Since ArgoUML is written in 100% pure Java, it should run on any machine with Java installed. Java version 5 or later is needed. You may have this in place, but if not the latest version can be downloaded free from www.java.com. Note that you only need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), there is no need to download the whole Java Development Kit (JDK).

ArgoUML needs a reasonable amount of computing resource. Any PC which is able to run an operating system with a graphical user interface will suffice. Download the code from Download section of the project website argouml.tigris.org. Choose the version that suits your needs as described in the section below.

You have three options for obtaining ArgoUML.

All four options are freely available through the project web site, argouml.tigris.org.

There are two steps to this.

Java Web Start will download ArgoUML, cache it and start it the first time, then on subsequent starts, check if ArgoUML is updated and only download any updated parts and then start it. The ArgoUML home page also provides details on starting ArgoUML from the Java Web Start console.

If you choose to download and install using the Windows installer, you will have a choice of downloading the latest stable version of the code (which will be more reliable, but not have all the latest features), or the current version (which will be less reliable, but have more features). Choose according to your own situation.

The install wizard gives you the opportunity to install the latest "JRE" (Java Runtime Environment). There is no need to select this if you already have a Sun Java installed, version 5 or better.

If you choose to download the binary executable, you will have a choice of downloading the latest stable version of the code (which will be more reliable, but not have all the latest features), or the current version (which will be less reliable, but have more features). Choose according to your own situation.

ArgoUML comes in .zip or tar.gz flavors. Choose the former if you are a Microsoft Windows user, and the latter if you are running some flavor of Unix. There is also a Mac OS X version with .app.tgz extension. Unpacking is as follows.

You should have a directory containing a number of .jar files and a README.txt.

If you get completely stuck and you have no local assistance, try the web site, particularly the FAQ. If this still doesn't solve the problem, try the ArgoUML users' mailing list.

You can subscribe through the mailing lists section of the project web site argouml.tigris.org, or send an empty message to [email protected] with the subject line subscribe.

You can then send your problem to [email protected] and see how other users are able to help.

The users' mailing list is an excellent introduction to the live activity of the project. If you want to get further involved there are additional mailing lists that cover the development of the product and issues in the current and future releases.

To run ArgoUML depends on whether you use Microsoft Windows or some flavor of Unix.

It's unusual to encounter problems if you have made a successful download. If you can't solve the problem. Try the users' mailing list (see Section 3.4.1.6, “ Problems Downloading and Installing ”).

Figure 3.4.  Finding the Settings Wizard

Figure 3.5.  Setting Language in the Appearance Pane

The menu bar and toolbars give access to all the main features of ArgoUML. As is conventional, menu options and toolbar options that are not available (disabled) are grayed out and menu items that invoke a dialog box are followed by an ellipsis (...). At this time you should read Chapter 9, The Toolbar and Chapter 10, The Menu bar .

File menu. The standard file menu entries present no surprises and we will just use them when needed without first showing how they work. A number of other actions are available that are peculiar to ArgoUML and we will go over them here.

Edit menu. The edit menu does not look like what you are used to in other products. There are no "Cut", "Copy", or "Paste" actions. All of the choices are peculiar to ArgoUML so we are going to cover all of them in detail.

View menu. This allows you to switch between diagrams, find model elements in the model, zoom in a diagram, adjust the grid, toggle page break display, and show an XML representation of the project. Do a File=>New to get back to a known point. Create an example of each diagram type not already in the Explorer Pane. Click on the (+) sign widgets in the Explorer Pane to expand the tree nodes. Select the class diagram and give it a name.

Create Diagram menu. This allows you to create any one of the seven UML diagram types (class, use case, state, activity, collaboration, deployment and sequence) supported by ArgoUML.

State and activity diagrams can only be created when a class or actor is selected, even though the relevant menu entries are not grayed out if this has not been done (nothing will happen under this circumstance).

Arrange menu. This allows you to align, distribute and reorder model elements on a diagram and set the layout strategy for the diagram.

Generation menu. This allows you to generate Java code for selected classes or all classes.

Critique menu. This allows you to toggle the auto-critique on and off, set the level of importance of design issues and design goals and browse the critics available.

Tools menu. This menu is permanently grayed out unless there is some tool available in your version of ArgoUML.

Help menu. This menu gives access to details of those who authored the system, and where additional help may be found.

File Toolbar. This toolbar contains some of the tools from the File menu.

Edit Toolbar. This toolbar contains some of the tools from the Edit menu.

View Toolbar. This toolbar contains some of the tools from the View menu.

Create Diagram Toolbar. This toolbar contains some of the tools from the Create Diagram menu.

At this time you should take the time to read Chapter 11, The Explorer . The Explorer Pane is fundamental to almost everything that you do and we will be coming back to it again and again in what follows. In fact you will recall we have had to use it already.

There is an expand or contract control in front of the package symbol for “untitledModel” in the Explorer Pane and the package symbol for “Medium” in the To-Do Pane. Click on these controls and observe that these panes are tree widgets that behave pretty much as you would expect them to. The expand or contract control is either plus (+)/minus (-) sign or knob with a right or bottom pointer depending upon the look and feel that you have chosen for an appearance.

Select alternately Class Diagram 1 and Use Case Diagram 1 observing that the detail pane changes to track to the selected item in the Explorer. The detail pane is described in Chapter 12. It is not necessary to read Chapter 12 at this point, but it couldn't hurt.

At this point take some time to read Chapter 12, The Editing Pane .

As we go through the Editing pane changes will sometimes occur in the Details and the To-Do panes. Pay no attention to them for now. We will attend to them when we cover those panes.

