SequenceDiagram plugin for IntelliJ: Export to additional tools, especially BOUML

[danibe2023]

After trying several solutions for creating UML sequence diagrams from existing Java source code, I have come to the conclusion that SequenceDiagram plugin for IntelliJ is the best in its category.

Unfortunately for me however, I need to be able to edit that sequence diagram through my favorite UML editing tool: BOUML.

I tried converting (with the paid subscription) the SequenceDiagram output to PlantUML (.puml), then from .puml to XMI, but BOUML only imports XMI 2.x and PlantUML only exports to XMI 1.x.

Is there a way SequenceDiagram can bridge the gap in one of its next versions?

Ideally, there would be an export menu item to BOUML, in addition to PlantUML and Mermaid. But an external conversion program (command line or GUI) from .sdt to .prj (and the entire associated directory) is a good solution, too.

[Vanco]

The BOUML imports XMI feature will only import class object, but not sequence diagram. I tested on BOUML 7.9 on Mac mini M2:

1. create project in BOUML, draw a sample sequence diagram.
2. export it to XMI 2.x file, sample.xmi.
3. create a new project, import sample.xmi. see what happened? the sequence diagram is gone.

the import XMI.x feature is useless for your situation.

[danibe2023]

Thank you for checking (and ruling out) the option of importing a sequence diagram via XMI 2.x .

Indeed, when I do "reverse engineer Java" source code on BOUML, it seems to focus on reconstructing the static model and it doesn't attempt to infer or recreate dynamic sequence diagrams from source code.

My workaround for now is to work with the SequenceDiagram plugin for IntelliJ and BOUML side by side: On BOUML, I manually drag & drop classes into the sequence diagram and create the important (to me) relationships while viewing them on IntelliJ.

[Vanco]

If you want to simplify the generated sequence diagram, you can do so in the following ways:

1. Before generating, set the excluding packages settings.
2. After generating, delete unnecessary classes.
3. Execute Simplify Diagram.

[danibe2023]

I think that I know how to do step #2 (right-click class on generated diagram, then select "Remove Class ClassName")

But how do I Execute Simplify Diagram? I haven't been able to spot such option. The closest I have is ReGenerate.

(BTW, export to SVG works great, but export to JPEG generates multiple PNG images.)

[Vanco]

Documentation does contains explanations about Simplify Diagrams.

Because the canvas is too large, it exceeds the processing capacity of BufferedImage, making it impossible to export a huge Sequence Diagram as a single JPG image. Therefore, the latest version will export multiple PNG files, along with a shell script to merge these files into one large file.