para>
&umbrello;'s main window is divided in three areas that will help you keep an overview of your entire system
and access the different diagrams quickly while working on your model.
</para>
<para>These areas are called:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Tree View</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Work Area</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Documentation Window</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<screenshot>
<screeninfo>&umbrello;'s User Interface</screeninfo>
	<mediaobject>
	  <imageobject>
	    <imagedata fileref="umbrello-ui.png" format="PNG"/>
	  </imageobject>
	  <textobject>
	    <phrase>&umbrello;'s User Interface</phrase>
	  </textobject>
	  <caption>
	    <para>&umbrello;'s User Interface
	    </para>
	  </caption>
	</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<sect2 id="tree-view">
<title>Tree View</title>
<para>
The Tree View is usually located on the top left hand side of the window and shows the all the diagrams,
classes, actors and use cases that build up your model.
The Tree View allows you to have a quick overview of the elements composing your model. The Tree View also
gives you a quick way to switch between the different diagrams in your model and inserting elements from
your model into the current diagram.
</para>
<para>
If you are working on a model with more than just a few classes and diagrams, the Tree View may help
you stay on top of things by organizing your model elements in folders. You can create 
folders by selecting the appropriate option from the context menu (&RMB; click on one of the folders
in the tree view) and you can organize your elements by moving them to the appropriate folder (drag and drop)
<!-- (screen shot) FIXME-->
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="documentation-window">
<title>Documentation Window</title>
<para>
The Documentation Window is the small window located on the left bottom of &umbrello;, and it gives
you a quick preview of the documentation for the currently selected item. The Documentation Window is
rather small because it is intended to allow you just a quick pick into the element's documentation while
taking as little screen space as possible. If you need to view the documentation in more detail you can always
open the item's properties.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="work-area">
<title>Work Area</title>
<para>
The Work Area is the main window in &umbrello; and is where the real action takes place. You use the Work Area
to edit and view the diagrams in your model. The Work Area shows the currently active diagram.  Currently
only one diagram can be shown on the Work Area at any time.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1> <!--user-interface-->
<sect1 id="load-save">
<title>Creating, Loading and Saving Models</title>
<para>
The first thing you need to start doing something useful with &umbrello; is to create a model to work on.
When you start &umbrello; it always loads the last used model or creates a new, empty model (depending on
your preferences set in the configuration dialog). This will allow you to start working right away.
</para>
<sect2 id="new-model">
<title>New Model</title>
<para>
If at any time you need to create a new model you can do this by selecting the <guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem> entry from the
<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu, or by clicking on the <guiicon>New</guiicon> icon from the application toolbar. If you are currently working on
a model which has been modified &umbrello; will ask you if it should save your changes before loading the
new model.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="save-model">
<title>Save Model</title>
<para>
You can save your model at any time by selecting the option <guimenuitem>Save</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu or by clicking
on the <guiicon>Save</guiicon> button from the application toolbar. If you need to save your model under a different name
you can use the option <guimenuitem>Save As</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu.
</para>
<para>For your convenience &umbrello; also offers you the option to automatically save your work
each certain time period. You can configure if you want this option as well as the time intervals
in the <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> from &umbrello;</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="load-model">
<title>Load Model</title>
<para>
For loading an already existing model you may select the option <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu or click on the <guiicon>Open</guiicon>
icon from the application toolbar. The most recently used models are also available under the submenu
<guimenuitem>Open Recent</guimenuitem> in the <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu to speed up access to your most frequently used models.
</para>
<para>
&umbrello; can only work on one model at a time, so if you ask the program to load a model for you and your
current model has been modified since the last time you save it, &umbrello; will ask you whether your changes
should be saved to prevent any loss of work.  You can start two or more instances of &umbrello; at any one time, you can also copy and paste between instances.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>  <!--load-save-->
<sect1 id="edit-model">
<title>Editing Models</title>
<para>
In &umbrello;, there are basically two ways for editing the elements in your model.
