Additional Instance Diagram Editor Tools

Instance Diagram Toolbar

The Instance Diagram Editor toolbar allows you to quickly and easily complete many of the options available with the Context Menu including:

• Select
• Arrange All
• Filters
• Zoom

Context Menus

This section discusses some of the other tools available with the Instance Diagram Editor. These tools are not Tigerstripe specific. The Instance Diagram Editor is built on the Eclipse framework called the Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF). Use of this framework means that the Class Instance Diagram Editor has many additional tools available that are provided by the GMF.

The following figure, displays one the context menus provided as a part of the Instance Diagram Editor. You can access this menu by right-clicking anywhere on the Instance Diagram Editor. To be more specific, you can right-click anyplace on the diagram where there a diagram does not exist.

In the above Context Menu, there are a number of tools available.

• Add: The Add menu allows you to add a number of different types of shapes to your instance diagram. Once created, you can format these shapes by right-clicking, and displaying the Context Menu appropriate for that shape. Items in the shapes context menu allows you to change the background and foreground colors, change the font used for labels, and even change the order of the shape within the diagram.
• Navigate: This menu is not available.
• File: The File menu allows you to save your current diagram as an image file, providing you with the ability to include the instance diagram in external system documentation.

  

  The Instance Diagram Editor supports the following images formats:

  • .gif
  • .bmp
  • .jpeg
  • .jpg
  • .svg
  • .png

• Edit: The Edit menu allows you to undo/redo changes made to your instance diagram.

  

• Select: The Select menu allows you to select all items, select only shapes, or select only connectors in your instance diagram.

  

• Arrange All: The Arrange menu allows you to arrange your instance diagram vertically in the Instance Diagram Editor.
• Filters: The Filters menu allows you to apply filters to the objects in the diagram (or the diagram itself) in order control what is visible. You can choose to display all connector labels or you can choose to not display connector labels.

  

• View: The View menu allows you display basic drawing items such as grid lines, rulers, and page breaks. This menu is also where you can activate the snap to grid option. This option allows you to automatically align text, pictures, and other objects as you place or move them within your drawing.

  

• Zoom: The Zoom menu allows you to Zoom in or Zoom out on your current diagram.

  

• Manage Links: Selecting the Manage Links option on the Context Menu opens the Manage Links dialog box. This dialog box displays a list of relationships in your diagram. Select (or deselect) the relationship you want display (or hide) in your diagram.

  

• Hide/Show: The Hide/Show menu allows you to hide (or display) your object Annotations, Default Values, and Packages in Compartments.

  

• Show Properties View: Selecting the Show Properties View options opens the Properties tab in Tigerstripe.

  

Related Topics

 Creating a Class Instance