output format

Question

Good evenning;

I would like to compose more different and customized shapes using plantUml. For instance, when mouse over on class diagram it will show additional information about it etc. In order to achieve this goal i need to render my own image i believe. To do this so i need output rather than .png .jpg or .gif and i know that i can obtain xml from .svg file. However, is there any chance that  i can obtain any other format of aboutput for my purpose. Like is there any chance to obtain XMI or so ?

 

Regards....

Answer 1

Good evenning again;

Since i could not able to receive a answer to my question i decide to ask it in another way .

I would like to compose more different and customized shapes using plantUml. For instance, when mouse over on class diagram it will show additional information about it etc. Is it possible to manipulate output file abd add these additional features ? If it is so where should i look in jar? Or should i try to render all images from scratch using Graphviz ?

Regards ...

Answer 2

Hi,

For XMI, there are some features (http://plantuml.sourceforge.net/xmi.html) but I don't think it will help you.

You probably have to parse the SVG generated by PlantUML to show additional information, but this is not easy to do.

About mouseover feature, we are thinking about allowing this:

class Example

mouseover Example {
  mouseover
  --
  Dummy text
}
 

Current version of PlantUML recognizes the syntax, but drawing is not really implemented, and is supposed to work only for SVG. Is it what you are looking for ?

 

Comments

Good evening;

main point of my question is, is there any architectural design made in Plantuml that will allow me to add new features to outputs( that i will code) .

Let say i want to add this feature; When we mouse over the class diagram it shows methods in class (it does not matter whether it is coded or not now, consider this feature have not been done)

In order to add this feature do i need to render everything from scratch using Graphviz and XML or is there any design feature that will allow me to add this additional feature.( idea is plantuml already generates a class diagram for me why should i render everything)

Obviously i want to develop this tool for my project. However, since there are not enough documents about API side i am asking these kind of questions more for developers than end users. Thank you .

Regards ...

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Yes, the architecture design of PlantUML has been made to be flexible and easily modifiable. This allow to add new features upon user request.
However, this does not mean that the architecture is expendable : there are no API or pre-defined extension points that you can use to enhance PlantUML. You will have to modify the core code it self.
So we probably need to write some documentation about general design to help you to understand how to modify PlantUML.

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Good afternoon;

It would be so nice to have some documentations about this. Thus, It would help developers like me to make contributions to this amazing tool and easy to widespread  project. Thanks for your quick replies.

Regards ...