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Edit model elements directly through the Tree View</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Edit model elements through a Diagram</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Using the context menu of the different items in the Tree View you are able to add, remove, 
and modify almost all the elements in your model. <mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> clicking on the folders in the Tree View
will give you options for creating the different types of diagrams as well as, depending on whether
the folder is a <emphasis>Use Case View</emphasis> or a <emphasis>Logical View</emphasis>, Actors,
Use Cases, Classes, etc.
</para>
<para>
Once you have added elements to your model you can also edit an element by accessing its properties
dialog, which you find by selecting the option <emphasis>Properties</emphasis> from the context menu
shown when <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> clicking on the items in the Tree View.
</para>
<para>
You can also edit your model by creating or modifying elements through diagrams. More details on how
to do this are given in the following sections.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="add-remove-diagrams">
<title>Adding and Removing Diagrams</title>
<para>
Your &UML; model consists of a set of &UML; elements and associations between them. However you cannot see the model
directly, you use <emphasis>Diagrams</emphasis> to look at it.
</para>
<sect2 id="create-diagram">
<title>Creating Diagrams</title>
<para>
To create a new diagram in your model simply select the diagram type you need from the <guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem> submenu in the <guimenu>Diagram</guimenu> menu and give a name to it. The diagram will be created and made active, and you will immediately
see it in the tree view.
</para>
<para>
Remember that &umbrello; makes extensive use of context menus: you can also &RMB; click on a folder in the Tree
View and select the appropriate diagram type from the <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> submenu in the context menu. Note that you can create
Use Case Diagrams only in Use Case View folders, and the other types of diagram can only be created in the
Logical View folders.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="remove-diagram">
<title>Removing Diagrams</title>
<para>
Should you need to remove a diagram from your model, you can do this by making it active and selecting
<guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>Diagram</guimenu> Menu. You can also achieve this by selecting <guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> from the diagrams context menu
in the Tree View
</para>
<para>Since deleting a diagram is something serious that could cause loss of work if done by accident, &umbrello;
will ask you to confirm the delete operation before actually removing the Diagram. Once a diagram has been
deleted and the file has been saved there is no way to undo this action.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="rename-diagram">
<title>Renaming Diagrams</title>
<para>
If you want to change the name of an existing diagram you can easily do this by selecting the Rename option
from its &RMB; menu in the Tree View.
</para>
<para>Another way to rename a diagram is to do this via its properties dialog, which you obtain by
selecting Properties from its Context Menu or by double clicking on it in the Tree View.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="edit-diagram">
<title>Editing Diagrams</title>
<para>
When working on a diagram, &umbrello; will try to guide you by applying some simple rules as to which
elements are valid in the different types of diagrams, as well as the relationships that can exist
between them. If you are an &UML; expert you will probably not even notice it, but this will help
&UML; novices create standard-conformant diagrams.
</para>
<para>
Once you have created your diagrams it is time to start editing them. Here you should notice 
the (for beginners subtle) difference between editing your diagram, and editing the
<emphasis>model</emphasis>. As you already know, Diagrams are <emphasis>views</emphasis> of your model.
For example, if you create a class by editing a Class Diagram, you are really editing both, your
Diagram and your model. If you change the color or other display options of a Class in your Class
Diagram, you are only editing the Diagram, but nothing is changed in your model.
</para>
<sect2 id="insert-elements">
<title>Insert Elements</title>
<para>
One of the first things you will do when editing a new diagram is to insert elements into them (Classes,
Actors, Use Cases, &etc;) There is basically two ways of doing this:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Dragging existing elements in your model from the Tree View</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Creating new elements in your model and adding them to your diagram at the
same time, by using one of the edit Tools in the Work Toolbar</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
To insert elements that already exist in your model, just drag them from the Tree View and
drop them where you want them to be in your diagram. You can always move elements around
in your Diagram using the Select Tool
</para>
<para>
The second way of adding elements to your diagram is by using the Work Toolbar's edit tools (note
that this will also add the elements to your model).
</para>
<para>
The Work Toolbar was by default located on the far right of the application window, &umbrello; 1.2 has moved this to the top of the window.
