[Uml-devel] Future features

[Jonathan Riddell]

> I have now been browsing around a bit in the umbrello code and also started to
> use the program for 'real' professional purposes.

Gulp, resposibility.  But great to hear.

> 1. File format and large projects
> The move to XMI was certainly good, but the current file format still has one
> great disadvantage: it saves everything in just one file. This makes it hard to
> use umbrello for larger scale projects involving more than one developer.
> Essential for these kinds of projects is the possibility for different people to
> similtaneously work on different parts of a model, and to easily merge this work
> (using a cm tool or not). Merging the whole model all the time and keeping the
> versions in order would be hard enough to make project managers decide on
> another tool.

Do other tools really use multiple files?  Together and Argo both seem to
use one file for their diagamming stuff (although Argo is a zip file of
multiple files).

> My suggested solutions is this:
> - Visualization info is saved into a separate file for each diagram
> - Model data info is saved in a separate file for each package
> - A project file is used to keep track of the included files. (like so many
> IDE:s)

Certainly a possibility for a future release.  I'd suspect it would be an
option to save to either a directory (multiple files) or a single zip
file.

> Other features that would go nicely with this to enable large scale development
> is of course a package symbol for the class/concept diagram and a tree structure
> in the listview where classes are sorted under there respective packages
> (replacing or complementing todays folder items).

An excellent suggestion, if I was you I'd put it in the features tracker
to keep us reminded.

> 2. Interface
> I think a MDI interface would look nicer and more professional, with the
> listview as a dockwindow. The documentation window could be replaced with a
> tabbed dockwindow providing fast access to all the properties of the selected
> item. I think one needs too much right clicking today.

It does use a multiple document interface.  Dockwindows are something I'd
like to see too and I like your idea of more stuff going in the
documentation panel (you might want to add it to the tracker:).

Thanks for your ideas
Jonathan Riddell