Keyboard friendly light weight UML modeling tool?

Question

I'm looking for a free UML tool that runs on Windows and lets me create simple diagrams very fast, with as little mouse fiddling as possible.

I have no need for code generation or fancy stuff, just UML style boxes with arrows.

What I would like is something that for example lets me add a new class with a keyboard shortcut and lets me enter the name without having to double click the added class or something like that. Just a simple app that let you model efficiently without getting the urge to eat your desk...

What I don't want is to have to drag an item from a toolbox to the surface, double click the item, enter the name, grab the mouse again, click the ok button, rince and repeat.

For Eclipse there is TextUML that lets you create diagrams using a textual notation, but I want it for .Net development and I don't want to run Eclipse just for a tiny diagramming plugin.

I have tried quite a few of the open source tools out there, but most of them have quite an awful user experience.

So, is there a tool that fits the above description?

Answer 1

I find JUDE very good, lightweight software for modeling in UML. It's cross-platform, has community edition, it's easy to use, supports standard UML and diagrams look very nice.

http://jude.change-vision.com/jude-web/index.html

Answer 2

try trace2uml http://trace2uml.tigris.org/

it is free, easy to use and light

Answer 3

If you really just want boxes with arrows, use GraphViz. It allows you to enter textual descriptions and the current Windows version is now able to provide a graphical preview of the text file. You can choose different shape types and it will allow you produce diagrams even as fancy as the following one.

I have a full-blown UML tool (the superb Enterprise Architect) but I still use GraphViz daily for simple sketch diagrams.

For more traditional UML examples with GraphViz see this blog and the UMLGraph site.

digraph {

/* notes */
    subgraph cluster_legend {
    graph [color=lightyellow style=filled]
    node[shape=plaintext]
    edge[style=invisible arrowhead=none]
    Mac[label="On Macintosh\nonly" color=blue fontcolor=blue]
    Next[label="Next Version" color=grey fontcolor=grey]
    Mac->Next
}

edge [color=black fontcolor=black]
node [weight=bold fontsize=14 color=black fontcolor=black]


/* docs */
node[ shape=box3d]
AppMakerv2[label="AppMaker V2\nDocument" color=blue fontcolor=blue]
AppMakerX[label="AppMakerX\nDocument"]

/* Code */
node [shape=folder]
PP[label="PowerPlant\nPPob Resources" color=blue fontcolor=blue]
Classic[label="Classic Mac\nResource fork:\nMENU, DLOG, DITL" color=blue fontcolor=blue]
XAML
WPFApp[label="WPF Application\nXAML resources\nC# Code and properties"]
REALBasic[label="REALbasic Application\nXML format\nwindows and code" color=grey fontcolor=grey]
Cocoa[label="Cocoa Application\nxib resources\nObjective-C Code" color=grey fontcolor=grey]
hand[label="Hand Editing in\nAppMaker v2 GUI" shape=plaintext fontcolor=blue]

/* processes */
node[shape=ellipse]
Importer[color=blue fontcolor=blue]
Exporter[color=blue fontcolor=blue]
Converter
WPFGen[label="WPF\nGenerator"]
CocoaGen[label="Cocoa\nGenerator" color=grey fontcolor=grey]
RBGen[label="REALbasic\nGenerator" color=grey fontcolor=grey]


/* Mac workflow */
edge[color=blue]
PP->Importer
Classic->Importer
hand->AppMakerv2
Importer->AppMakerv2
AppMakerv2->Exporter->AppMakerX

/* cross-platform workflow */
edge[color=black]
XAML->Converter->AppMakerX
AppMakerX->WPFGen->WPFApp

/* future workflow */
edge [color=grey fontcolor=grey]
AppMakerX->CocoaGen->Cocoa
AppMakerX->RBGen->REALBasic

}

alt text http://www.aussiedesignedsoftware.com/AppMakerX/files/amxworkflow.png