Features Overview

UML diagrams

Software Ideas Modeler is a UML tool that supports the UML 2.5 standard.

UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. Software Ideas Modeler supports all 14 kinds of UML diagrams. You can also use stereotypes, tagged values, and documentation for each diagram element. Here is the complete list of supported UML 2.5 diagrams:

• Class Diagram
• Sequence Diagram
• Activity Diagram
• Use Case Diagram
• State Machine Diagram
• Component Diagram
• Composite Structure Diagram
• Deployment Diagram
• Package Diagram
• Object Diagram
• Profile Diagram
• Communication Diagram
• Interaction Overview Diagram
• Timing Diagram

BPMN diagrams

Software Ideas Modeler is a BPMN tool which supports the BPMN 2.0 standard.

BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is a graphical representation for specifying business processes in a business process model. Software Ideas Modeler implements all three kinds of BPMN diagrams:

• Conversation diagram
• Collaboration diagram
• Choreography diagram

SysML diagrams

SysML (System Modeling Language) is a general-purpose modeling language for systems engineering applications. It supports the specification, analysis, design, verification and validation of a broad range of systems and systems-of-systems. You can use stereotypes, tagged values and documentation for each diagram element. Here is the complete list of supported SysML 1.5 diagrams:

• Activity diagram
• Sequence diagram
• State machine diagram
• Use case diagram
• Block definition diagram
• Internal block diagram
• Parametric diagram
• Package diagram

Infographics & Charts

Software Ideas Modeler can be used for infographics creation. It supports two kinds of infographic diagrams: (General) Infograhics and Tutorial Diagram. There is a lot of useful tools that help you with data visualization. You may use these charts:

• Circular Charts - pie chart, donut chart, arrowed cycle chart, arc chart, semicircle chart
• Arc Bar Chart
• Area Charts - area bar chart, area chart, funnel chart, line chart, point chart, line point chart, area line chart, area line point chart, spike chart, 3d bar chart
• Bar Chart
• Table Chart
• Spider Chart
• Tree Map Chart

Wireframing

The software also offers wireframing features that allow you to design user interface mockups, design the concepts of web pages, web applications and desktop application interfaces. There are these wireframing diagrams supported:

• User interface diagram
• Web page diagram
• Mobile app diagram
• Screen flow diagram

Other diagrams

Besides UML, SysML and BPMN diagrams are also supported many other diagrams:

• ArchiMate
• CMMN
• Decision Modeling and Notation (DMN)
• Flowchart
• Entity-relationship diagram (Crow's Foot / Chen notation)
• Data flow diagram (Jourdon / Gane & Sarson notation)
• Layer diagram
• User stories diagram
• CRC cards diagram
• Entity life history
• Hierarchical task analysis
• Robustness diagram
• Requirements diagram
• Concurrency diagram
• Mind map
• Venn diagram
• JSD Entity structure diagram
• JSD Network diagram
• Finite state machine diagram
• I* (I-star)
• Universal Process Notation (UPN)
• Gantt chart
• Object Role Modeling (ORM)
• Nassi-Shneiderman Diagram (NSD)
• Petri Net
• Organizational Chart
• Cause and Effect Graph
• Autosar
• Mixed diagram

Matrices

A responsibility assignment matrix, also known as the RACI matrix describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project or business process. Software Ideas Modeler supports many of this matrix:

• RACI
• RASCI
• RACI-VS
• RACIO
• DACI

In computer programming, create, read, update and delete (CRUD) are the four basic functions of persistent storage. Software Ideas Modeler allows you to express these functions using the CRUD matrix.

Custom Diagrams

There is a lot of built-in types of diagrams. It's not enough? So you can create your own type of diagram with custom elements. You can specify the kind, shape, and style of the elements. You can define restrictions for nesting and relationships. It is possible to set custom icons for elements and shortcut keys.

Arrangement

To facilitate your work, Software Ideas Modeler provides many arrangement options. They allow you easily to adjust the layout of your diagrams. You can arrange diagrams using these tools:

• Auto layout
• Smart
• Force Directed
• Rows
• Columns
• Circle
• Cascade
• Around Center
• Auto size
• Alignment
• Make same
• Order
• Distribute
• Move
• Size
• Rotate
• Locking
• Grouping

Shaping

The software allows you to apply clipping operations to elements from the Drawing group (rectangles, ellipses, etc.). These operations are supported

• Combine (XOR)
• Difference
• Intersection
• Union

Auto scrolling

When you move an element to the border of the window, the canvas will scroll automatically.

Grid

You can turn on/off separately drawing of the grid and snapping to grid.

Snap lines

Snap lines allow you to align the elements precisely to other existing elements and produce good looking diagrams.

Configurable canvas

Canvas has a lot of options and settings - you can customize it by your preferences. The bounds of a diagram can be fixed (A0 - A5, Letter, Legal, Junior Legal, Ledger, Tabloid or any custom size) or flexible (Auto expand in all directions/Auto expand right down). It can be something in between (Multiple pages). The diagram borders can be visible or not as well as the diagram background.

