The Explorer
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The Explorer pane has multiple tabs that provide different views of
your project's content and enable access to the related files such as
modules, and other information in your Together
installation. You can...
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View the physical and logical structure of your project
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Navigate within the project, and also your physical system
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View project resources such as source files, classes and members,
diagrams, and modules. Open diagrams and files for editing
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View and run Together's system modules and other modules, including
custom ones you develop |
When the Explorer pane is visible, you can
show or hide the Explorer using the View menu or Main Toolbar. The
tabs, from left to right are: Directory, Model,
Overview, Components,
Modules.
Directory tab
The Directory tab presents views of the contents of your physical
system and enables you to navigate both inside and outside of a
project's physical structure. You can find and open text type files
in the Editor pane independently of your current project, or when no
project is open. You can navigate to and open a project file. When a
project is open, you can also open a diagram file.
The actual physical files that Togethersupports
for the Editor pane (source
code, and text files) display the Edit File icon 
.
Together project files display the 
icon. Other files that reside on your physical system but cannot be
opened in the Editor pane show a "generic file" icon: 
.
When you launch Together,
the Directory tab displays your available drives/directories and two
additional directories from your Together installation:
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Samples -
contains example projects
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User
projects - an empty directory where you can
place your first experimental projects, or real projects for quicker
access from the Directory tab. In the latter case, you should create
the Together
project under the myprojects directory.
When you open a
project, a Current
Project
node is added to the Directory tab enabling you to see the physical
files that comprise your project.
Model tab
The Model tab displays when you open a Together project
and shows a logical view of the elements that comprise the model
encompassed by the project.
The Model tab shows what
root-level packages comprise your project, and enables you to
logically navigate the contents to see what subpackages, diagrams,
and diagram elements exist in each one. As you browse the project
contents, you can open diagrams for editing using the speedmenu.
The Model tab's view is not
strictly hierarchical in the same sense as a file system explorer
because the project's root-level packages can physically reside anywhere
on your system. The Model tab displays secondary
root packages in relation to the primary
root-- i.e., the package
containing the Together project
file.
For example, you might create a
project file in the directory ./Project1,
and specify Java's awt package as being a secondary root directory
for the project. In this case, the java.awt
package displays as a package node under the primary root node (Project1).
From that point, the contents of java.awt
displays hierarchically.
Understanding shortcuts
Sub-nodes in the Model tab can sometimes display shortcut symbols. If
the sub-node represents something that is contained in or by the
parent node, no shortcut displays. However, if the sub-node
represents something that is represented in, but not contained by the
parent node, then a shortcut displays.
Study the figure at left. Cash Management
is the project package. It contains 2 diagrams: Cash
Management is the default
diagram generated by Together
to display the modeling elements in the physical directory
represented by the project package. People
to Sale Overview is a
user-created Class diagram in the same package.
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The Cash
Management diagram
contains a number of classes. These are representations of physical
files in the Cash
Management package. It may help if you think of these classes as
"belonging" to the Cash Management diagram because that's
the diagram that represents their physical existence on the system.
The Cash Management
diagram also contains a shortcut to the People
to Sale Overview diagram.
If you opened Cash
Management you would see a
visually stereotyped package representing the shortcut. (see figure
at right). You could use that shortcut to open People
to Sale Overview. |
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The People
to Sale Overview diagram
contains several of the same classes as Cash
Management, but this
diagram does not represent the physical existence of these classes:
it references
their physical representation in Cash
Management. So in the
Explorer under the People
to Sale Overview class
diagram node, the classes display as shortcuts.
Content from Search/Classpath
Class diagrams can show classes and interfaces from packages that
reside on the Classpath and/or other search paths as defined in File
| Project Properties. Such content is also referenced in and
therefore displays a shortcut symbol in both the Model tab and in the
diagram where it is shown.
Overview tab
The Overview tab enables you to visually navigate the diagram
currently selected in the Diagram pane and to quickly adjust the zoom
level. The tab displays a "thumbnail sketch" of the entire
diagram, and a shadow over the region currently visible in the
Diagram pane. The Diagram pane scrolls proportionally with any
movement of the shadow.
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To move around the diagram, drag the shadow to scroll the Diagram
pane to the region of the diagram you want to view.
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To adjust zoom level, resize the shadow by grabbing the lower right
corner diagonally to increase or decrease the Zoom level in the
Diagram pane.
