December 17, 2007

Trace Modeler -- Finally, An Easy And Productive Way To Work With UML Sequence Diagrams

Trace Modeler release history

You can keep up-to-date on the development and releases of Trace Modeler in the following ways :

• subscribe to the RSS feed
• check for updates in Trace Modeler (there's an item in the Help menu)
• check this page in your browser

Trace Modeler is constantly being improved so be sure to always use the latest release!

v1.6.2 - March 2009

Pressing ENTER when an activation is selected starts edit of the corresponding call label

Further improved the type inferencing algorithm of the 'Build model' feature

Added a few alternative ways to zoom in/out with the mouse, the possibilities are now

CTRL-MOUSEWHEEL, CMD-MOUSEWHEEL, ALT-MOUSEWHEEL, META-MOUSEWHEEL

Workspace now displays a border around the selected diagram when it has the keyboard focus

On large diagrams, SHIFT-RIGHT-DRAG can be used to scroll 1:1 with the mouse pointer

RIGHT-DRAG scrolls faster, depending on the diagram size

Renamed the shell scripts and executables

for Windows : win_tracemodeler.exe and win_batchexport.exe

for Unix and Linux : nix_tracemodeler.sh and nix_batchexport.sh

for Mac OSX : osx_tracemodeler.command and osx_batchexport.sh

Some Mac OSX specific changes

Fixed the visual menu glitch, menu are now rendered correctly

Screen menu bar is used instead of a window menu bar (OSX 10.5 only)

Uses the native file dialog for opening and saving trace files

Added a shell script osx_tracemodeler.command that can be run from the Finder

Added lots of OSX-specific keyboard and mouse controls (see manual for a complete list)

Any errors about missing files during the loading of the workspace are now reported in bulk

Fixed : the activations of self calls whose top is off-screen, are now correctly stacked

Changed the standard font for the UI, welcome diagram, default diagram and examples to "Arial"

They no longer rely on the logical "SansSerif" and "Dialog" fonts because they are mapped differently on different platforms

v1.6.1 - March 2009

Added a feature to quickly give feedback about Trace Modeler, available from the toolbar and menu bar

Opens a webpage where you can suggest features or other improvements (no login required)

You can also view and vote for suggestions made by others!

Improved the type inferencing capabilities for the experimental 'Build Model' feature

Added better support for keyboards without a numeric keypad, particularly for zooming in/out. To summarize, the possible ways to zoom in/out are now :

CTRL-MOUSEWHEEL with the mouse
using the corresponding entries in the toolbar and the View Menu
CTRL-PLUS / CTRL-MINUS on the numeric keypad
CTRL-PLUS / CTRL-MINUS on the regular keyboard (if this doesn't work on your keyboard please use CTRL-PAGEUP / CTRL-PAGEDOWN)

Fixed : pressing HOME to reset the view is now working again

v1.6.0 - March 2009

Changed the drag & drop indicator style to make it clearer what will happen when dropped

Indicator for activations now uses an arrow and shows which target will receive the message

Drop indicator color is now blue when the element can be dropped

Drop indicator color is now red when the element cannot be dropped

'Export as image' opens an export dialog where the destination (file/clipboard) can be chosen

Available on the toolbar and the Tools menu

'Export to clipboard' and 'Export to file' were removed from the toolbar and menus

Reorganized the menubar

Removed the Window menu and moved its contents to the other menus

Reordered the entries of the File menu

Added 'Build model [experimental]' to the Tools menu

Added an example for the 'Build Model' functionality

Consists of 4 sequence diagrams depicting 4 representative scenarios for the same domain

Detailed instructions are given in the trace file 'tic-tac-toe readme' in the 'examples' folder of your Trace Modeler installation. This is one of the examples that is automatically opened on first use. If needed, you can quickly open all example diagrams from the Help menu.

Added a new preference setting 'Palettes always visible' (checked by default)

When checked the palettes remain opaque when not in use

When unchecked the palettes become semi-transparent when not in use

When in presentation mode the palette always becomes semi-transparent when not in use

Changes to the 'Preferences' window

'Preferences' window is now modal and has 'Confirm' and 'Cancel' buttons

Renamed preference 'use workspace' to 'save workspace on exit'

Removed the blurred background on menubar menus and context menus

The 'Diagram Style' and 'History' windows are now internal windows (again)

v1.5.31 - February 2009

Added three new UML elements : actions, constraints and state invariants

Added support for opening multiple diagrams at once, for every opened diagram an entry is added to the diagram list sidebar

Added a diagram list sidebar

Sidebar can be collapsed/expanded from the menu, toolbar and divider (and from the diagram context menu when using the presentation interface)

Diagrams with unsaved modifications are indicated with a disk icon

Added workspace functionality

When Trace Modeler starts it will automatically reopen all diagrams you were working on when you last exited

Added a 'Use workspace' preference setting (available in the 'Preferences' window)

Much faster loading, layout and rendering of huge diagrams (10'000+ calls)

Trace Modeler handles them with ease, even on modest hardware.

