The Omondo EclipseUML plug-in

David Gallardo

What is UML

• A graphical language• Not a development method• It was designed for RUP—the Rational Unified

Process, but it supports other methods• Popular for agile and XP programming• Not a visual programming, but some tools can

generate code based on diagrams, especially class diagrams

Omondo Eclipse UML

• Two versions:– Free edition includes comprehensive UML

support.– Studio edition adds J2EE support (including

visual deployment diagrams, visual assembly of EAR, WAR and EJB jar files) and database support.

• Free version is limited to a single user per project in a commercial environment

UML diagrams supported• Class diagram (with live sync between diagram and

Java code)• Sequence diagram• Use-case diagram• Statechart diagram• Collaboration diagram• Activity diagram• Object diagram• Component diagram• Deployment diagram

Which diagrams to use?

• Different types of diagrams are useful in different environments

• Learn a few, incorporate into development process & expand as you see a need

• Class diagrams and (especially) use case diagrams are popular for Agile/XP programming

• We’ll only look at use case diagrams and class diagrams in this demo.

Use case diagrams

• Stick figures represents actors in a scenario• This may seem a little silly at first, but it

makes the use case clear, and it’s valuable, especially for Agile programming because non-techie users can understand easily provide valuable feedback

Class diagrams

• Serve different purposes, informal and formal• Can represent:

– Conceptual view of a set of classes– Form a specification– Describe implementation

• Conceptual view is useful as conversational tool– Don’t need to show all relationships—you might show

all inheritances but only show associations when they are particularly meaningful

– Don’t need to be too strict about following UML rules

S

Demo

• A use diagram• Reverse-engineering a project into class

diagram• Creating a project using a class diagram