Hide operations selectively

[StefanR]

There are some posts in the General Board but I didn't find this as a request in this list yet:

One should be able to hide an attribute or operation independent of its visibility level (private, protected, etc.). This might be realized via a new checkbox on the operation-property panel. This would greatly enhance usability especially when dealing with very huge classes where only a certain aspect should be shown in a class diagram. In this case all "unimportant" methods can be hidden without deleting them completely from the model.

[StefanR]

It seems as if no one is interested in this feature  
However I found first screenshots of a new modelling tool integrated in MS Visual Studio 2005 where each method/property/attribute can be hidden by clicking a checkbox. Take a look at figure 8: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/07/whitehorse/default.aspx

Doesn't look that bad...
Stefan.

[marcal]

It seems as if no one is interested in this feature.

I just posted elsewhere (http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general;action=display;num=1090615649) asking for suggestions of workarounds to apparent lack of support for elision (which, by the way, is the word for what you want).

I'll go check out the software you linked to...

[marcal]

On the plus side: tight integration with .NET constructs, synchronization of model and code.  I think it was unfair of the article to say that UML has "fallen behind" on newer technologies... it seems to me that extending sterotypes covers these new language features nicely, though a consensus on how to do this would be nice.

On the minus: just class and deployment diagrams, and (in the article's own words) "UML-like" diagrams.  This leaves a lot to be desired.

[Javier]

I made a similar suggestion about a year ago...guess it hasn't been fulfilled.

Elision--thanks for the new term--is available in Rational Rose, and I assume in XDE.

IMO it should be doable to associate a view of a particular class with a given diagram.

Regarding Whitehorse, it's interesting to note that Microsoft approached the OMG about a year or two ago, then they came out with Whitehorse.  Talk about "embrace and extend" yet again.  IMO, Whitehorse will be a good test for UML.

I like UML, particularly UML2 because I can finally get a lot of the missing functionality in sequence diagrams and activity diagrams in particular.

It remains to be seen if Whitehorse is not one of those often underdeveloped tools, such as the clunky UML support for Visio for Enterprise Architects or the class designer in previous versions of Visual Basic.  Moreover, everybody but a naive architect knows that the diagrams are only part of the story, but verbal communication still has an important role in making a software architecture succeed.

If you hang out at the World Wide Institute of Software Architects (http://www.wwisa.org), you'll hear some horror stories from software architects consulting for Microsoft.  In addition, check Ward Cunningham (inventor of the Wiki concept) blog at Microsoft--he works for Microsoft now--and you'll see that (working) code is still very much appreciated over architecture and design.

Regards,

Javier

[CJ]

G'day,

Until elision becomes a feature, how about putting those functions (that you want to make visible) in an interface class?

Make the functions in the interface class visible, and hide all functions in the class that realizes the interface?