Necessary for [censored]

Some changes to the File menu

Added 'Open folder' item to the File menu, use it to quickly open all trace files in a folder

Added 'Save all' item to the File menu

Changed the way the entries in 'Open recent' are organized

Removed the big trial watermark and replaced it with something a bit more subtle

Added lots of tweaks and new rules to the layout engine

many of them related to operand guards and some constructor specific rules

'Optimize target order' can now produce a call-local ordering

Useful for studying huge diagrams

Select a call, activation or return and click 'Optimize target order' and it will layout the targets so that flow around that call can be studied

Added style support, each individual element can now be styled (custom line, fill and text colors).

elements can share common styles and styles can extend each other

style support through files only for now, UI integration is coming soon

Diagram frame can now be added and removed in the same manner as the other elements

removed the 'Diagram frame' diagram style property (no longer necessary)

Added floating comments

the diagram frame will not consider these when calculating its boundary

the comment and its links are drawn with a drop-shadow for easy identification

When in text edit mode, you can easily switch to the next/previous element

hold down PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN in text edit mode to see it in action

Some important changes to text edit mode

ENTER will now add a newline (no longer necessary to combine with SHIFT or CTRL)

ESCAPE will now confirm your editing and leave text edit mode (no longer cancels)

if you want to cancel your changes, simply press CTRL-Z during text edit mode or confirm your editing and then undo (using the toolbar, edit menu or CTRL-Z)

Added some more features to text edit mode

added a context menu (cut, copy, paste, select all, copy all) to text edit mode

added a red border around the text edit area making it easy to spot

the highlight of the selected figure is now hidden during text edit mode

Added a 'palette location' preference setting

possible values are 'left', 'right' and 'both'

when setting it to 'both', the mouse travel distance is at most half a screen!

available in the 'Preferences' window

Added support for drag and drop of message and return arrows

It switches automatically to drag and drop of the corresponding activation bar.

Changed the in-diagram drag & drop indicators

it is now consistent with the drag & drop indicators used by the element palette

LEFT-DRAG of diagram elements is now a bit less sensitive to initiate a drag&drop gesture

Call and return arrows can now be used to initiate a drag and drop of an activation

switches automatically to drag and drop of corresp. activation when dragging an arrow

'Export to clipboard' can now be scaled too

uses the scale factor from the 'Export settings' window

Changes to the 'Export settings' window

added a 'try to free more memory' button to the export settings window

available memory report in the export settings window is now updated every 5 seconds

required memory info is now more accurate

reported size in pixels is now correct

Improved tab order

now includes all elements on the diagram and uses their position on the diagram to determine their ideal tab order

The presentation interface can now be activated from the toolbar as well

The keyboard shortcut for the presentation interface is now F7 (used to be F6)

When using the presentation interface, the diagram context menu now also has an entry to switch back to the regular interface

Added a context menu to the 'Application log' window for easy copying of messages

Target names are now preserved when editing & saving (only relevant if you generate trace files yourself)

Added an arrow that indicates where the diagram is when it is scrolled out of view

Submenu entries are now a bit taller so the submenus should feel a bit less sensitive

Added a splash screen to tracemodeler.exe to indicate the JRE is starting (win only)

When a license is imported, the license file is no longer used after import

Better reporting of errors that are encountered whilst loading a diagram

line numbers in error & warning output

unknown commands are now reported instead of ignored

Better shell scripts on *nix and OSX (thanks Kristof and Bram!), the user no longer needs to enter program directory

Changed the default extension for trace files from .trace to .tmt

Changed the direction of horizontal scrolling with SHIFT-WHEEL

The following secondary windows can now be placed outside of the main window as well

Diagram style window

Preferences window

History window

Export settings window

The tip of the day window is no longer modal

You can open it and keep working in Trace Modeler at the same time

Added a 'Experimental features' checkbox to the 'Preferences' window

Experimental feature : 'Build Model' button on the toolbar

Uses a new file format (file format version is now v2)

Trace Modeler v1.5 or later can read all older format versions

Trace Modeler v1.4 or earlier can NOT read the new format v2 (!)

