Using Bouml to make a sequence diagram:
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to create a sequence diagram using Bouml. I'll use as my model the
sequence diagram that appears in the lecture slides from Wednesday the 15th of March,under the title
Sequence Diagram for "Submit Event" Transactions. The directions may be slightly different for the
Mac. If you have any questions, check out the documentation at http://bouml.free.fr/doc/.
1) Install Bouml. Go to http://bouml.free.fr/, and click Download. Select the right package and
install. You may need to set a user variable, though I've successfully ignored the prompt
requiring me to do so. Directions for setting the user variable are here:
http://bouml.free.fr/doc/starting.html
2) Once you've installed and started Bouml, create a new project. Go to the Project menu, and
select New. Save the project in an appropriate place. I created a project SeqTest, and you'll see
it here. A project is a folder and a collection of code files that Bouml uses.Next, create a Use
Case View. Do this by bringing up the context menu. In Windows, and I assume in Linux, this
is a right click on the SeqTest folder in the browser on the left. On the Mac, I believe it is a
Command + Click. Select “new use case view”.Next, create your actors. Bring up the context
menu for the Use Case View1 and select new Actor. You'll be asked for a name. No spaces are
allowed, so I'm creating actors for EventSubmitter, LocalCalendarAdmin, and
CentralCalendarAdminNext create your sequence diagram. Bring up the context menu on the
UseCaseView1, and select new sequence diagram. Bring up the context menu again, but this
time on the SequenceDiagram. Select Show
3) Drag the actors onto the diagram, and position them as you like.Using the lines a the tool bar
above the sequence diagram, create the appropriate lines to represent the transactions. Do this
by selecting the correct line, clicking and holding on one of the user lines and dragging it to the
destination line. Add the labels by selecting the label button and then clicking where you want
to put the label. The default text of blabla is created. Double click on the lable, and a dialog box
will show up. Change the text to the label you desire, and then close the box. The text in the
label will then change. You may need to resize the label using the handles on the side.Here's the
final diagram:
4) The only funky part of this is the way you export it to a transferable document. You do this by
bringing up the context menu on the sequence diagram, and selecting Tool->HTML
documentation. Select a folder to save this in, preferably the same folder it created the project
in, and give it a name and save it. It will create an HTML presentation, but the important thing
is it will create a file, probably called “fig1.png”. That file is the image file of the diagram.