Re: How to increase connection point on UML classes?

[Tim Ellis <Tim Ellis gamet com>]

> > I am using UML classes to try to make an entity-relation diagram for
> > the purpose of eventually creating a SQL Database script to create
> > tables with columns, indexes, and foreign-key constrainst.
>
> You're sure you don't want the ER symbols?  And have you looked at
> Dia2SQL on the Dia links page?

Dia2SQL assumes you use the UML symbols.

The ER symbols have 1/10th the desired functionality (a lot less than
UML).

> > Allow the text on either side of the association to be moved around
> > (ie: isn't anchored to the endpoint necessarily).
>
> A patch that improves the text handling was accepted recently.  If you
> are willing to try the newest CVS, it may perform better.  
> Having the text moveable may be a good idea -- Constraint and Message
> already does so.

I might need a hint or two about using the latest CVS. I couldn't build
from source because it wanted my gdk-???-config executable which doesn't
exist on my system (do I need to install gdk-???-devel packages?).

It seems to want libpng3 which is odd, because the 0.90 that I installed
seems to use libpng2 (/usr/lib/libpng.so) which causes wierd graphic
artifacts in the new dia proggy. What do I need to do about libpng to make
dia-cvs happy?

> It's been brought up before, and the general consensus is that any XML
> language powerful enough to express all the UML things would be about as
> complex as the current C code, but slower.

Ah. Okay.

I guess the reason the XML makes me happier is that it's at least
semi-self-documenting. The C code is unreadable to me, whereas the
uncommented XML is at least comprehendible...

> > Can anyone give me a hint about how I can increase the number of
> > connection points on the top/bottom of a Class in the UML set?
>
> You'd need to fix the following places (line numbers from newest CVS):
>
> class.c:188 (change assert)
> class.c:452 (umlclass_update_data setting connection pos)
> class.c:716 (more connection points allocated)
> class.c:749 (bound of for over connections)
> class.c:945 (bound of for over connections)
> class.c:955 (start of extra connections)
> class.c:1239 (umlclass_load doing element_init)
> class.c:1251 (... and setting up connections)
> class.c:1257 (... starting extra connections)
>
> Probably a good idea to have a define for the number of normal
> connections.

Yes, a #DEFINE will be how I go about changing it.

Thanks,
--
Tim Ellis
DBA, Gamet