Layers

Diagrams can be separated into multiple layers. The following actions with layers are supported:

• Add Layer
• Rename Layer
• Delete Layer
• Move Up Layer
• Move Down Layer
• Merge All Layers
• Show/Hide Layer
• Enable/Disable Layer
• Lock/Unlock Layer

You may read more about diagramming with layers here.

Drag&drop

You can drag&drop almost everything - elements in a diagram, elements from project tree, from the toolbox, attributes, and operations, images from your disk, etc.

Clipboard

Copy, cut or paste elements or whole diagrams.

Undo/redo

Performed actions can be undone and redone.

Smart keys

If you prefer the keyboard instead of the mouse, you will like smart keys. It allows you to draw diagrams only using keys.

Element Browser

The Element Browser offers an overview of all elements in a project.

Element grids

Element grids give you different views on elements. You get an overview of stereotypes and tagged values used in elements. You can easily see which elements are used on which diagrams and what relationships are between elements.

• Stereotypes grid
• Tagged Values grid
• Diagram-Element grid
• Element Relationship grid

Element lists

Except for general Element Browser, there are more specific element lists, which make work with use cases or requirements easier.

• Use Cases
• Requirements

Search and Replace

If you want to find something in your diagrams, the Search feature will help you. It offers many options - you can specify where to search (current project, current diagram, etc.), how to search (match case/match whole word/use wildcards or regular expressions) and check parts (name/custom ID/tagged value, etc.) which will be searched.

Diagram filtering

You can filter the content of a diagram by defined rules. You can easily hide comments, relations, collaborations or define any custom filters.

Linking

A diagram can be linked to an element. When you double-click on it, the linked diagram will be open.

Diagram instance and model of element

Software Ideas Modeler is not just a diagram drawing tool. It has a real model behind it. Model entities and diagram elements are two separate things. The same element can have multiple instances placed in multiple diagrams (or even in the single diagram on different positions). E.g. there can be relationships between a class, its operations and a call action in sequence diagram.

Database

You can import your tables from MS SQL, MySQL and other databases using OLE DB

XMI

Import and export.

Source code parsing

You can generate a class diagram from your code in C++, C#, Java, PHP, Ruby or VB.NET.

.NET assemblies reverse engineering

You can get classes for your diagrams directly from .NET assemblies (EXE/DLL files).

Source code generation

Your diagrams can be used as a basis for further development. You can generate a skeleton of code for these languages:

• C#
• VB.NET
• Java
• C++
• Action Script
• Java Script
• PHP
• Ruby
• Python
• SQL DDL
• VB6
• XSD

Source code templates

You can create custom templates using the built-in template language. You can use the text editor or visual template editor. Software Ideas Modeler supports multiple templates per language.

Generated documentation

You can generate documentation from your project and save in one of these formats: PDF, RTF, HTML, ODT, TXT.

Documentation templates

Documentation is not generated by unchangeable rules. Software Ideas Modeler uses templates, which can be edited using the special built-in tool.

Styling

The application offers rich styling options - custom backgrounds, borders, dash styles, shadows, glows, gloss effect, many adjustments and combinations.

• Pre-defined styles
• Custom styles
• Import/export styles
• Auto styles (by element type, stereotype, style-class)

Printing

The print feature allows you to transfer your diagrams from your screen to paper.

• Batch printing
• Multiple pages per diagram
• Print preview

Diagram export

Diagrams can be exported to various image formats:

• JPG
• PNG
• GIF
• BMP
• TIFF
• SVG
• WMF
• EMF

Batch export

You don't need to export each diagram separately. If you use batch export, you can export all diagrams from a project on few clicks.

Project comparison

The project comparison tool allows you to find and mark differences between two projects.

Cooperation

• Filter diagrams by authors
• Display author for each element
• Comments
• Glossary
• Aliases

Custom graphics and shapes

Software Ideas Modeler offers an editor of custom graphics, which can be used for custom stereotypes or just inserted as custom shapes to diagrams.

Fast editor

The fast editor allows you to textually edit the content of the selected element

Custom lists

• Custom stereotypes
• Custom ID and name patterns
• Custom types

Auto backup

Auto backup allows saving your work automatically at regular intervals, which can prevent loss of your work in unexpected scenarios.

Auto export

You can export your diagrams to a chosen image format automatically on each saving of a project.

Easy search

Almost all list boxes in application support searching in their items.

'Start with...' bar for fast start

Start page contains a special box 'Start with...' from which you can easily create a new project with a chosen initial diagram or open an existing project you edited recently.

Favorite diagrams

The most used diagrams are displayed on the top of the diagram menu and they are also easily accessible from the toolbar in Project sidebar. So you don't need to search in many diagrams and your favorites are within sight.

Change Tracking

The program can store two versions of each element – the original one and the changed one. Each element can be in one of the change tracking states – unchanged, changed, added, removed. There is an option that allows you to highlight the changes in a diagram. Changed elements are marked with a yellow border, added elements use green highlight and removed ones have a red border.

Design patterns

Software Ideas Modeler allows you to use design patterns - you can insert generic pre-defined blocks of elements to your diagram. You can also create your design patterns, which can be reused in other diagrams later.

Field patterns

Field pattern defines a group of fields - attributes and operations, which can be added to selected elements.