Give an overview of The diagram Tool of EiffelStudio?

Eiffelstudio is a rich combination of a number of development environment tools such as:

1. Compiler
2. Interpreter
3. Debugger
4. Browser
5. Metrics tool
6. Profiler
7. Diagram tool

In this article we shall discuss about the last tool of Eiffelstudio i.e., the diagram tool. 

A graphical view of the software structures is provided by the Eiffelstudio’s diagram tool. This tool can be used effectively in both:

1. Forward engineering process: In this process it can be used as design tool that uses the graphical descriptions for producing the software.
2. Reverse engineering process: In this process it produces the graphical representations of the program texts that already exist automatically.

The changes that are made in any of the above mentioned two processes are given guaranteed integration by the diagram tool and this is called round trip engineering. 

It uses any of the following two graphical notations:

1. BON (business object notation) and
2. UML (unified modeling language)

By default the notation used is BON. The Eiffelstudio has the capability of displaying several views of the classes and their features. 

It provides various types of views such as:

1. Text view: It displays the full text of the program.

2. Contract view: It displays only the interface but with the contracts.

3. Flat view: It displays the inherited features as well.

4. Clients: It displays all the classes with their features that depend up on other class or feature.

5. Inheritance history:  It shows how a feature is affected when it goes up or down the inheritance structure.

There are a number of other views also available. There is an user interface paradigm that is based on holes, pebbles and other development objects and the Eiffelstudio relies heavily on this. 

Software developers using Eiffelstudio have to deal with abstractions that represent the following:

Ø  Classes

Ø  Features

Ø  Breakpoints

Ø  Clusters

Ø  Other development objects

- The way they deal with these things are same as that of the way in which the objects during run time are dealt by the object – oriented in Eiffelstudio.

- In Eiffelstudio, wherever a development object appears at the interface, it can be picked or selected irrespective of how it is visually represented i.e., what name is given to it and what symbol and so on. 

- To pick a development object you just have to right click on it. 

- The moment you click on it the cursor changes to pebble (a special symbol) that corresponds to different types of the object such as:

1. Bubble or ellipse for class
2. Dot for breakpoint
3. Cross for feature and so on.

- As the position of the cursor changes, a line appears displaying the original position and current position of the object. 

- The object can be dropped at any place where the pebble symbol matches the cursor.

- An object can also be dropped in a window that is compatible with it. 

- Multiple views can be combined together to make it easy browsing through the complex structure of the system. 

- This also makes it possible to follow the transformations such as re-naming, un-definition and re-definition that are applied to the features while inheriting.

- The diagram tool of the Eiffelstudio is the major helping hand in the creation of the applications that are robust, scalable and fast. 

- It helps you to model your application just the way you want. 

- It helps in capturing your requirements as well as thought processes. 

- The tools of the Eiffel studio make it sure that you don’t have to use separate tools to make changes in the architecture of the system while designing.