Software Architect introduces a group of integrated capabilities loosely referred to as visual editing. If you are familiar with model-driven development (MDD), you can think of the visual editing capabilities as platform modeling with UML class and sequence diagrams. If you are very code specific, look at visual editing as a way to get UML class and sequence diagram views of the artifacts and elements in the development workspace.
With these tools, you can develop projects using your existing workflow and leverage UML to:
One of the first issues you may consider when using Software Architect for the first time is, "When should I use strict UML modeling as opposed to visual editing?" With Software Architect, you can still create UML analysis and design models to model use cases, develop architecture, and design your project. If you liked the way model architecture was reflected in the code with the help of synchronization, you will appreciate visual editing capabilities in Software Architect. Software Architect provides a bridge between MDD and code-centric software engineering.
Software Architect has two UML spaces: the pure UML visual modeling, and the code-centric visual editing. UML models and diagrams open in the Software Architect Model Explorer view no longer have the code-generation abilities as in XDE synchronization. Instead, source code is visualized at your command with automatically formatted diagrams through visual editing. Changes you make to visual editing diagrams become a part of the code instantly; synchronization is no longer required.
However, your UML models need not be passive design views of the system. Transformation services, discussed further in the help topics, enable developers to get more code from pure UML models in a customizable way.
Here are a few of the key benefits of visual editing:With the ease of adoption and use of Software Architect, additional members of the software development community can benefit from UML modeling and visual editing. Members of the community that value a bottom-up or code-first approach to software development will appreciate the lowered threshold for use of modeling capabilities.
Once you realize the value and productivity gains that can be derived from visual editing, you can look toward using the same UML modeling tools relied upon by architects and designers to specify new designs: patterns, code generation, and MDD.