Poseidon for UML: User Guide
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# Chapter 7. Setting Properties

The behavior of Poseidon is defined by a number of properties. You can adjust the behavior of Poseidon to your personal needs by changing the corresponding properties using the settings dialog. Once the settings dialog is open (choose Settings from the Edit menu), you will see a number of tabs.

# 7.1. General Tab

The properties set in this tab are stored in the Poseidon.properties file, located in your user home directory under .poseidon/<version>. For Windows users, this is most likely ' C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\.poseidon\<version>\ '.

## 7.1.1. General

Figure 7-1. The General settings tab.

- Language - This is the language used for the Poseidon user interface. You can switch the interface to a different language by choosing your preferred language from this selection list. Poseidon currently supports English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. By default, the system language is used - or English, if the system language is not available. In other words, if you start Poseidon on a Spanish system, for example, the program will start in Spanish - but on a Swedish system the program will start in English, as Swedish is not currently supported.

- Re-Open Last Project on Startup - If checked, Poseidon opens the most recently used project on startup.

- Skip confirmation dialog when deleting elements - If checked, the dialog asking if you really want to delete selected elements will not appear.

- Skip confirmation dialog when cutting elements completely - If checked, the dialog asking if you really want to cut the element selected (not just its representation) will not appear.

- Skip confirmation dialog when copying elements completely - If checked, the dialog asking if you really want to copy the element selected (not just its representation) will not appear.

- Browser - This sets the default web browser used by Poseidon. To change the browser, click on the ellipse button and navigate to the location of your favorite web browser. This does not currently work on Macs.

## 7.1.2. Appearance

Figure 7-2. The Appearance settings tab.

- Look and Feel - Determines the look and feel of the Poseidon user interface. You can change the interface appearance by choosing an entry from this list. The list of options is determined by the operating system under which Poseidon is running.

  It may sometimes be necessary to change the Look and Feel from outside of the Settings dialog (as with MacOS X and Java combinations). To change this, use the following procedure:

  1. Start Poseidon, then shut it down again.

  2. Open the Poseidon.properties file in a text editor. In Windows, this is found in: `C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\.poseidon\<Poseidon Version>`

  3. Change the line

         poseidon.init.laf=...

     to

         poseidon.init.laf=com.incors.plaf.alloy.AlloyLookAndFeel

  4. Save this file and restart Poseidon.

- Show tips on program start - If checked, a `Tip of the Day` dialog appears when you start up the program.

- Show birdview perspective - If checked, the Overview pane shows the bird's-eye perspective. The speed of Poseidon increases when the bird's-eye perspective is disabled.

- Adjust birdview to diagram size - If checked, the bird's-eye view is scaled to show all elements of the currently selected diagram.

- Tabs in diagram view - If checked, the diagram view shows the most recently viewed diagrams as tabs over the Diagram pane. This allows for faster navigation between the diagrams.

- Max. number of tabs - If checked, the maximum number of tabs in the Diagram pane is limited to the specified value.

- Scroll diagram when setting new target - When selecting a different element within the same diagram, the diagram will pan smoothly if this option is enabled. Disabling this option can enhance the speed of Poseidon.

- Use comfortable documentation editor - Enables the WYSIWYG editor in the Documentation tab of the Details pane. Leaving this unchecked speeds up the performance of Poseidon.

- Diagram Anti Aliasing - Enables the anti-aliasing of the selected diagram components.

- Grid Settings -

  - Visible - Determines whether the visible grid is drawn at all.

    Spacing and line appearance are also set for the visible grid here.

  - Snap - Determines whether the elements placed in the diagram will be forced to align to a snap grid.

    The pixel dropdown sets the spacing of the snap grid.

  - Dark Line Step - Indicates the spacing of darker grid lines.

    In the example above, the Dark Line Step is set to '4', which means that every fourth line will be a darker line.

  - Color Selectors - Determines the colors of the grid lines.

    - Background Color - color of the page behind the diagram.

    - Grid Line Color - color of the normal grid lines

    - First Main Line Color - color of a darker line. This color alternates with the Second Main Line Color every other darker line - in the example above with Dark Line Step set to '4', this color appears every eighth line, and four lines after the Second Main Line.

