Drawing diagram elements

This topic covers the basic techniques for placing diagram elements and annotations into diagrams and drawing relationship elements between them. Drawing diagrams with Together is simple and intuitive. If you've used earlier versions of Together you can probably skip or just skim this information.

When you create a new diagram, the Diagram pane presents an empty background. You place the various Node elements (e.g., Class, UseCase, etc.) on the background and draw relationship links between them (Association, Communicates, etc.) What elements and relationships you draw is up to you... whatever meets the requirements of your model.

The main tools you use for constructing diagrams are:

• Diagram Toolbars: Place icons for Node elements and draw links on the diagram background.

• Diagram speedmenu: Show hidden objects, manage the layout, control Zoom, configure diagram-level Options, update diagrams and hyperlinks.

• Element speedmenus: The right-click menus of the various nodes and links provide functions specific to each. For example, you can add or delete members (or delete the element itself), cut-copy-paste, hide and show elements, route links, and more. Explore the speedmenus of the different elements as you encounter them to see what's available for each one.

• Inspectors: (Speedmenus | Properties) Edit diagram or element properties, create hyperlinks between diagrams, elements of diagrams and other diagrams, and between diagrams or elements and files or URLs. Edit annotations and source code comments.

Placing Nodes

To place a Node element:

Create or open a diagram


On the Diagram Toolbar click the icon for the element you want to place in the diagram. (Icons are identified with tool-tips.)


Move the pointer over the Diagram pane to the place you want to create the new element and click. This creates the new element and activates the in-place editor for its name. (Note: You can place multiple elements of the same type in one operation. See Tips and Tricks below.)

1. Click the desired element icon. Icon stays depressed.	2. Move pointer over diagram and click	3. New element created, in-place name editor activated

Drawing relationship links

To draw a relationship link between Nodes:

1. On the Diagram Toolbar click the icon for the type of link you want to draw in the diagram. (Icons are identified with tool-tips.)
   

2. To draw the link...

   • Move your pointer over the Node element where the link should originate.
     
   • Drag from the originating element to the destination element and drop the link.
     
   • If the destination element is out of reach, drop the link on the background. The Choose Destination dialog displays. Choose the destination element in the list and click OK to create the link. (Note: You can place multiple links of the same type in one operation. See Tips and Tricks below.)

1. Click the desired link icon. Icon stays depressed.	2. Move pointer over first element, drag to second one	3. Drop when second element is highlighted

Tips and Tricks

Constructing diagrams with Together is straightforward and easy to master. For newcomers, this section details some techniques that you may find helpful as you work.

• Selecting: Click on any element in the diagram to select it.

  • Select multiple elements by holding down CTRL and clicking on them individually, or click on the background and drag a "rubber-band box" around an area to select all elements it contains.
    
  • For elements containing members, click on a member to select it.
    
  • Selecting the node for a diagram element in the Model tab of the Explore selects it in the diagram and scrolls the view to make it visible.

• Speedmenus: Many things that you will want to do with elements or the diagram as a whole can be done from the different speedmenus. Some of the operations include:

  • Add or delete members
    
  • Set association cardinality
    
  • Cut-copy-and paste attributes, operations, or text
    
  • Hide individual elements or show hidden elements

Right-click on diagram elements, including class members, for access to element-specific operations on the respective speedmenu. Right-click the background to access the diagram's speedmenu. (Note: The speedmenu of a selected element is duplicated in the main Object menu.)

• Viewing: Scroll the Diagram pane horizontally and vertically using its scrollbars or the Overview tab.

  • Resize the pane vertically by dragging its lower edge up or down.
    
  • Resize the pane horizontally by dragging the separator located between the Toolbar and the Explorer pane, or by resizing the window.
    
  • Enlarge your work area in the Diagram pane by hiding any or all of the other panes using the View menu or Main Toolbar.
    
  • Modify the Zoom level (magnification) using the Diagram speedmenu or by dragging a corner of the shadow in the Overview tab.

• Properties: Clicking on the diagram's background displays the diagram's properties in the diagram Inspector. Selecting an element in the diagram displays its properties in the element's Inspector. View Inspectors using Properties on the speedmenu of a selected element or the diagram background.

• Adding multiple elements: You can place a number of nodes of the same type in the diagram without returning to the toolbar. These will all have default names which you can then edit in-place or in the properties Inspector for each one.

  1. Click on the Toolbar button for the node you want to create (the button remains depressed)
     
  2. Hold down the CTRL key
     
  3. Click the desired location in the Diagram pane. The new element is placed on the diagram at the point you click (the button remains depressed)
     
  4. Click the next location in the Diagram pane. The next new element icon is placed on the diagram
     
  5. Repeat #4 until you have one less than the desired number of elements of that type.
     
  6. To place the last element in the series, release CTRL and click once more on the background.
     
  7. Click "Select" toolbar button

• Drawing multiple links: You can also draw multiple links of the same type in the diagram without returning to the toolbar in much the same way as you can place nodes.

  1. Click on a link icon on the Toolbar button for the link you want (the button remains depressed)
     
  2. Press and keep holding CTRL key
     
  3. Place your pointer over the element where the link originates
     
  4. Drag the link to the destination element and drop it there. The new link is created between these two nodes (the link's button remains depressed)
     
  5. Repeat #3 and #4 until you are at the next to the last link you want to draw.
     
  6. Release CTRL and draw the last link.

• Canceling toolbar selection: After making a selection on the toolbar or doing the first of a multi-draw or multi-placement operation, you can cancel the operation by clicking the Select Arrow on the toolbar.

• In-place editing: You can edit the name property of elements, members, and links in place. Click once to select the name label, then again to activate the in-place editor. For Attributes and Operations you can type in either the full declaration statement or the element name only. The declaration must be full correct syntax for the project's target language.

• Undo/Redo: Undo and Redo work with changes that affect the visual diagram, layout of elements, adding of Attributes and Operations, etc. These features do not work when the change to the diagram involves the creating or renaming a file or directory-- creating and renaming classes, interfaces or packages for example.

  • From the main menu, choose Edit | Undo or press Ctrl + Z to undo the last change you made to the diagram.
    
  • From the main menu, choose Edit | Redo or press Ctrl + Y to restore the last change you made using Undo.

Tip: The size of the Undo/Redo buffer is configurable in the global or project-local workspace.config file.

See also:

Manipulating diagram elements
Editing properties
Managing diagram layout