Wish: Temporary "on-the-fly" diagrams

[Thomas_Arnbjerg]

When maintaining a large model with many different perspectives it would be nice if I could select one or more elements in the model and have EA generate a temporary UML diagram with the selected element(s) and all other elements associated with the selected element(s). This would allow for quick sanity checks of the model.
Ideally it could be a 'hoover' feature (for single elements) as seen in the Cooliris preview plug-in for Firefox so I could traverse the model with the mouse and have these diagrams popping up as the element changes. Could also be included in seach results.

[«Midnight»]

There's nothing like the 'hover' feature you describe, but...

You can do something like the temporary diagram with a few manual steps. This might be enough to solve your problem. The way EA does this can be useful for visualization; it is also a great way to start a new view in your model with a few mouse clicks.

Create a 'scratch' diagram, then drop the 'central' element onto it. Right-click the element (on the scratch diagram) and from the context menu choose Add | Related Elements. Use the resulting dialog to specify the number of plies outwards to go (from 1 to 5), filters by link characteristics, element type, or namespace, and whether to automatically layout the diagram after adding the elements.

The end result is simply a diagram, nothing else in your model has changed.

HTH, David

[edit]While we're here...

Take a look at the hierarchy view. This feature is easy to miss; it does not get mentioned much these days, and is buried in the documentation. The concept is very different from a diagram view, so it works best in different circumstances. It can be a superb tool for some visualization exercises though, particularly in multilevel ownership situations.[/edit]