Hi guys I was wondering what experience any of you have with cheap/free UML Case tools - like Enterprise Architect for example. I need a tool with good UML support, C++ generation and reverse engineering. I''ve tried the 30 day trial for EA Prof and it seems to lack a little in the code generation - for example nested classes are just left out - as are namespaces. It also seems to sometimes #include a header file into itself (not the end of the world) I''ve only played around with it for 10mins or so tho. As far as the code engineering aspect goes - I want something that produces pretty much identical code to the code it originally sniffed in (obviously I''m not worried about formatting etc - just the C++). Any experiences with these types of tools would interest me. Thanks Stubble

Thanks for that - I''ll drop them a line and see what they say. I realise that there''s no way I''d get a feeling for it in 10mins tho. However within 10mins I had found a few things that disappointed me - which is important. I already use Rose for my 9-5 job so have a good comparison.

Mapping classes to header files isn''t really a solution if you''re sniffing in code already written (one of the selling points of this feature is that you can sniff in work already done and carry on with it - if you loose stuff like namespaces and inner classes then this doesn''t really apply..)

When importing code, EA does properly import inner classes. But it cannot generate them from a model.
If you assign a source file to a class in a model you can use the synchronize buttons in the source code window. EA only applies new members, links etc but lets your code intact.


[Edited by - cmdkeen on May 19, 2008 8:32:50 PM]

Cheers - that''s a good point thanks - when I tested it I generated the code into a new directory - so I could see the differences - but in reality I''d never do that with a real project.

Don''t get me wrong EA seems like a very good tool - and excellent value for money (unlike Rose). I just wanted feedback on it, and any other similar offerings, before I buy one.

I think Poseidon is a free UML editor - the private version:
http://www.gentleware.com/