To get an initial taste of ModelMaker‘s diagramming capabilities, let‘s visualize one of the classes we imported in the last tutorial.

ModelMaker‘s split screen design allows you to choose from three different possible views on the left of the screen and eight on the right. The views on the left (“master views” I‘ll call them) are:

The views on the right (“detail views” or editors) are:

The various views can, of course, be accessed via their tabs, so you don‘t have to remember the keyboard shortcuts.

For our demonstration, first we‘ll want the Diagrams View, so press F5.

From the Diagrams View toolbar, (figure 5) click the Add Class Diagram button.

Now that we have a new class diagram open, we‘ll want to see the Classes View on the left while editing the diagram on the right, so press F3. Depending on how ModelMaker‘s environment options are set, sometimes changing the master view can change the active editor, so if your diagram goes away, press F8 to bring it back.

There are several ways to add a class to a diagram, but again, the easiest way is to drag it from the Classes View and drop it into the diagram. So select a class from the Classes View, click-and-drag it into the class diagram and drop it there.

With the default settings, ModelMaker will display only the class name in the symbol, like in figure 6.

To cause the diagram to display some or all of the members of your class, we‘ll need to change the display style properties. ModelMaker‘s diagram display styles use an inheritance scheme. You can set properties for a symbol, but by default it will inherit the display properties of the diagram. The diagram will inherit a project‘s styles unless you override them, and likewise, a project will inherit the environment‘s styles.

In the interest of time, let‘s adjust the symbol display properties for the whole diagram. Double-click the diagram anywhere outside your class‘ symbol. This will bring up the Diagram Style dialog. Select the Symbol Style tab and uncheck the Project Member Type Filter checkbox. We‘re telling ModelMaker that we want to override the project‘s display style for this diagram. Now that the checkboxes under Custom Member Type Filter are enabled, check the Properties and Methods checkboxes. We‘ve told the diagram we want it to display any class symbol‘s properties and methods. Click OK.

Your class symbol should now resemble something like figure 7 — a class with attributes and operations displayed. You should note that the class symbol has some active hot spots — the tiny minus sign in the upper left hand corner of each section will collapse that section (these appear when the class is selected); the little linked chain icon next to the class name will open the class editor if clicked.

If your model contains an ancestor for the class you‘ve just visualized, drag the ancestor to the diagram and drop it there. Notice that ModelMaker automatically visualizes the generalization relation between the two classes as in figure 8.

This topic describes how to visualize an existing class from the code model. It is also possible to add a new class to the code model by adding it to the diagram. For more information, read the next tutorial.