2 Information management tools
This chapter provides an introduction to the major information
management components of MetaEdit+. Here we describe the functionality and
capabilities of the Startup and Main Launcher, the Browsers, Graph Manager,
Property dialogs and the Info Tool. The various Editors are covered in Chapter
3, and reporting and printing tools in
Chapter
4.
There are four main categories of tools in
MetaEdit+:
1) | Information
management tools include two Launchers for managing the tools of the
environment, repository browsers and Graph Manager for browsing information
stored in the Object Repository, property dialogs for viewing and editing
information about single design elements, and Info Tools for viewing linkages
between graphs, reuse of designs, and locking information (in the multi-user
version).
|
2) | Editors,
which are tools for viewing, editing and managing method specific information
about system development projects. MetaEdit+ includes a Diagram Editor, Matrix
Editor, and Table
Editor. |
3) | Output
tools, including reporting and code generation tools for accessing
information in the repository, and transforming that either to various reports
or checks, or to program code. MetaEdit+ includes some predefined reports as
well as a tool called Report Browser, which allows users to make their own
reports. In this section we also describe the printing functionality common to
all MetaEdit+ tools and
editors. |
4) | Method
development tools, which forms the metaCASE part of the environment allowing
users to modify the environment. Method development tools are described in a
separate manual: ‘MetaEdit+ Method Workbench: User’s
Guide’. |
In this chapter we look first at
the tools you see first, the Launchers, and the Options Tool with which you set
various environment and system preferences. Then we examine the two Browsers
which give an overview of the repository and Graph Manager which exports graphs
into files. Finally, we look at two classes of tool that are generic and used
throughout MetaEdit+: the Property dialogs, where the details of individual
design elements can be viewed, reused and edited; and the Info Tools, which show
how a given design element is used by and linked to other design
elements.