I’m used to MagicDraw’s GUI, which allows me to quickly add elements to my UML diagrams. For example, A for new Activity, and S for new State would be really nice. I don’t mind having to learn a new set of shortcut keys (since I couldn’t remember a lot of the MagicDraw ones anyway!). It would speed up modeling a bunch, and reduce the stress on my mousing arm. 
Is this available? Tooltips don’t give me any indication of a shortcut key, but it would be nice if they did (if they exist).
Tools -> Options -> Keys allows you to configure the shortcut keys. By default, no shortcut keys are assigned to creating new diagrams but the options are there.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your post. We support configuring shortcut keys for invoke command in application, which is what D6chung mentioned. More details can be found from the following link:
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/support/documents/vpumluserguide.jsp?pt=11&ch=2&sec=13
BTW, we support mouse gesture for creating shapes by simple mouse cursor movement. You can get details about mouse gesture from:
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/product/vpuml/provides/diagramtools.jsp#gestures
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
WOW!!! You know, I haven’t played with very many features in VPUML, but I have to say that your last link for mouse gestures was amazing. I think the sweeper just saved me hours of work.
I’ll also look into the shortcut settings. By any chance, is there a good way to save just the key bindings to a file?
Thank you everyone!
Hi Dave,
May I know why you want to have the key bindings to a file?
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
My guess would be so that the key bindings are transferable from one system to another. It would be a useful feature to have if one makes intensive use of the key bindings.
[quote=d6chung][quote=LilianWong]
May I know why you want to have the key bindings to a file?
[/quote]
My guess would be so that the key bindings are transferable from one system to another. It would be a useful feature to have if one makes intensive use of the key bindings.[/quote]
That is correct. I want to be able to put my settings file in my Dropbox folder, and then it’s instantly synched up with my laptop for diagramming on the go.
The problem now is that I’ve looked at the Keys options, and the keys offered don’t cover diagram elements like State, Activity, etc. I can create a new state machine diagram or activity diagram with the shortcut keys, but I can’t do something like hit ‘S’ and click inside of my state machine diagram and have a new state element appear. Is this something that can be added to the feature list? I played with mouse gestures and that list is also not comprehensive enough.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for replying. If you want to share the key settings between systems, you can simply define the key settings on on system, then share the workspace with other systems.
For creating model elements on diagram, our mouse gesture already support creating state, activity. You can select Help > Mouse Gesture and select the diagram type from combo box (see image). And when you want to view how to move the mouse cursor for creating the element, you can move your cursor to the element row and it will play the movement for showing you what movement will create that element.
Would this help?
And would you mind to tell me why you think the mouse gesture dialog is not comprehensive? Thanks!
Best regards,
Lilian Wong 
select_diagram.PNG
Hi Lilian, thanks for the tip with the help menu, but the reason why I say that the list of gestures is not comprehensive is because I can’t do everything I want in sequence diagrams with a simple keypress. For example, in MagicDraw I could simply hit R in a sequence diagram to draw a return message. In VPUML, I have to click the droplist, then select return message, then draw the message. It’s very tedious in general.
Hi Dave Matsumoto,
Thanks for replying. We will support shortcut key for creating model element on diagram, and it’s planned to be available in VP-UML 7.2 (on mid-December 2009 or January 2010). I’ll let you know if there is any further news on this.
BTW, we can create most of the model elements without diagram palette by resource centric interface. More details about resources centric interface can be found from:
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/product/vpuml/provides/diagramtools.jsp#resourcescentric
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
This feature was one of the killer features for me! I am able to easily create diagrams with a touchpad interface from my notebook computer since this feature allows me to minimise movement with my fingers. Furthermore, the choices commonly reflect my next step so it really helps my flow.
One suggestion for this feature though: the buttons are drawn around the shape but sometimes I may be zoomed in or the shape is large and thus, the buttons are no longer visible. It would be nice if these are drawn around the mouse cursor instead. My current workaround is to zoom out so the entire shape is in view.
Good call - I am another notebook user and the resource-centric interface is great…
Can I add another request for the feature that D6chung describes?
Hi D6chung, Toby,
Thanks for replying. I’ve passed your request to our engineers to study, and I’ll come back to you once there is any news.
Please feel free to raise your suggestions as we always love to hear users!
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi D6chung, Toby,
I would like to inform you that we will support showing resources-centric icons around shape even the shape is not completely shown within diagram editor area in VP Suite 4.1 SP1 (will be released on November 2009). I’ve sent you a private message with release candidate package, hope you find this enhancement helpful!
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi D6chung, Toby,
I’m delighted to announce that we released VP Suite 4.1 SP1. if you are running VP Suite 4.1, you just need to run “VP Suite Update” inside VPSuite/bin folder for updating to VP Suite 4.1 SP1.
For your information, you can get details about new features and enhancements in VP Suite 4.1 SP1 from:
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/support/vpuml/releasenotes/711.jsp
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Dear Dave, D6chung, Toby,
I would like to let you know that in coming release, we will support invoking elements on diagram palette so you can press hotkey to create new elements when diagramming (please refer to attached image).
I’ve sent you a private message with link for downloading release candidate (RC) so you can have a try to this feature. Please let me know if there is any question.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
I just got around to trying the RC containing the shortcut keys for diagramming feature and I must admit that it’s a pretty neat feature.
One thing I can think of is the feedback given when the tool is activated. While using the mouse, this may not be an issue because the user has explicitly clicked on, for example, the “State” tool and intends to place a state. However, when trying the shortcut key feature to place a state, I personally didn’t realise that the tool is activated and momentarily wondered what state the diagramming tool was in since I received no other feedback.
My suggestion is to adopt how the gesture pen works in giving feedback. I like how there is a little notification telling me what my gesture did. Perhaps we could have something like that when a diagramming tool shortcut key is pressed? Honestly, I think I really love that notification corner.
Keep up the great work!
Hi D6chung,
Thanks for your kind suggestion and I’ll discuss this with our engineers.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
I sure hope that these additions are made.
Hi Geeyay, D6chung,
Thanks and we will consider to have a status bar on the application so you will know which tool/shape you have invoked. We’ll keep you informed for any news on this issue.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
