Property Inspectors

Diagram and element properties are accessible in property Inspectors displayed with the Properties command on the element or diagram speedmenu. Property Inspectors are generally multi-tabbed, and their content is dynamic, depending on the selection. For example, the Inspector for an EJB implementation class will have different content, layout, and even than a plain Java class.

To display properties:

Select the element or diagram in the Diagram pane or in the Explorer.
Right-click and choose Properties, or press Alt+Enter.

Overview of Inspectors

Inspectors generally (but not always) have multiple tabs that enable you to...

View and/or edit properties of the selected diagram or element element.
Create and navigate hyperlinks between...
- diagrams (existing or created "on the fly")
- diagram elements and other diagrams (existing or created "on the fly")
- diagrams (or elements) and files or URLs
Enter and edit comments in source code; add comments to non source-generating diagram elements.
Add JavaDoc comments for the selected element such as @author, @version, etc.
Enter and edit Requirements information.
Edit properties specific to the selected element.

Some of the more common page tabs are: Properties, Hyperlink, JavaDoc, View, Doc, Bean, Operations, Req(uirements).

Inspector dynamic tabset

The composition of the Inspector's tabset changes dynamically depending on what you have selected in other parts of the user interface. This section describes the basic function of each Inspector tab along with the scenarios related to its visibility.

View and edit properties in dynamic properties Inspectors. Class inspector shown.

Properties tab

This tab shows the properties of the currently selected element in the current diagram, or the diagram itself. You can view and modify values of properties.

The tab displays a list with appropriate editors showing the names of the selection's properties.

Some properties (parameter of an operation for example) can have multiple values. When more than one value is specified, the values are comma-delimited.

Each property has an editor field that you use for supplying property values. The type of editor displayed depends on the type property.

For more information on properties and property editors, see User's Guide: Editing properties.

Hyperlinks tab

The Hyperlinks tab enables you to create hyperlinks to different types of artifacts and browse directly to them. You can create hyperlinks from the current diagram as a whole, or from a selected diagram element to:

A new diagram (created on the fly)
An existing diagram or diagram element anywhere in the project
A URL on your company's intranet or on the Internet

You create, view, remove, and browse hyperlinks with the Hyperlink tab speedmenu. For more information, see User's Guide: Hyperlinking Diagrams.

JavaDoc tab

Inspectors for source generating elements display the JavaDoc tab. You can enter a description and specify values for JavaDoc tags applicable to the selected element. The values you enter are used when you generate JavaDoc using the Documentation Generation feature.

View tab

This tab, when displayed, enables you to set the foreground and background colors of the selected element.

Doc tab

For diagram elements that are round-trip engineered, the Doc tab displays source code comments when you select the element. For example, if you select an Interface, source code comments in the relevant source file display in the Doc tab where you can edit them.

For diagram elements that aren't round-trip engineered (a Use Case for example) you can enter comments for the element that are stored with the diagram file.

Operation tab

The Operation tab is hidden until you set a value for a diagram element property Operation... a Message in a Sequence diagram for example... the value of which is an operation. The Operation tab displays the properties of the linked Operation. Once a value is set for the property, the Operation tab display whenever the element (e.g. Message) is selected in the diagram.

Requirements tab

You can track various requirements properties including type, priority, and difficulty for diagrams and individual elements . You can specify a requirements document for the diagram or elements. Note that a hyperlink to the document is not created when you specify the requirements document. Use the Hyperlinks tab to create such links.

Bean tab

For classes, displays JavaBean/EJB properties on the following lower tabs:

General tab: general JavaBean attributes
Properties tab: Bean properties like getter, setter, bound, constrained, etc.
Events: Bean event sets