The file extension for trace files is now .tmt instead of .trace

Changes in file format

TRACE_MODELER_FILE_FORMAT is now 2

ACTION added

CONSTRAINT added

INVARIANT added

DIAGRAM_FRAME dropped

DIAGRAM_FRAME_NAME renamed to DIAGRAM_FRAME

COMBINE_BEGIN renamed to FRAGMENT

COMBINE_END renamed to FRAGMENT_END

OPERAND_BEGIN renamed to OPERAND

The fourteen different message commands and one option were simplified to

4 message commands (CALL, CONSTRUCT, DESTRUCT and SIGNAL)

3 message options (ASYNC, INDIRECT and SLOW)

STYLE definition command added

used to define named styles

can introduce a new style, or override a default style

Every trace element can have a STYLE option to specify its style

message commands can have an additional ACTIVATION_STYLE option

Check out the examples to see how styles are defined and used

v1.4.0 - May 2008

Added support for EPS export

available in the 'Export settings' window

Better support for HUGE diagrams in preparation of the [censored]

(huge meaning hundreds of targets and calls)

loading of .trace files is now 4x faster

drawing is up to 10x faster (depending on zoom & diagram complexity)

Scaling factor for export now allows fractional numbers

see 'Export settings' window and 'Batch export' functionality

v1.3.0 - May 2008

Added support for PDF and SVG export

available in the 'Export settings' window

v1.2.5 - April 2008

Added 'Diagram frame' diagram style property

diagram frame can be hidden, include comments or exclude comments
the text of the diagram frame can be edited
see 'Diagram style' window, diagram context menu and diagram frame context menu

The diagram will scroll automatically to keep the cursor visible when editing text

on switch to text edit mode, when typing and on cursor movement

Changes in file format

DIAGRAM_FRAME added
DIAGRAM_FRAME_NAME added

v1.2.0 - March 2008

Added 'Messsage numbering' diagram style property

message numbering can be off, flat or hierarchical
available in the 'Diagram style' window

Added smart labels for messages and replies

on long message/reply arrows, labels are often out of view which hinders understanding
smart labels move to stay in view as much as possible, try it!
(note that targets have always had smart labels)

Added 'Standard zoom' preference setting

useful if you have a high resolution display and find the diagram too small at 100%
available in the 'Preferences' window

Preferences from most recent prior version are automatically imported on first use of new version

Native file chooser is used on all Windows platforms

there's also a flag to force the use of a native chooser on other platforms if you want

Change in file format

MESSAGE_NUMBERING added

v1.1.0 - February 2008

Added support for indirect messages

is generally useful if you don't want to show the middle man but will truly shine once the [censored] is released

Added a new shortcut for 'Reopen file' (F5)

will come in handy for tweaking the [censored]

Added a presentation mode : toggle with F6

no menubar, no toolbar and no scrollbars
great for giving presentations!

Changed the watermark when run with an evaluation license

Change in file format

added INDIRECT option to all message kinds (CALL, CONSTRUCT, etc.)

Fixes

mode indicator now disappears as well when scrollbars are hidden
SHIFT-CLICK on diagram during text edit no longer makes the edited label disappear
'split here' now only applies when current selection is an activation

v1.0.0 - December 2007

Added tooltips to the element toolbar on the right

Added a new target kind : Time

Export settings are saved between sessions

Moved the export settings to a separate 'Export settings' window

Added EULA to distribution and an acceptance dialog at startup

Added EULA tab to the 'About' window

Cosmetic corrections to the diagram style & preferences windows

Labels on arrows are shifted up a bit so underscores are clearer

Label on a found call is moved a bit further away from the end

Labels for self and non-self calls are now spaced more evenly

Finally got the .sh scripts right (thanks Bram!)

Added an edit mode indicator (lower right corner)

Manual was updated

Program settings can be specified through '.jre.ini' files

Changes in file format :

TIME added

v0.9.9 (final beta) - November 2007

Added a new cross-platform look & feel

Added toolbar with often used elements (elements can be dragged onto diagram!)

Added toolbar with often used operations (icons can be clicked)

Added scrollbars

They can be hidden through the 'Preferences' window

Added 'export to clipboard' feature, for quick transfer to other programs

Added few entries to the 'File' menu

'Open recent'
'Open URL..'
'Reopen file'

Added a signal message kind (always async, no return arrow)

Unbound connectors are now moved as well when you reorder targets

Bound connectors are now moved to the caller when a call is inlined

Bound and unbound connectors will move along when a call is split

Improved support for stereotypes

"<<" and ">>" are automatically replaced with guillemets
in an underlined label, a line containing a stereotype will not be underlined
(i.e. a stereotype on most kinds of targets is best placed on its own line)

Corrected the letter spacing when zoomed in or exporting at high dpi

You can now switch to text edit mode by pressing ENTER when an element is selected

Working with hidden arrows is now more intuitive

they're drawn faintly on-screen to make it easier to recognize and manipulate them
when exporting a diagram to a graphics file, they're invisible of course

Added executables for Windows platforms

Added commandline parameter to specify which diagram Trace Modeler should open

makes it possible to associate .trace files with the startup script or executable

