Showing Sub-diagram and reference indicator

Sub-diagram structure allows users to describe a system with different levels. A deeper level describes the system in more detail. Reference is another feature that is used to enrich the presentation of diagrams by allowing the addition of file linkages and URLs to shapes. Starting from this version, we provide a convenient way to add, check and access sub-diagram and reference of shapes.


In this figure, the icon at the bottom-right corner of the Use Case Update Inventory Record indicates that there are sub-diagrams added to the shape. The icon at the bottom-left corner indicates that there are references added to the shape.

By default, these two indicators are visible either when you move the mouse pointer over the shape or you have selected the shape. There is, however, an option which lets the indicators keep visible on the shapes all the time without mouse hovering, depending on whether there are sub-diagrams or references added to them. With this option, you can know which shape(s) contains sub-diagrams and references by reading the diagram. The following section describes how to work with this option.

To set the default value of showing sub-diagram and reference indicator, invoke the Options dialog.
Tools → Options...


Diagramming → Shape → Always show reference and sub-diagram resource


The default value is false. You can set it to true to make the indicators always visible.

Note that this is a diagram based option, and will applies to shapes in diagrams that you will create after closing the option dialog. It is also possible to specify this option for individual diagram. To set the option, invoke the following command from the popup menu of a diagram:
Presentation Options → Always Show Reference and Sub Diagram Resource

The sub-diagram indicator is visible only if a shape contain sub-diagram. Let’s try to add a sub-diagram to a Use Case.

Right-click on the Use Case and select Sub Diagram → Sequence Diagram → Create Sequence Diagram from the popup menu.


You will be brought to the sub-diagram. Click on the shortcut that appear on the window title to go back to the parent diagram.


The sub-diagram indicator is shows at the bottom-right corner of the Use Case now.

Click on the indicator to invoke the popup menu. With the menu, you can jump to an existing sub-diagram or add new sub-diagrams to the shape.

The reference indicator act similar to the sub-diagram indicator, but represent references. You can add a file or URL as reference via the indicator.

To add a file reference, click on the reference indicator and select Add File... from the popup menu


And then specify the file path.


When you click on the reference indicator again, the file reference menu item is shows on the popup menu. You can click on it to open the file.

To add an URL reference, click on the reference indicator and select Add URL... from the popup menu


Specify the URL.


The menu item shows the first 50 characters of the URL.


To make the reference easier to read, you can add a description to it.



The menu item now shows the description of the URL instead of the URL.

The sub-diagram and reference indicator not only show on diagram but also on different outputs such as print out and PDF reports. This makes the outputs able to show which shapes has been attached with sub-diagrams or references.

In the following figure, the print preview on the left hand side shows a shape with sub-diagram and reference indicator visible.


In the following figure, the PDF report on the left hand side shows a shape with sub-diagram and reference indicator visible.

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