Editing Properties

When selecting an element in a diagram or selecting the diagram background, the properties of the element (or diagram) are available in the Properties view. The contents of the Properties view vary depending on what element or diagram is selected. If an element is selected in the Diagram view, its properties are loaded in the appropriate Properties view.

NB: If nothing is selected, the background is selected by default and diagram properties are loaded.

Generally, the Properties view contains several different categories of properties. For example, the Properties view for a class has the following categories:

Properties: General properties of the class (name, stereotype, abstract, and so on) This tab displays two columns:

Property shows the name of each property.
Value displays the value or setting of the property named in the same row of the Property column.

Hyperlinks: Intra-project and URL hyperlinks to related information (see Hyperlinking Diagrams).
View: Visual properties of the diagram icon (such as color).
Description: Source code comments.
Javadoc: Properties used for Javadoc generation (such as author and version).
Requirement: Information tracking requirements (such as number, priority, and difficulty).

In general, you can enter a value for string-type properties by typing a value in the edit field of the Value column. Some string type properties display a "browse" button next to the field to indicate that an editor dialog is available.

Multi-line string properties display a multi-line text editor dialog.
String properties whose value must be the name of some object or element in the project display the file chooser button.
Some properties can have multiple values such as a parameter of an operation. Here, the editor accepts a comma-delimited string.
Some properties have a drop down list of available values. You can select from the list or enter your own value in such fields.

Related Topics:

Using the Properties View