I am looking for Visio replacement to use under Linux and Mac Os X. VP is
great product and very good candidate for the role. Unfortunately minimum
shape size is too big for me and is a showstopper. Are there chances that this
may change?
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
Thanks for your post. As you will type for the class name and details of class members, the size of the shape must have appropriate space. Would you mind sending me some screenshots of your shapes and tell me which spare space you would like to remove? Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi Lilian,
Thank you for your reply. I do more of architectural design than model driven
programming and I rarely go down to filling individual class methods and fields
in diagrams. In VP-UML it is possible to hide methods and attributes but even
then minimum physical size of shape is roughly 1"w/ 0.5"h. For my purposes
this is too much and I wonder why such limit on minimum size does exist at all.
If you look e.g. at how Visio behaves you will notice that it allows shrinking
down of shapes to arbitrary (small) size and lets user decide whether the visual
outcome is acceptable or not.
Please find attached a sample diagram coming from project with just class
names modified. Both width and height of (some) class shapes in this diagram
are smaller than VP-UML minimum shape size. There are some workarounds
like e.g. grouping a polygon and textbox with invisible border but this should
be something straightforward, not a hack. Also - interestingly the diagram
editor actually expands to minimum size shapes which have been explicitly
designed in shape editor to be smaller than that.
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
Sorry for my late reply. I’ve forwarded the details to our engineers to consider. If there is any news about this issue, I’ll notify you immediately.
By the meantime, if there is anything I can help, please feel free to ask.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi Nikolay,
I would like to tell you that we plan to provide option to turn off minimum shape size in our VP Suite 3.4. I’ll keep you informed for any news about this issue.
If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to ask.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Thank you very much for the good newa, Lilian. I assume if I purchase now
VP-UML with standard 1-year maintenance then I will be eligible for upgrade to
3.4. Right?
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
Sorry for my late reply. You are correct. VP Suite 3.4 (it will be VP-UML 6.4 at the time) is expected to be released at the end of this year, so you will be entitled to upgrade to VP-UML 6.4 if you now purchase VP-UML with 1 year software maintenance.
If you need any help, please feel free to contact me again.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi Lilian,
Thank you very much for your help!
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
You are welcome! 
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi Lilian,
VP Suite 3.4. is already released. Can you please advise me how minimum
shape size can be switched off? I am not able to find such option.
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
Glad to hear you again! I’m sorry that this enhancement is delayed, I’ll check the status of this issue with our engineers and come back to your ASAP.
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Hi Nikolay,
Sorry for the delay. I confirmed with our development team that we will provide option for turning off minimum shape size in our next release. I’ll inform you once it’s available.
Happy New Year!
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
Well, VP-UML 7 is out and still no progress. This is mildly speaking disappointing 
P.S. Sorry, I just noticed that the issue is actually solved
(Tools/Options/Diagramming/Appearance/Enable minimum size).
I have not figured yet whether seemingly spurious growth back
to min size of some shapes (e.g. classes) is bug or feature.
Regards
Nikolay
Hi Nikolay,
Thanks for replying. Would you mind to tell me more details about “seemingly spurious growth back
to min size of some shapes (e.g. classes)”?
Best regards,
Lilian Wong