You can dock it into other edge or have it floating around if you prefer. The tools available
on this toolbar (the buttons you see on it) change depending on the type of diagram
you are currently working on. The button for the currently
selected tool is activated in the toolbar. You can switch to the select tool
by pressing the &Esc; key.
</para>
<para>
When you have selected an edit tool from the Work Toolbar (for example, the tool to insert classes)
the mouse pointer changes to a cross, and you can insert the elements in your model by single clicking
in your diagram. Note that elements in &UML; must have a <emphasis>Unique Name</emphasis>. So that if
you have a class in one diagram whose name is <quote>ClassA</quote> and then you use the insert Class
tool to insert a class into another diagram you cannot name this new class <quote>ClassA</quote> as well.
If these two are supposed to be two different elements, you have to give them a unique name. If you are
trying to add the <emphasis>same</emphasis> element to your diagram, then the Insert Class is not
the right tool for that. You should drag and drop the class from the Tree View instead.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="delete-elements">
<title>Deleting Elements</title>
<para>
You can delete any element by selecting the option <guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> from its context menu.
</para>
<para>
Again, there is a <emphasis>big</emphasis> difference between removing an object from a diagram, and
deleting an object from your model:
If you delete an object from within a diagram, you are only removing the object from that particular
diagram: the element will still be part of your model and if there are other diagrams using the same
element they will not suffer any change.
If, on the other hand, you delete the element from the Tree View, you are actually deleting the
element from your <emphasis>model</emphasis>. Since the element no longer exist in your model,
it will be automatically removed from all the diagrams it appears in.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="edit-elements">
<title>Editing Elements</title>
<para>
You can edit most of the &UML; elements in your model and diagrams by opening its Properties dialog
and selecting the appropriate options.
To edit the properties of an object, select <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> from its context menu (&RMB; click). Each element has a dialog consisting of several pages where you can configure the options
corresponding to that element. For some elements, like actors you can only set a couple of options,
like the object name and documentation, while for other elements, like classes, you can edit its
attributes and operations, select what you want to be shown in the diagram (whole operation signature
or just operation names, etc) and even the colors you want to use for the line and fill of the class'
representation on the diagram.
</para>

<para>
For most &UML; elements you can also open the properties dialog by
double clicking on it if you are using the selection tool (arrow). The
exception to this is Associations, in which case a double click
creates an anchor point. For associations you need to use the &RMB; context menu to get the properties dialog.
</para>

<para>
Note that you can also select the properties option from the context
menu of the elements in the Tree View. This allows you to also edit
the properties for the diagrams, like setting whether the grid should
be shown or not.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="edit-classes">
<title>Editing Classes</title>
<para>
Even though editing the properties of all objects was already covered in the previous section,
classes deserve a special section because they are a bit more complicated and have more options
than most of the other &UML; elements.
</para>
<para>
In the properties dialog for a class you can set everything, from the color it uses to the operations
and attributes it has.
</para>
<sect3 id="class-general-settings">
<title>Class General Settings</title>
<para>
The General Settings page of the properties dialog is self-explanatory. Here you can change the
class' name, visibility, documentation, &etc;
This page is always available.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-attributes-settings">
<title>Class Attribute Settings</title>
<para>
In the Attributes Settings page you can add, edit, or delete attributes (variables) of the class.
You can move attributes up and down the list by pressing the arrow button
on the side.
This page is always available.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-operations-settings">
<title>Class Operations Settings</title>
<para>
Similar to the Attribute Settings Page, in the Operation Settings Page you can add, edit, or
remove operations for your class. When adding or editing an operation, you enter the basic data in
the <emphasis>Operation Properties</emphasis> dialog. If you want to add parameters to your operation
you need to click the <guibutton>New Parameter</guibutton> button, which will show the
<emphasis>Parameter Properties</emphasis> dialog.
This page is always available
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-template-settings">
<title>Class Template Settings</title>
<para>
This page allows you to add class templates which are unspecified classes or datatypes.  In Java 1.5 these will be called Generics.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-associations-page">
<title>Class Associations Page</title>
<para>
The <guilabel>Class Associations</guilabel> page shows all the associations of this class
in the current diagram. Double clicking on an association shows its properties, and depending
on the type of association you may modify some parameters here such as setting multiplicity and Role
name. If the association does not allow such options be be modified, the Association Properties dialog
is read-only and you can only modify the documentation associated with this association.
