ArgoUML Quick Guide

ArgoUML is a powerful yet easy-to-use interactive, graphical software design environment that supports the design, development and documentation of object-oriented software applications.

If you are familiar with a family of software applications called Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools then you should find ArgoUML instantly familiar.

The users of ArgoUML are software designers & architects, software developers, business analysts, systems analysts and other professionals involved in the analysis, design and development of software applications. Main features:

This guide - the ArgoUML Quick Guide - is provided to help you get up and running as quickly as possible with ArgoUML. It provides step-by-step instructions for obtaining, installing and starting ArgoUML, performing common tasks, and learn more about ArgoUML. If you need further details please look in the User Manual .

Minimum system requirements:

Now that you have a computer that can install and run ArgoUML effectively, you need to decide which of the installation options available is appropriate for you. You can choose from the following options:

The standard installation of ArgoUML already comes with several modules which add e.g. support for C++, php and C# code generation. In some cases, you may want to add even more functionality by adding a third party module. To make this possible, you first need to download the module.

Unpack the downloaded file in the same directory as you unpacked ArgoUML itself.

The result should be that the directory that contains the argouml.jar file, now also contains a subdirectory named ext, which contains the .jar files for the extra languages.

When starting ArgoUML from a command line, there are several extra possibilities. Try typing:

java -jar argouml.jar -help

You will see the instructions:

Usage: [options] [project-file]
Options include:
  -help           display this information
  -big            use big fonts
  -huge           use huge fonts
  -nosplash       don't display logo at startup
  -norecentfile   don't reload last saved file
  -command <arg>  command to perform on startup
  -batch          don't start GUI
  -locale <arg>   set the locale (e.g. 'en_GB')
  -open <arg>     open given file on startup
  -print <arg>    print given file on startup (and exit)

You can also set java settings which influence the behaviour of ArgoUML:
  -Xms250M -Xmx500M  [makes ArgoUML reserve more memory for large projects]
    

A common problem is that the User Interface is shown in the wrong language. Below is an easy way to switch back to the English UI. Please beware: the language is in lowercase.

java -jar argouml.jar -locale en

ArgoUML may be run without UI, in batch mode. Currently the possibilities are very limited. Below is an example (everything on 1 line!): It reads a "test.zargo" from my working directory, gets the diagram named "A", and writes a PNG graphical file for this diagram. Without the "-batch", ArgoUML would start up the UI after executing the commands.

java -jar argouml.jar -batch -command "org.argouml.uml.ui.ActionOpenProject=c:\Documents and Settings\Michiel\My Documents\test.zargo" -command org.argouml.ui.cmd.ActionGotoDiagram=A -command "org.argouml.uml.ui.ActionSaveGraphics=c:\Documents and Settings\Michiel\My Documents\test.PNG"

The Windows installer for ArgoUML assigns the ".zargo" extension to the ArgoUML application, so that double or single clicking on a ArgoUML project file automatically starts ArgoUML.

However, if the installer is not used, but one of the other installation methods is used, then you may want to configure Windows manually for this. In this case, follow the explanation below.

2.5.1. Making .zargo-file clickable (on Windows XP)

Ewan R. Grantham

	Warning
	We have reports that this isn't working on Windows Vista. Please don't try it there - see the next chapter instead.

This works only if you have installed using the binary distribution.

First, find a Zargo file, and right-click on it. You should get the normal Windows menu, including an Open or Open With option. At this point, give a description for the file like "ArgoUML Model", and tell Windows to use Notepad to open the file. That's not what you want to do ultimately, but it does get Windows to accept the .zargo extension as representing a valid file type.

Now, open Windows Explorer and from the menu select View->Options (or on Windows XP: Tools->Folder Options...). You should get a two (or more) tabbed dialog. Click the "File Types" dialog, and then scroll through the list for the Description you gave - in the example "ArgoUML Model". Click to select that file type, and then click the "Edit" button.

Now, click on the "Open" action and then the "Edit" button there. You will then get a dialog that has a line for entering in the application action which will have a line for using Notepad to open the file. Replace that line with: "C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.6.0_05\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "c:\ArgoUML\argouml.jar" "%L"

Substitute your path to your javaw.exe and argouml.jar files if they are in a different location. Click OK, then click OK, then click OK (three buttons on three different levels of the dialog).

The %L in the above commandline is needed instead of %1 because that is the way to support filename extensions of more than 3 characters.