Select "Class Diagram 1" in the Explorers Pane. The name is unimportant, if you have changed it, just select the new name. If you have deleted it, first perform a Create=>New Class Diagram action. Click on the "New Package" button in the Edit Pane tool bar. Click somewhere in the edit pane. In the Explorer notice that a package appears named (unnamed Package).

Double click on the "New Class" button in Edit Pane the tool bar. Click first within the package and once outside of it. Notice that within the Explorer, two classes appear in the tree both named (unnamed Class) one of them attached to the model node and the other attached to the (unnamed Package) node.

Click the Select button in the Edit Pane tool bar so you can do things in the Edit Pane without adding new Classes. In the Explorer select the class that is not subordinate to the package. This selects the corresponding class in the diagram. Grab this class and move it into the package. Notice that in the Explorer this class is now also subordinate to the package node.

In the diagram select the other class. Notice that in the Explorer, the selected node changes correspondingly. Grab this class and move it outside of the package and watch what happens in the Explorer.

At this point take some time to read Chapter 13, The Details Pane .

	Note
	To-Do Item. Discuss differences with other tabs about locations of items selected. Hold particulars for discussion of To-Do Pane. Properties, Documentation, Presentation, Source, Constraints, Stereotype, Tagged Values, Checklist.

At this point take some time to read Chapter 14, The To-Do Pane .

	Note
	Describe priorities. Resolving items. Relation to ToDo Item tab in details pane.

In general diagrams are drawn by using the edit pane toolbar to select the model element desired and clicking in the diagram at the position required.

Model elements that are already in the model, but not on a diagram, may be added to a diagram by selecting the model element in the explorer, using Add to Diagram from the drop down menu (button 2) over that model element, and then clicking button 1 at the desired location on the diagram.

As well as UML model elements, the Edit pane toolbar provides for general drawing objects (rectangles, circles, lines, polygons, curves, text) to provide supplementary information on diagrams.

ArgoUML supports XMI 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 files which contain UML 1.3 and UML 1.4 models. For best compatibility with ArgoUML, export your models using UML 1.4 and XMI 1.1 or 1.2. Be sure to turn off any proprietary extensions (such as Poseidon's diagram data).

With UML versions earlier than UML 2.0, it isn't possible to save diagram information, so no diagrams will be transferred.

There is also a tool that converts XMI to HTML. For more information, see http://www.objectsbydesign.com/projects/xmi_to_html_2.html.

Where do we stand now? A new project has been created, and is stored in the file FirstProject.zargo. Figure 3.10, “ ArgoUML Window Having Saved FirstProject.zargo ” shows how your ArgoUML window should look at this stage.

Figure 3.10.  ArgoUML Window Having Saved FirstProject.zargo

The project contains a top-level package, called untitledModel, which contains a class diagram and a use case diagram.

If we look carefully at the screen, we can see that the "Medium" folder in the To-Do Pane (the lower left pane) must contain some items, since its activation icon is displayed.

Clicking on this icon will open the "Medium" folder. An open folder is indicated by the icon.

But what is this “To-Do” Pane anyway. You haven't recorded anything yet that has to be done, so where do these to do items originate.

The answer is simple, and is at the same time one of the strong points of ArgoUML. While you are working on your UML model, your work is monitored continuously and invisibly by a piece of code called a design critic. This is like a personal mentor that watches over your shoulder and notifies you each time he sees something questionable in your design.

Critics are quite unobtrusive. They give you a friendly warning, but they do not force you into design principles that you don't want or like to follow. Let us take a look at what the critics are telling us. Click on the icon next to the Medium folder, and click on the Revise Package Name UntitledModel item.

Figure 3.11, “ ArgoUML Window Showing the Critic Item Revise Package Name UntitledModel ” shows how your screen should now look.

Figure 3.11.  ArgoUML Window Showing the Critic Item Revise Package Name UntitledModel

Notice that your selection is highlighted in red in the To-Do Pane, and that a full explanation appears now in the Details Pane (the lower right pane). You may have to re-size your Details Pane or to scroll down in order to see the full message as displayed in our example.

What ArgoUML is trying to tell you is that usually, package names are written in lower cases. The default top level package created by ArgoUML is called untitledModel and therefore violates a sound design principle. (Actually, this could be considered as a bug within ArgoUML, but it comes in handy to demonstrate the working of critics).

At this point, you can choose to change the package name manually or to impose silence on the design critic for some time or permanently

We will do nothing of this (we'll come back to it when we talk about the design critics in more detail) but we'll use another handy feature of ArgoUML -an auto-correct feature.

In order to do that, just click on the Next button on the Details Pane. This will cause a renaming wizard to be displayed inside the properties panel, proposing to use the name untitledmodel (all in lower case).

Replace the name untitledmodel with purchasingmodel, and click on the Finish button. Figure 3.12, “ ArgoUML Window Showing the Critic Wizard to Rename the Package ” shows how the ArgoUML window will now look.

Figure 3.12.  ArgoUML Window Showing the Critic Wizard to Rename the Package

Watch now how the design critic note in the To Do panel disappears, leaving only the Add Elements to Package purchasingmodel note in the To-Do list.

If this doesn't happen at once, wait for a few seconds. ArgoUML makes heavy use of several threads of execution that execute in parallel. This can cause delays of a few seconds before the information gets updated on the screen.

The package name change should also be reflected in the explorer, in the top left corner of your ArgoUML window.

We are now ready to create our first UML diagram, a Use Case diagram, but first let's save what we've done so far.

Click on the File menu item, and select Save Project. You can now safely exit ArgoUML without losing your work so far, or go on creating your first diagram.