</para>
<para>
This page is only available if you open the Class Properties from within a diagram. If you select
the class properties from the context menu in the Tree View this page is not available.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-display-page">
<title>Class Display Page</title>
<para>
In the <guilabel>Display Options</guilabel> page, you can set what is to be shown in the diagram.
A class can be shown as only one rectangle with the class name in it (useful if you have many
classes in your diagram, or are for the moment not interested in the details of each class) or
as complete as showing packages, stereotypes, and attributes and operations with full signature and
visibility
</para>
<para>Depending on the amount of information you want to see you can select the corresponding
options in this page. The changes you make here are only <emphasis>display options</emphasis>
for the diagram. This means that <quote>hiding</quote> a class' operations only makes them
not to be shown in the diagram, but the operation are still there as part of your model.
This option is only available if you select the class properties from within a Diagram. If you open
the class properties from the Tree View this page is missing since such Display Options do not make sense
in that case</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="class-color-page">
<title>Class Color Page</title>
<para>
In the <guilabel>Widget Color</guilabel> page you can configure the colors you want for the line
and the fill of the widget. This option obviously makes sense only for classes displayed in diagrams,
and is missing if you open the class' properties dialog from the Tree View.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="associations">
<title>Associations</title>
<para>
Associations relate two &UML; objects to each other. Normally associations are defined between two classes,
but some types of associations can also exists between use cases and actors.
</para>
<para>
To create an association select the appropriate tool from the Work Toolbar (generic Association,
Generalization, Aggregation, &etc;) and single click on the first element participating in the association
and then single click on the second item participating. Note that those are two clicks, one on each
on the objects participating in the association, it is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a drag from one object
to the other. <!-- yet :) -->
</para>
<para>
If you try to use an association in a way against the &UML; specification &umbrello; will refuse to create
the association and you will get an error message. This would be the case if, for example, a Generalization
exists from class A to class B and then you try to create another Generalization from Class B to class A
</para>
<para>
<mousebutton>Right</mousebutton> clicking on an association will show a context menu with the actions you can apply on it. If you need to delete an association simply select the <guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> option from this context menu.
You can also select the <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> option and, depending on the association type
edit attributes such as roles and multiplicity.
</para>
<sect3 id="anchor-points">
<title>Anchor Points</title>
<para>
Associations are drawn, by default, as a straight line connecting the two objects in the diagram. 
</para>
<para>
You can add anchor points to bend an association by <mousebutton>double</mousebutton> clicking some where along the association line. This will insert
an anchor point (displayed as a blue point when the association line is selected) which you can move
around to give shape to the association
</para>
<para>
If you need to remove an anchor point, <mousebutton>double</mousebutton> click on it again to remove it
</para>
<para>
Note that the only way to edit the properties of an association is through the context menu. If you
try to <mousebutton>double</mousebutton> click on it as with other &UML; objects, this will only insert an anchor point.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="notes">
<title>Notes, Text and Boxes</title>
<para>
Notes, Lines Of Text and Boxes are elements that can be present in any type of diagram and have no real
semantic value, but are very helpful to add extra comments or explanations that can make your
diagram easier to understand.
</para>
<para>
To add a Note or a Line Of Text, select the corresponding tool from the Work Toolbar and single click
on the diagram where you want to put your comment. You can edit the text by opening the element through
its context menu or in the case of notes by <mousebutton>double</mousebutton> clicking on them as well.
</para>
<sect3 id="anchors">
<title>Anchors</title>
<para>
Anchors are used to link a text note and another &UML; Element together. For example, you normally
use a text note to explain or make some comment about a class or a particular association, in which
case you can use the anchor to make it clear that the note <quote>belongs</quote> to that particular
element.
</para>
<para>
To add an anchor between a note and another &UML; element, use the anchor tool from the work toolbar.
You first need to click on the note and then click on the &UML; element you want the note to be linked
to.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<!--edit-diagram-->