The look and feel of the user interface (UI) in the new Rational® UML modeling products is quite different from Rational Rose. To help acquaint you with the Rose-like UI features within these products, this topic provides an explanation and general mapping between the major UI features of Rose and the UML modeling products in the Rational Software Development Platform.
While Rose is a stand-alone visual modeling tool that integrates with other tools, Software Architect and Systems Developer are modeling and code-centric tools that completely reside within an integrated development environment (IDE). Software Modeler is a UML-based visual modeling and design tool that does not contain visual editing, but it does have all of the same UI features described later in this topic. You may think that the many new windows, editors, and views look daunting. However, a closer look reveals that many of the same major UI features in Rose have similar counterparts.
There is not a direct one-to-one mapping between the UI features of Rose and the Rational UML modeling products. For example, several UI features share some of the same functionality owned by one UI feature in Rose.
Rose user interface feature | Equivalent user interface feature | Feature description |
---|---|---|
Browser | Multiple Model Explorer views and a Diagram Navigator view. | While the multiple Model Explorer views help you model in UML and manage models and their contents, the Diagram Navigator view displays and helps you browse through all diagrams associated with a model. |
Specifications and Documentation window | Properties view, Collection editor | The Properties view dynamically lists the properties for each selected model element so you can quickly edit properties with ease. The Collection editor displays a grouping of related properties for specific model and diagram elements. |
Diagram window | Diagram editor | You can create and edit diagram elements using the diagram editor. Changes you make in the diagram editor can be directly updated in your code through visual editing, in Software Architect and Systems Developer. |
Overview window | Outline view | The Outline view is a navigational tool that provides a scaled-down view of the diagram editor. It also helps you move to any location within the diagram editor. |
Options | Preferences | The Preferences window allows you to specify specific settings. |
Log window | Log and Problems view | The Log and Problems views report progress, results, errors, warnings, and informational messages for many commands. |
Toolbox or Palette | Palette and Palette bar | The Palette and Palette bar allow you to populate the diagram editor with diagram elements. |