User guide

Sorry, the user guide is still in construction.

First recommendations for a better use

First of all, somes recommendations about how to use your mouse with Violet. Note that you can use your mouse scroll button to change the current UML tool On the drawing area, right-click to switch to the "select" tool Don't try to drag'n'drop UML elements from the tool bar to the drawing panel. Instead, select the element that you want from the tool bar, then click on the drawing panel to insert it. Once inserted, UML elements are fully draggable on the drawing panel.

Create a diagram and understand Violet's user interface

When the program starts, pick a diagram type from the File→New menu. The following types are currently available:

• Use case diagrams
• Class diagrams
• Object diagrams
• State diagrams
• Activity diagrams
• Sequence diagrams

Discover your new playground

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Each diagram has its own panel with its own side bar on the right and its own status bar on the bottom. Panels are organized in tabs, so you can open several diagrams at the same time.

Your first diagram (so cool!)

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Playing with nodes and edges (selecting / editing  / moving / deleting)

You use the select tool (with the four “grabbers”) whenever you want to select an existing object (node or edge) There are three reasons why you would want to do that:

• to move a node (by dragging it to the new position)
• to delete a node or edge (by hitting DELETE, selecting Edit→Delete from the menu, or using the convenient icon on the side bar)
• to change the properties of a node or edge (by right-clicking or double-clicking on it, or by hitting CTRL+ENTER or by selecting Edit→Preferences from the menu or by using the convenient icon on the side bar).

When you edit the properties of a node or edge, a property popup appears. It lists the properties of the objects in a table. Each property has a name and a value. For example, the Note node has a property whose name is “color” and whose value is a color value. When you edit the value field, the value in the diagram is instantly updated.

Yes, we encourage you to save your diagrams!

When you are done with a diagram, save it with the "File→Save", "File→Save as" menu option or even by hitting CTRL+S. You can give it any name you like, but we recommend you keep an extension .violet. Each diagram file has it's own file extension. This allows you to recognize which kind of diagram corresponds to which file. So, we have :

• .ucase.violet for use case diagrams
• .class.violet for class diagrams
• .object.violet for object diagrams
• .state.violet for state diagrams
• .activity.violet for activity diagrams
• .seq.violet for sequence diagrams

Export diagrams to your favorite word processor

To include a diagram in a document, export to the clipboard with the "File→To clipboard" menu or by using the camera tool on the side bar. You can also export your diagrams to PNG or JPEG format with the "File→Export Image" menu.

Tips

Add colors to you text

By using basic HTML tags, you can <font color="#9370DB">color the  text,</font> use <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> modifiers or even <u>underline it</u> if you like

Zoom feature

If you use Violet in a classroom setting, you may want to use the View→Zoom menu option. You can zoom in or out of the diagram. Zooming only affects the diagram display, not the size of saved images.

Thanks you for having spending a few minutes on this user guide.