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Overview tab:
drag shadow to scroll, drag corner to zoom in-out. |
Modules tab
Together is highly extensible. Using
Java in conjunction with the Together's
API you can develop your own modules
to handle custom metrics or documentation, generate custom outputs
based on model information... almost anything. In fact, many of Together's
own features are
implemented as modules. These modules appear in the System
folder of the Modules tab.
The Modules tab provides quick access to system, sample, and any
added-in modules (supplied with Together, or developed or added by
you). You can view the available
modules by navigating through the module folders. You can run any
module from the speedmenu of it's node. If you develop your own
modules or acquire 3rd-party modules, you can install them so they
display in and run from this tab.
The following table shows how
modules are represented in the Modules tab.
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Java source file for module. Can be
compiled from "Run" if a compiler is configured. |
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Compiled Java module |
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TCL script. "Run"
executes the script in interpreted mode. |
Note:In
Together Whiteboard, the Modules tab is visible so you can look at
the modules and learn about the extensibility features of Together.
However,
functionality is disabled except for those modular features enabled
in the Whiteboard product.
For more information, see User's
Guide: Working with Modules.
Components tab
This
tab only appears when you include Components in your project, and
enables you to access and reuse component models. By default you'll
find "Coad Modeling Components"... over 60 enterprise
component models in
color that
you can reuse or modify.
The
Components tab visually represents the $TOGETHER_HOME$/modules/components
directory of your installation. You can add your own components to
the Components tab by placing them in one or more directories that
you create under the components directory.
You can copy
classes (or entire packages) from the packages shown in the
Components tab to your Class diagrams. This creates new source files
and/or packages in your project. You can also copy classes (or entire
packages) from the packages shown in the Components tab to any
package in your project.
These appear in the Model tab in the appropriate package but
do not appear in any Class diagrams until you open the diagram and
the source files are reverse engineered.
For
information on copying between Explorer tabs and diagrams, see the
Tips section below.
Tips for the Explorer
Appearance of tabs
Navigation
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Double-click on diagrams in the
Model tab to open them for editing.
When you open a
diagram in the Diagram pane, you can select a key element such as
class, member, or use case (depending on the diagram type) in the
Model tab and the element is simultaneously selected in the diagram.
The diagram scrolls if necessary to display your selection. This is a
handy way to navigate in large diagrams when you want to locate a
specific class, member, or other element.
Clicking on a
class or member in the Model tab loads its source code in the tab of
the Editor pane regardless of whether or not its associated diagram
is open in the Diagram pane.
Speedmenus
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Check for a speedmenu on the various node types in the different
tabs. The speedmenus enable such actions as opening, clipboard
operations, and version control directly from the Explorer. Explorer
nodes for classes, use cases, and other main diagram elements have
the same speedmenu as the element in the diagram. You can perform the
same operation from either place with identical effect.
Express project access
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If you create project directories under the myprojects
directory in your Together installation,
they display under the myprojects
folder of the Directory tab. You can quickly navigate to and open
them from there. You can customize the default location for projects
in the General tab of the Default Options dialog.
Using the Explorer for Copy - Paste
You can copy and paste classes or packages, diagrams, and elements of
diagrams using the Explorer. Items that can be copied have a Copy
command on their speedmenus. You can copy between different Explorer
tabs – from Component to Model for example, or from the
Explorer to an open Diagram. You can also clone
diagrams, elements, and
class members. Cloning creates and exact copy of the cloned item in
the same package or Node element, and gives it a default name which
you can edit.
To copy between Explorer tabs:
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Select the Explorer tab containing
the source.
Select the item
you want to copy (Explorer does not currently support multiple selection).
Choose copy from
the item's speedmenu.
Select the
Explorer tab containing the destination.
Select the
destination package and choose Paste from its speedmenu.
To copy
between Explorer and a diagram:
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Select the Explorer tab containing
the source.
Select the item
you want to copy (Explorer does not currently support multiple selection).
Choose copy from
the item's speedmenu.
Right-click on
the diagram background and choose Paste from its speedmenu.
To clone something from the Explorer:
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Navigate to the source item in the treeview.
Right-click on it and choose Clone from the speedmenu.
Note:
You can also clone Node elements in the diagram pane using their speedmenus.
Related topics:
Directory
Model