Neat Lines in Visio

[Terry Holland]

I am trying to create a UML diagram using visio 2003.

On one of my diagrams I have an Actor (stick man) and a number of Use Cases
(ovals). I have connected the Actor to the Use cases using straight lines.
I want to change the lines to Right angle lines. When I do this the points
at which the angles appear in the lines seems arbitrary and it looks very
untidy. When I try to move the sections of line to make them neater the line
seems to develop another joint and the whole thing looks a mess. Ive managed
to get one of the drawing looking OK but it took me an age. Is there a quick
way to acheive the following:

1 Actor placed midway down the left hand side of the page
10 Use Cases evenly spaced down the centre of the page
Lines joining actor to each of the use cases so that the line extends from
the actor to the right for approx 2 cm, then an angle (either up or down
depending on the location of the Use Case), then the line extending up (or
down) to a point level with centre of Use Case, then another right angle and
a line extending to the Use Case

What I want to end up with is an actor with what appears to be a single
horizontal line extending from the actor, then what appears to be a single
vertical line and then horizontal lines extending from this vertical line to
connect to the Use Cases

tia

 

[Paul Herber]

I am trying to create a UML diagram using visio 2003.

On one of my diagrams I have an Actor (stick man) and a number of Use Cases
(ovals). I have connected the Actor to the Use cases using straight lines.
I want to change the lines to Right angle lines. When I do this the points
at which the angles appear in the lines seems arbitrary and it looks very
untidy. When I try to move the sections of line to make them neater the line
seems to develop another joint and the whole thing looks a mess. Ive managed
to get one of the drawing looking OK but it took me an age. Is there a quick
way to acheive the following:

1 Actor placed midway down the left hand side of the page
10 Use Cases evenly spaced down the centre of the page
Lines joining actor to each of the use cases so that the line extends from
the actor to the right for approx 2 cm, then an angle (either up or down
depending on the location of the Use Case), then the line extending up (or
down) to a point level with centre of Use Case, then another right angle and
a line extending to the Use Case

What I want to end up with is an actor with what appears to be a single
horizontal line extending from the actor, then what appears to be a single
vertical line and then horizontal lines extending from this vertical line to
connect to the Use Cases

This might be a limitation of the location of the connection points on
the shapes. You could try editing the connection points and see if
that helps.

We do an alternative UML system for Visio, details below. The
connectors may flow better for you. It's also more up to date (UML 2)

 

[Terry Holland]

Ive removed connection points and that seems to have made it easier

We do an alternative UML system for Visio, details below. The
connectors may flow better for you. It's also more up to date (UML 2)

Im not sure I understand this point. I select UML from the Software
templates. Are you talking about something else?

 

[Paul Herber]

Ive removed connection points and that seems to have made it easier


Im not sure I understand this point. I select UML from the Software
templates. Are you talking about something else?

er, yes.
Well, I don't have Microsoft's multi-billion advertising budget so ..

http://www.sdl.sandrila.co.uk/

is an alternative add-on for Visio that provides an up-to-date version
of the UML as well as other similar software diagrams.

 

[WapperDude]

Hi Terry --
Visio ought to do what you want, if, in your case, all of the left hand
connection points of the Use Cases are aligned vertically. The algorithm
that Visio uses to place the corners is, in part, governed by the horizontal
separation of the connection points.

I believe Paul was talking about the connection point locations, not
removing them.

Wapperdude