Guy Wiener

I had to re-write some paper I’m working on that included a good deal of UML diagrams, so I used it as an opportunity to examine Metapost and MetaUML in more depth. Here are the results of the experiment, for those of you who are interested.

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I finally found a way to encode a UML diagram inside a LaTeX document! I’ve been looking for something like this for some time now. Usually I resort to using an external tool that has EPS and PDF export, like Umlet or XFig (don’t laugh - XFig has an excellent vector output). It is not too convenient, though, to switch between writing an article (or a lecture) and editing a diagram. Plus, editing the diagram manually takes more time then just typing it in. So I was looking for some tool that would have the following qualities:

1. Textual
2. (Relatively) easy to use
3. Can be embedded directly into a LaTeX document (the text itself, not the image)
4. Support more then just class diagrams
5. High quality graphical output: Vector format (not raster), aligned, manhattan and step paths (I.e, squared arrows, like in the GOF book)
6. Does some of the layout work for you

I ruled out several posibilites. Cumbersome CASE tools, like Rational Rose et. al., were banned: They’re not textual, produce poor output and require too much work to produce a single diagram. Dot-based tools are textual and does all the layout for you, but do not support step paths and require some work to embed in a LaTeX file. Some LaTeX libs, like XyPic, produce amazing vector graphics, but are very difficult to master. However, this is not a ranting post. Solutions follow.

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