Word wrapping of long class and method names

[deusex]

Hi!

Some of our class and method names are very long. This results in very wide visual representations of classes and method calls in UML diagrams. This is annoying especially in sequence diagrams because the object "boxes" consume a big amount of space of the diagram.

Is there a way to wrap the long names so that the whole name is broken up onto multiple lines?

I'm using Enterprise Architect 9.3.934. I did not find any hint in the documentation on this topics.

Bye,
deusex
[original message]

[M@localhost Simon M]

Select your classes and press Ctrl+Shift+Y (I can't remember the menu)

There's an option on that dialog.
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[deusex]

In a nutshell: Still no word-wrapping.

The long version: In class diagrams you can right-click a class and choose 'Freature Visibility...' from the context menu. Alternatively you can type Ctrl+Shift+Y. As a result the 'Feature Visibility' dialog will pop up. Looks like the intention of this dialog is to adjust the visibility of particular elements of the selected class in the current diagram.

It seems that you can also change the behaviour of the class representation when you resize it. The default option is 'Resize to longest Feature':

When Resizing Elements
[ ] Resize to longest Feature
[X] Wrap Features
[ ] Trancate Features

I have changed it to 'Wrap Features'. But it seems to me that the behaviour is still the same. Long class names are still not word-wrapped.

The help text does not give me any support:

"In the When Resizing Elements panel, select the appropriate option for resizing the Class, object or table to prevent very wide diagram objects.

The selected option defaults to Resize to longest Feature, so that the minimum width for a diagram object is determined by its longest displayed attribute, method or other compartment value.

If necessary, you can change the option to Wrap Features (so that any longer features are wrapped onto multiple lines) or Truncate Features (so that longer features are not displayed in full)."

Any ideas?

Bye,
deusex
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[Bellekens@localhost Geert Bellekens]

Well, it does what it says, wrap the features.
But since the element name is not a feature... :-[

Geert
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[M@localhost Simon M]

Umm. Only that it only wraps at word boundaries. So if the names are excessively long with no spaces then it won't have anywhere to wrap. (Class names wrap always, but again only at spaces.)
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[RoyC]

I'll have to confess - I am confused. On my Class diagrams and Sequence diagrams the element name wraps, and I can't find any option that stops that.

Edit - Ahhh - as Simon says, no spaces would cause a problem...

If I adjust the Feature and Compartment Visibility options (Ctr+Shift+Y) to Wrap Features, and then shrink the elements, the Methods/Operations wrap to fit inside the new element size.

Which is causing the problem for you - name or method? If name, what is making them so long?

Perhaps you should submit a bug report to Sparx Support, and attach your example model that shows the problem.
[original message]

[deusex]

Yes, your're right. The names will only wrap nicely when the contain spaces. Spaces would definitely improve the readability of the UML diagrams. Unfortunately neither C# nor Java allow spaces in class or method names. And we want that the names in the UML diagrams und in the source code match with each other to avoid ambiguity.

Some names of our classes are very long. Partly this arises from the fact that our problem domain is defined in german and german words are sometimes very long. They will even get longer when you combine them with standard design pattern names, e. g. IZahlungsbedingungRepository.cs or AbkommenlistungUnitOfWorkManager.cs.

The Spring Framework guys are also not afraid of long names. Here are some examples class names found in the sources of the Spring Framework:

LocalVariableTableParameterNameDiscoverer.java
MissingRequiredPropertiesException.java
SimpleCommandLinePropertySource.java

I will follow your advice and send an email with an example diagram to the support of Sparx Systems. Thank you.

Bye,
deusex

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[qwerty]

@Sparx: Maybe a camel case hyphenation would be a way to split long words?

q.
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[M@localhost Simon M]

How about adding aliases and setting the diagram to use aliases?
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[F Cantoni@localhost Paolo F Cantoni]

5B5D4F585E532A0 wrote:

@Sparx: Maybe a camel case hyphenation would be a way to split long words? q.

Sounds like a plan to me...

Paolo
[original message]

[deusex]

Hi!

Yesterday I had send an email to the support of Sparx System. Today I got the answer. Thank you. I hope they do not mind when I quote the relevant part:

Unfortunately it's not currently possible to wrap names which do not
contain spaces as you described.  I will submit a feature request on
your behalf so that this is considered for implementation in a future
release.

As a possible workaround (as Simon M mentions on the forum) you could
give your Class elements an alias (the alias either being a shorter
name, or a name containing spaces), and set the "Tools | Options >
Diagram : Behaviour | Alias only" option, and the "Diagram | Properties
> Diagram | Use Alias if Available" option for your sequence diagram.

I have tried this approach and it works at least for class names. Unfortunately  in sequence diagrams the original names of the methods is shown but not the aliases. But this does not hurt as much as the big class "boxes" because the method names stick out on both sides of the message line.

Bye,
deusex
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[chintsys]

There appears to be a change in element-resize behavior between 9.935 and 10.0.1004 which I've just installed. �I have a matrix of class elements which previously aligned quite neatly. �The auto-resize in 10.0.1004 now elongates some of the class elements to fit the text. �The class names are all plain English and contain spaces. �None of non-white space strings in the element names exceed the width of any the class element on the diagram.

I was looking for a way for the name to be forced to align within a fixed width of the class element on the diagram. �Im my case, all the elements that are auto-resizing already have a space between at least two words so it should not be hard to reformat the layout to accommodate a 'user defined' width. �Obviously, if the text doesn't fit into the user-defined width then it should increase the height.

Has anyone else encountered this change in behavior moving to 10.0.1004?

Is there any workaround to fix the element width on a diagram?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

chintsys
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[KP]

262D2C2B31363C36450 wrote:

I was looking for a way for the name to be forced to align within a fixed width of the class element on the diagram.

Does "Tools > Options > Appearance > Compress text to fit within Element" help?

[original message]

[chintsys]

Setting that option on or off doesn't have any effect on what I'm seeing at 100% zoom.

The on-line help for this option says:

Determine the behavior of Enterprise Architect when text at zoom levels other than 100% would not fit inside the boundary of an element.

Enterprise Architect either compresses the text to fit within the boundary, or expands the element.


..so, I'm still looking for a way to get around this. �The main point is that behavior changed between the two EA releases.

chintsys
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