    - Second Main Line Color - color of a darker line. This color alternates with the First Main Line Color every other darker line - in the example above with Dark Line Step set to '4', this color appears every eighth line, and four lines after the First Main Line.

  - Snap - Resets the grid settings to the Gentleware defaults.

## 7.1.3. Modeling

Figure 7-3. The Modeling settings tab.

- Copy Javadoc down to accessor methods - If checked, the documentation of the attribute is passed to its accessor methods.

- Ask before copying down Javadoc - If unchecked, Poseidon will prompt before overwriting existing documentation of an attribute with the documentation of its accessor methods.

- Generate accessor methods for attributes - If checked, accessor methods (get/set) will be automatically created when a new attribute is created.

- When removing attributes - Defines what to do with associated accessor methods when an attribute is removed from the model. The possible options are to keep the methods in place, to delete them but ask first (this is the default setting), or to delete them immediately.

- Warn when doing changes to the model that might harm generated sourcecode - If checked, a warning will appear to remind you that the change you are attempting could cause problems with code generation.

## 7.1.4. Environment

Figure 7-4. The Environment settings tab.

The Environment tab contains properties regarding the local environment and the directories used for loading and saving files.

- Poseidon Home folder - The folder Poseidon stores user-related information into, e.g. log files and the saved properties. This property cannot be changed.

- Project folder - Projects are loaded from and saved into this preferred folder.

- Export folder - Exported files (like graphics) are saved into this preferred folder.

- Java Home folder - The folder in which the currently-used version of Java is installed. This property usually points to the runtime part of the installation, even if the used Java is a SDK installation. This property cannot be changed.

- User Home folder - The folder your operating system uses as your personal folder. This property cannot be changed.

- User folder - The folder into which Poseidon is installed. This property cannot be changed.

- Startup folder - The folder your system points to at the startup of Poseidon. This property cannot be changed.

- Temporary Files folder - The folder used when any temporary files are created.

## 7.1.5. User

Figure 7-5. The User settings tab.

The User tab contains properties regarding information about the user. These properties cannot be changed from the settings dialog, because they are part of the product registration. They can be changed using the license manager, but any change would require a new registration of the product.

- Full Name - Full name of the user who registered this copy of Poseidon.

- E-mail Address - E-mail address of the user who registered this copy of Poseidon. The presented email address must be a real one, or registration of Poseidon will fail.

## 7.1.6. Profiles

Figure 7-6. The Profile settings tab.

Profiles generically extend the UML through the use of stereotypes that are most often language-specific, provide a common graphical notation and vocabulary, and define a subset ot the UML metamodel (that could possibly be the entire UML metamodel).

- Default Activated Profiles - Indicates profiles which will be applied to all projects.

## 7.1.7. Key Mappings

Figure 7-7. The Key Mappings settings tab.

The Key Mappings tab allows you to determine the behavior of particular keys.

- Multiline Editing - This option tells Poseidon whether to use the 'Enter' key to commit an edit or create a new line while entering the name of an element or any other field that accepts multiline text.

## 7.1.8. Printing

### 7.1.8.1. Page Setup

Figure 7-8. The Printing Page Setup settings tab

- Size - List of paper sizes.

- Source - Paper drawer or other source Poseidon should use for paper.

- Orientation - Position of the graphic on the page.

- Measurement Units - The units to be used for all specified measurements.

- Margins - Size of the margins on the paper.

- Alignment - Determines the placement of the graphic on the page.

- Gaps of footer and header - The amount of space between the header or footer and the diagram graphics.

### 7.1.8.2. Scaling

Figure 7-9. The Printing Scale settings tab

- Fit to Page - Scales the current diagram to fit on exactly one page.

- Scale to Pages - Scales the diagram to fit on the specified number of pages.

- Scale - Scales the diagram to the specified percentage.

  - Fit to Page - Determines the scale for the entire project based on the 'fit to page' scale of the current diagram. For example, if the current diagram fits one page when scaled to 74%, all diagrams will be printed at 74%.

### 7.1.8.3. Appearance

Figure 7-10. The Printing Appearance settings tab

- Color Appearance - Sets the print to color or black and white.

- Quality - Caliber of printing to be used. In general, lower quality results in faster printing. Three options are available: Draft, Normal, and High.

