Data Flow Diagram Software

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+1 Q:

Data Flow Diagram Software

I have a project in several programming languages (some non-standard) and I want an easy way to represent the flow of data from one system in the architecture to the next. In the past, I've used Data Flow Diagram (DFD's) by Gane and Sarson, but always had trouble with tools. Here's what tools I've tried and their issues:

Dia: Can't label top and bottom of Process. Process keeps aspect ratio..long process names make for huge Process blocks.
Visio: Process not broken into pieces. Windows Only (there are Linux developers in some projects)
Power Point: Even worse than Visio!
ArgoUML: Doesn't really do Gane and Sarson.

What tool do others use to create DFD's? Is there another flavor of DFD that will work better than Gane and Sarson? I strongly prefer a tool that will not try to write code for me. I usually need to define an already existing flow. Also I would prefer OpenSource as some teams have budget constraints. GPL is ok.

http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups

Best markup tool to explain anything..free...sort of :).

JonH 2009-10-22 18:31:31

There didn't seem to be anything for dataflow. It's all UI mockups.

User1 2009-10-23 15:18:52

+2 A:

For data flow diagrams I usually used Graphviz along with a self-written Postscript shape to represent data stores

Joey 2009-10-22 18:42:55

Thank you for actually reading my post that I was not looking for a UI mockup tool. I may have to consider this option.

User1 2009-10-23 15:22:56

It may get unwieldy for larger diagrams, though. And some tweaking may be needed to get the desired output. Generally Graphviz is a nice way of quickly writing down graphs but in some more complex cases it's hard to automatically get a good layout. There are GUI tools, though, but the custom shape needed for data stores mandates a certain path for file output (Postscript, to be precise) which may conflict with such tools. And they usually don't run well on Windows which isprobably why I never used them :-)

Joey 2009-10-23 15:30:43

I think you can take a look at ForeUI, it can do lots of things without coding, including diagram drawing. I remember they provide free license to blogers/reviewers.

James 2009-10-23 14:52:19

The page title says, "Easy-To-Use UI Prototyping Tool". It doesn't claim any data flow diagrams.

User1 2009-10-23 15:21:07

ansaurus

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Data Flow Diagram Software

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