Added scripts to facilitate batch export

Enlarged the selection area for targets and arrows

Added a splash screen

Replaced third party 'tip of the day' component with homegrown dialog

Changed the title of the main window (filename now comes first)

Removed the preference setting for changing the look&feel

Removed the preference setting for changing the scroll strategy

Changes in file format

added SIGNAL and SLOW_SIGNAL
FLOW_COLOR value, preferred format is now in hex (#rrggbbaa)

v0.9.8 (first beta) - September 2007

Added the manual (accessible through the Help menu or F1)

Added a faster way to add targets and calls (with SHIFT-LEFT-CLICK)

Improved the indicators that show where an element will be placed when released during drag&drop.

Added commandline batch export for build scripts and easy synchronization

Added bound comment connectors

these always stay connected to their activation regardless of the change to the diagram
they move intelligently when elements are added/removed/moved etc. or the diagram style changes.

Expanded the layout algorithm to include comments and unbound connectors

the algorithm will move them to an appropriate new spot on almost all kinds of changes to a diagram

Added logic to always ensure a correct lifecycle (construction/destruction)

Added logic to always ensure consistent destruction kind and destructor

Added new zoom modes (zoom to width, zoom to height and zoom to fit)

New look for diagram style window

Added new diagram style property : control flow color

New look for preferences window

Added "Connector size" to "Preferences" window

Renamed scroll types in preferences to Regular and Goofy

Changed the way a custom default diagram can be set

Removed gradient background outside of diagram

Menubar is now at top of the screen on MacOSX

Changes to text edit mode :

it now also supports undo/redo (ctrl-z, ctrl-y)
ENTER confirms edit and leaves text edit mode
ESC cancels edit and leaves text edit mode
CTRL-ENTER or SHIFT-ENTER add a new line to the text
TABs are replaced with SPACEs

Changes to diagram edit mode :

SHIFT-LEFT-CLICK will now add a new target or call (depending on where you clicked)

Changes in file format

First line must be "TRACE_MODELER_FILE_FORMAT 1"
FLOW_COLOR added
ENCODING added
TIMESTAMP added
FONT_MESSAGES changed to FONT_REGULAR
SHOW_EMPTY_RETURN change to SHOW_EMPTY_RETURNS
READ_LEFT_TO_RIGHT changed to LAYOUT_LEFT_TO_RIGHT
ICON_SIZE changed to TARGET_ICON_SIZE
CALL_LABEL_ALIGNMENT changed to CALL_ALIGNMENT
RETURN_LABEL_ALIGNMENT changed to RETURN_ALIGNMENT
BOUND_LINK added

v0.9.7

Added tip of the day

Expanded the about box

Added support for hyperlinks to open pages in browser

Changed mouse scroll type in preferences

Comment connectors can now be moved with the keyboard as well

Fixed some layout issues

Added licensing features

v0.9.6.2

Added check for compatible JRE at start-up

v0.9.6

Added non-instantaneous calls (i.e. slanted arrows)

Added example 'from site agilemodeling.trace'

v0.9.5

Added new export formats (jpg and bmp)

Export formats are now user-configurable

png, jpg, bmp formats
quality setting for jpg
resolution : 72dpi, 150 dpi, 300 dpi
with/without anti-aliasing
color/grayscale

added info about memory requirements on export dialog

TraceModeler icon added to main window

removed icons from preferences, diagram properties and history windows

v0.9.4

Export dialog now gives sensible suggestion based on trace filename

Reset view will try to center diagram horizontally and/or vertically

Added user-defined 'default diagram' capability to preferences

Added a welcome diagram to startup, can be disabled in preferences

Added tab traversal

Added a lot of keyboard controls

v0.9.3

Window position and dimension are preserved between executions

Added light gradient background outside of diagram

v0.9.2

Added destruction of target

possible values : after destructor, after last call and at end of trace)

Added some menu items to the view menu

Added more examples

Changed the visualization of the drop spot when dragging an activation

v0.9.1

Added the capability of text labels to span multiple lines

i.e. comment, call, return, target, combined fragment, operand
the meaning of esc and enter has changed when in text edit mode compared to prior versions

File format was changed

Improved error reporting when reading .trace files

Added more examples

v0.9.0

Internationalization support added

reading direction property
diagram elements respect reading direction property
all ui elements respect platform component orientation
UTF-8 encoding used for trace files
font properties can now be selected by user

Certain kinds of elements can now have their own font setting

Preferences are now persistent

v0.8.9

Dragging an activation now hints at possible drop locations

Added preferences

Added rightdrag for scroll

Added more diagram properties

Added target bar functionality

smart labels
name of target is always visible, even when scrolled out of view

0.8.5

let's call this the base version