Class Designer in Whidbey and UML

The Class Designer is not a UML tool but uses the UML notation where it makes sense. The primary audience for this tool is the Visual Studio developer.  The underlying meta-model behind the Class Designer is the CLR Type System and not the UML meta-model. This provides for a seamless synchronization between the code and the diagram without having to spit “designer goo” in the code. This also makes it easy for us to use the “code is the master“ paradigm. We only store the visual information in the diagram file and sync the diagram to changes in code as and when it happens.

Early feedback from developers have been very positive. Of course, a small minority feel that not following the UML standards will make them not want to use this tool. I am curious to find out why that is so. I am especially eager to get responses from developers on this issue.

Cheers,

Ramesh.

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2004
  Sure, come on in waving this visualising tool skills or wanting to learn that tool and we will laugh you back to the door with a UML for dummies book.
  
  

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2004
  What good is this when I am working with developers that DO NOT use Visual Studio, thats why we have UML and none of this proprietry lockin tools which is what this appears to be.
  

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2004
  How will this integrate with configuration management tools? I would guess you store this as a CUSTOM XML format, right? I guess that locks out other tools. Will this file format be documented? I bet not, its up to us to reverse engineer it (legally permitted in the EU for interop and to encourage competition BY EU DIRECTIVEs - BY LAW).

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2004
  Will there be a interface or some way to extend the designer from managed code? Like create your own type of diagrams or inherit some export/import functionality and make it support whatever format you want. For Ferris.

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2004
  Oh not just for me, for the entire industry that tends to think standards are important.
  
  Will this replace the object browser?
  
  

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2004
  Hi Steves,
  
  Our group is building a model based development tool framework. Currently Class Designer is one of 3 designers that we are building on top of this framework. While it is true that the Class Designer itself doesn't support higher level abstractions, we are working with partners who will be able to provide support for, including but not limited to, UML built on this framework. While there is the XMI format prescribed by OMG, we have found that each tool vendor has their own interpretation and implementation of the standard, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible to import an XMI file exported by a tool vendor. I am curious to find if people have actually imported an XMI file exported by one vendor into a UML tool provided by another vendor.
  
  Cheers,
  Ramesh.

• Anonymous
  March 08, 2004
  Why dont you download 2 trial versions and export import between them and find out.
  

• Anonymous
  March 08, 2004
  MS has a site license on IBM Rational Rose, go use it.

• Anonymous
  March 08, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2004
  It is possible to derive the meta-model of the class designer from a meta-meta-model that is UML standard compliant.

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 04, 2004
  I like the idea of being able to map back and forth between the diagrams and the code. That is how I was using Sparx Enterprise Architect (an excellent, inexpensive, cross-platform UML tool with round-trip development... check it out.)
  
  While I am comfortable using two visual paradigms (one for VS and one for the rest of the world, I cannot and will not publish an artifact that does not meet the UML standard. This means that I will have to keep using EA, and just reverse engineer the diagrams in to create the documentation... kinda defeats the purpose of using the diagrams in the "long term" as you describe in the blog.
  
  As an absolute requirement, I need the ability to VIEW the diagram in UML, even if I can only modify and work with it in the non-standard format. This should not be an add-in from a vendor... this should be core functionality.
  
  I need to export the image to WMF, JPG, PDF, and/or GIF (for documentation and web page publishing). I do not need to export in XML format just yet, but I would like the image data to be stored in XML for the sake of Config Management (Diff doesn't work too well on binary files).
  
  Also, all the discussion has focused on Class diagrams. I also need other UML artifacts, like Sequence diagrams, state diagrams, deployment diagrams, use case diagrams, etc. The class diagram represents only one view (read Krutchen's description of the 4+1 Views).
  
  Anything less is literally not an answer.

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2004
  Thanks Captain for the constructive feedback. It never ceases to amaze me how much time people waste complaining instead of helping create what it is they are dissapointed doesn't exist.
  
  I personally have no need for the class designer to meet UML standards. I understand the importance of UML, and standards in general, but what I want is a visual representation of the codebase I have to architect on a daily basis. For those like the captain who obviously model to communicate, the UML will be more important.
  
  I model to understand and be productive, the class designer is exactly what I have been waiting for in VS.NET for some time, industry standard or not.

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2004
  As an MS fan, I like the idea of an integrated UML-notation viewer in VS. I also echo the comments of the irate guy who says that "it ain't UML unless its standard".
  
  I wonder if someone can shed some light on these: Is it possible to externally automate the Class Designer (big problem with Visio)? Exactly what constructs in class diagrams are supported? Are there any other "UML" diagrams in the works?
  
  Thanks.

• Anonymous
  May 28, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 28, 2004
  Thanks for the feedback Lance. I couldn't have said it better.
  
  Sorry for going AWOL the last few weeks. I promise to post more info soon.
  
  UML Fan: Sorry, for V1 we don't plan on providing automation support. The Class Designer will support all language specific constructs for visualization. For class building, we will not support creating generic types from the diagram (but we will support visualizing them). What other kinds of UML diagrams are you interested in?

• Anonymous
  June 28, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2004
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 22, 2004
  Thanks for all of your feedback.
  
  As Simon says Class Designer is not a conceptual modeling tool. It ispurely a code visualization tool. This is targeted towards developers programming in VS.Net languages to help them visualize and refactor existing code and create new types.
  
  Amit: Thanks for your support and being an unofficial evangelist of Microsoft. You can think of Class Diagrams in VS 2005 as another view of your code. If you are a developer and are using Visual Studio you will find it very useful while building your software. I hope this clarifies things a little bit.
  
  Cheers,
  Ramesh.

• Anonymous
  June 01, 2008
  The Class Designer is not a UML tool but uses the UML notation where it makes sense. The primary audience for this tool is the Visual Studio developer. The underlying meta-model behind the Class Designer is the CLR Type System and not the UML meta-model

• Anonymous
  May 26, 2009
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• Anonymous
  June 09, 2009
  PingBack from http://insomniacuresite.info/story.php?id=4236