Descriptive plaintext within a class

Question

Thanks for this great tool!

I am now using this tool for UML diagrams to understand the codes of a project. I use the Class diagram to classify the relationships/functions of the classes. Sometimes I want to add notes about the class, its members, and its methods. Using existing plantUML's notes will make the diagram messy. So I want to add them right into the class rectangle, just like comments in our code. Is that possible?

 

That is, I want the class diagram to be something like this:

 

--------------------------

    DummyClass

--------------------------

- string id

- int index

// This is the name of the DummyClass

// This descriptive text should be displayed in grey

- string name

--------------------------

+void func()

-------------------------

 

Thanks very much!

Answer 1

This is not perfect, but you can use the preprocessor to do so.
Example:

@startuml
!define COMMENT(x) <color:grey>x</color>
class DummyClass {
- string id
- int index
COMMENT(This is the name of the DummyClass)
COMMENT(This descriptive text should be displayed in grey)
- string name
}
@enduml

Tell us if it's working for you!
 

Comments

That's great! However, if there is only one method in the class, the comment will be treated as member.

Example:

@startuml
!define COMMENT(x) <color:grey>x</color>
interface A {
    COMMENT(Callback when update finished.)
    + {abstract} updateFinished()
}
@enduml

http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/SoWkIImgAStDuL9CIKtBp4jLSFRtzNNr2z6eq5ImISxFoI-oIYzAhRIhiD47y-ouClDAKelI4fDJ5HmLghaKW02cnJan9oSfCJbReJmZDK-Xj20biIHL0MXePd56QegU9bYjja9rOb9nIL5YSaajL8aRL8M69bSjbqDgNWhGEG00

A workaround is to manually set the layout of the class with `--`.

---

In that case, you can also have:
@startuml
!define COMMENT(x) <color:grey>x</color>
interface A {
    {method} COMMENT(Callback when update finished.)
    + {abstract} updateFinished()
}
@enduml

http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/FOx12i8m44Jl-OhrrY3eNKgf57khNlo1RRArnJIHP8kLa7-tbkBS1juRfWoCdgVHY9scRh04rQrfBjTxDal8bJFEdnwUFiMS7zTMYC4o-GuLmHcYW2Ln9EwTJd-tGcDQL4zuzsHXUcbaWcLz23tfWrobFKHi0tjKd3QateXCYYHAilhtwmi0

---

Great! Do you have the manual for {method}? I can't find it in the Language Reference Guide. Is {field} for the data members?

Then it will be convenient to have two macros:
CM1(x) {method} <color:grey>x</color>
CM2(x) {field} <color:grey>x</color>

Thanks!

---

Yes, it's {field} for the data members.
We have to update the doc...