Are there any tools you would recommend for site architecture design and analysis? I've checked out several such as Poseidon UML, Adalon and FuseBuilder for ColdFusion, Mindmapper and a few others but have yet to find anything that seems to strike the right balance between allowing for quick high-level planning (as can be accomplished with mind mapping) to more detailed architecture and analysis. UML seems to be the ultimate for application design but I don't consider tools such as Poseidon UML to be particularly adept when creating quick initial designs. Is there anything else out there that can be applied to any programming language, from CF to C#. Perhaps a combination of tools?
I vaguely recall playing around with Visio a few years ago and it does seem to be a fairly decent product. My only complaint, from what little I remember, is that it seemed a bit bulky and overly involved when it came to high level planning.
Anne Porosoff
2008-10-31 22:44:31
A:
Anne, as of right now, I typically use Visio, althought that is not a great tool for doing things quick and easy, as it is a pain to use for the most part.
I dont know if you are interested but there is a preview coming out soon for Visual Studio 2010 that should contain some "Oslo" bits that will help in building your User stories, UML Diagrams, etc. all within the same tool, and allow you to map several ideas together in interesting ways.
I have read up from the PDC 2008 docs/casts about using their new Domain Language "M" for defining Models for your domain and allowing you to build out SQL to support your models etc. It seems from at least what I can tell a full fledged Architecting set of tools.It seems you really dont need to use .NET to take advantage of it, its just the code that could be generated will not do you much good if its not for .NET, but the Use Case Diagrams,Activity Diagrams, User Stories, Flowcharting, Process Diagrams, aspects could still be very usable for any project. The "M" DSL could also help you model out your entities and get SQL to use from one tool.
As I said earlier, I dont know how useful this information is to you for several reasons. 1) Its not out yet, 2) Its a Visual Studio thing (as far as I know), 3) some of its advantages are fully realized in a .NET Framework.
However, that being said, there is still tons of things it can do even if you dont use .NET and the Preview of this stuff should all be coming out soon (which should be free). Unfortunately, this doesnt do you any good right now.But if you are like me, you are constantly looking to see what is coming out, to see how it will impact what you do today and what you could do tomorrow. So at least its useful in that regard :).
Corey Gaudin
2008-10-31 19:41:48
That sounds very promising and the additional capability to build out SQL support would be a dream. I'll definitely keep a lookout for the release.
Anne Porosoff
2008-10-31 22:49:19
+1
A:
My fantasy modeling tool would
- Be 'smart board' enabled
- Recording White Board
- Act as a "pointing device" for whatever software is behind it to allow drawing/highlighting
- OCR
- Record Stories, as easily as 3x5 cards
- Allow Use Case walk-throughs with storyboard UI screens (just named pages at first)
- Support Quick & Dirty Class or E/R Diagramming
- Export to a neutral format for import to more formal Modeling tools.
Unfortunately, I can't afford the hardware and I don't think the software exists in a seamless fashion.
So
I use white boards, digital cameras, "sticky-notes', recordings, lap-top for work with analysis or story recording.
I use Poseidon for lack of a better [affordable] tool
A wiki is useful for posting documents/content where users/customers can review and comment.
I've also used Visio when someone else is paying for it.
I can't wait to see the other responses to this post, hoping to find some better answers!
Ken Gentle
2008-10-31 19:58:27
I agree, this would be an awesome set up. More than anything I'd just like something where I can quickly jot down ideas and use cases in a mapped format that can be easily fleshed out at a later time and perhaps ported to UML.
Anne Porosoff
2008-10-31 22:46:46
A:
Magic Draw is nice. You might also have a look at sybase UML solutions.
Talking about the future you might look at the the modeling possibilities in VS2010. But this is all just Pre-Alpha-State. You should also follow up on what's happening with Oslo, M and Quadrant...
Lars Corneliussen
2008-11-05 09:17:28