Alex,
Particularly for review purposes, we use a report generator like SODA or a
hand written script to create a report can display all this information in a
way that can be seen and not easliy missed. Unfortunately, we have found
making a rule of not using the documentation field gets followed
inconsistently... it is just so easy to put them there - that is what the
tool expects. Also there is some advantage to the documentation field being
(somewhat) hidden: the complexity of the diagrams is kept to a minimum but
the details are still there if you want them.
Unfortunately we all deal with very complex things on a day to day basis. I
feel your pain here. Using SoDA works for us, but your soln certainly seems
doable too.
Sincerely,
James.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Chatziparaskewas
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 4:18 AM
To: Williamson, Rusty
Cc: 'Rose Forum'
Subject: Re: (ROSE) Model navigation...
Hello
We are working on a 'quite large project' and in former times - years
ago - analysis and design were done using word and/or html documents.
Thought these document types lack of some of the features of a modeling
tool they have a really big advantage. In a review process or when
rereading them you can read both document types side by side, one after
another, and you will be sure that you did not forget anything.
When jumping on the rose train - already overtaken by some other trains
... my personal opinion - we were afraid about exactly the same problem.
The rose documents - class diagrams, sequence diagrams, etc - are
arranged hirarchically. How to make sure that somebody, who is not in
deep familiar with a topic, will 'see' everything of a use case or
design model? To perform a good review of a document, this is essential.
Therefore we decided that for every design or analysis model a so called
'intro' page - e.g. a class diagram - has to be created. Starting on
this 'intro' page a guy knew to a topic should be 'guided' through the
model be means of hyperlinks.
But there are some minor points we discovered while using it. Rose
allows to 'document' most of its documents, e.g. messages in a sequence
diagram. These annotations and comments were often overseen during
preparation of reviews when the author of a model was not available to
point to them. Because of this we decided that it is not any longer
allowed to use some of this documentation fields. It is far much better
to use notes instead. They lack the feature of beeing hidden when you
open e.g. a sequence diagram. Using the documentation field for messages
you have to click on every message to see the appropriate comment. When
5 out of 100 messages are commented in some way, you got tired clicking
on messages not commented at all ...
Hope that helps
Regards
Alex
------------------------------------------------------------
Alex Chatziparaskewas
Haeni-Prolectron AG
Fachbereich E / EP-TA
Industrieplatz 3
CH-8212 Neuhausen am Rheinfall
Tel: ++41 52 6741238
Fax: ++41 52 6741100
Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------------------------------------
"Williamson, Rusty" wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> On thing that has come up during the development of the Modeling
Guidelines
> is the question of how much effort and attention should be given to model
> navigation: specifically making it easy to know what diagrams exist and
> getting to them.
>
> My thoughts are that:
> a) The models can become quite large and some diagrams are buried deep
> within the models -- it would require expanding several levels down and
then
> across packages in the browser to get to some diagrams and without knowing
> what exists significant searching around just to see what exists.
> b) Many stakeholders unfamiliar with the project (first time viewers or
> those joining for the development of the next version) will need to view
> and/or work with the models -- many unfamiliar with what diagrams do
and/or
> 'can' exist, where to look for them and with varying proficiency with
Rose.
> c) Making model navigation (drill- up and down) easy and intuitive as well
> as making all models visible can be done with minimal effort.
>
> Yes Rose has 'find' and 'browse' but in both cases you have to know what
> your looking for. I believe that this issue applies to all of the models
> but especially to the use-case model.
>
> Others argue that all this is simply unimportant. Maybe their right. I
> wanted to get the thoughts of others who had been through the process of
> managing complex models (and ours will be complex) through several life
> cycles. Your thoughts?
>
> Thanks,
> Rusty
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Rusty Williamson
> > Sr. Systems Architect
> GERS Retail Systems
> http://www.gers.com/
> The Object Workshop
> http://home.san.rr.com/williamson/
> Home Page
> http://www.znet.com/~rusty/
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
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