- Sides - Sets single or double-sided printing

  - Simplex - single-sided

  - Tumble - double-sided, flip on short edge

  - Duplex - double-sided

- Job Attributes

  - Banner Page - When checked, the print job will be preceded by a page with the job information, such as date, time, and machine name.

  - Priority - Sets the priorty of the print job in the print queue.

  - Job Name - Identifies the job.

  - User Name - Identifies who initiated the print job.

- Watermark - Uses the indicated graphic file as a background for the printed diagrams. The graphic is stretched to fit the background, and is partitioned if the diagram is printed on multiple pages.

  - Transparency - Determines the transparency of the diagrams. A value of 0 indicates that the diagram is completely opaque and the background is not visible. A value of 1 indicates that the diagram is invisible and only the background can be seen.

## 7.1.9. Diagram Display

Figure 7-11. The Diagram display settings tab.

The Diagram Display tab contains properties regarding the display of information within the diagrams. Currently, most of the properties refer to Class Diagrams only.

- Hide accessor methods - If checked, accessor methods will not be displayed in the operation compartment.

- Hide operation's parameters - If checked, parameters will not be displayed. Operations with parameters will then be displayed like `operation1(...)` .

- Hide private class features - If checked, private attributes and operations will not be displayed.

- Hide package class features - If checked, package attributes and operations will not be displayed.

- Hide protected class features - If checked, protected attributes and operations will not be displayed.

- Hide public class features - If checked, public attributes and operations will not be displayed.

- Add dependent edges automatically - If checked, dependent edges are added to a node which has been created via cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop. No dialog or warning is used.

  Helpful hint: When using Component diagrams extensively or using multiple representations of an element within a single diagram, it is often better to turn off this option.

## 7.1.10. Automatic Layout

Figure 7-12. The Automatic Layout settings tab.

The Automatic Layout tab contains properties affecting the behavior of the auto-layout function.

- Algorithm

  - Overlap-free Label Placement - Deselect the checkbox to allow labels to overlap.

- Point Upwards - Determines the arrow head direction of the selected element.

- Fork Style - Allows relationships to appear forked, sharing a line. When deselected, each relationship appears with it's own line.

## 7.1.11. Code Generation

Previous to version 2.6, generation settings were contained within their own tabs, accessible from the Generation dialog. Versions 2.6 and later have collected these settings in the central settings dialog, although they are still accessible from the Generation dialog.

### 7.1.11.1. Documentation Generation

Figure 7-13. The Documentation Generation settings tab

Common Generation Settings

- Clear destination folder - When checked, the document target directory is cleared before the generation begins.

- Parse tagged values and constraints for escape sequences -

- Repaint all diagrams - Redraw diagrams before generation begins.

HTML Generation

- Image Export Format - Determines the format of all images, including the diagrams.

- Generate Authors Doc - With this setting enabled, @author tags are included in the UMLdoc.

- Generate External Links - With this option enabled, @link destinations that are external will be activated within the document.

  - External Link Base - The site noted here will be used as the base link for all external links within the document. The 'Set Default' button will reset the external link base to Sun's Java site ( http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api ).

  - Copyright for UMLdoc - The copyright notice in HTML format. This information appears at the bottom of every UMLdoc page. The 'Set Default' button resets the copyright to the original Gentleware message.

### 7.1.11.2. Java

Figure 7-14. The Java Code Generation settings tab

- Generate accessor methods for associations - Creates accessor methods for every attribute that is created. If the attribute has a multiplicity of 1..1 or 0..1, simple getAttribute() and setAttribute() methods are created. For attributes with a finite multiplicity, an array is generated and the accessor methods include addAttribute() and setAttribute(). For an unbounded multiplicity, a Collection is generated, and the appropriate access methods like addAttribute() and removeAttribute() are produced.

  You should unset the check box Generate accessor methods after you have generated accessors once. Otherwise, they would be generated again, and would clutter up your classes. The preferred way to create set/get methods is by adding them in an attribute's Properties tab, and by checking Create accessor methods for new attributes in the dialog Edit-Settings.

- Compiler - Indicates the path to the desired compiler

- Type for unordered associations - Determines how unordered associations will be represented

- Type for ordered associations - Determines how ordered associations will be represented

## 7.1.12. Stereotype Icons

Figure 7-15. The Stereotype Icons settings tab.

The Stereotype Icons settings dialog sets the graphic representations for stereotypes.

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