Creating Conceptual and Logical Diagrams – Some Visual Paradigm
Hints
NB: You do not have to use Visual Paradigm for your assignment – you can use powerpoint or
similar drawing tools or even present neat hand drawn diagrams.
1. Download and use Visual Paradigm Community Edition – this is free
2. When you install Visual Paradigm you will need to give them your e-mail address so that
they can e-mail you a license code. Use this to activate the software
3. When you start the software you will get the following screen
4. Click CREATE to create a new CLASS DIAGRAM
5. You will see the following screen. The cursor will be flashing in the area circled in red – type
in conceptual as the package name into this box.
6. Scroll up and down the objects on the left hand side, until you find the CLASS object – drag
this onto the screen to draw your first entity.
7. To add a RELATIONSHIP use the ASSOCIATION object
8. To change the CARDINALITY of a RELATIONSHIP look at the ‘multiplicity’ property of the
association
9. To add an ATTRIBUTE, right click on the CLASS, then click OPEN SPECIFICATION and click on
the ATTRIBUTE tab. Click ADD to add a new attribute and then name it.
10. To add an IDENTIFIER: Right click on the attribute, and select STEREOTYPE > PK
11. To set the CARDINALITY of an ATTRIBUTE – use the MULTIPLICITY option on the attribute.
Right click on the class, select ‘presentation options’ then select ‘attributes’ and ‘show
multiplicity’. Be careful not to set the UNIQUE option unless this is a single-field primary key
12. To show the cardinality of the attributes on the diagram, right click on the class and select
PRESENTATION OPTIONS > ATTRIBUTES > SHOW MULTIPLICITY
13. To create a PRIMITVE data type – see Appendix 1
LOGICAL DIAGRAM
14. To create the LOGICAL diagram, you should:
a. Click DIAGRAM > NEW and select CLASS DIAGRAM
b. Click NEXT and name the diagram logical
c. Rename the
double-clicking on it
d. You can then copy/paste the classes from your conceptual diagram. NB: When you
paste the classes make sure you select PASTE MODEL ELEMENT not PASTE VIEW as
the latter will make changes to the conceptual diagram every time you make
changes to the logical diagram.
15. Edit or add an attribute as above (by right clicking on the class and then clicking on
SPECIFICATION and ATTRIBUTES). However in this case make sure you specify the data type
(from the type list) and the multiplicity
e. Make sure UNIQUE is NOT ticked
16. Go through any existing attributes to specify their data type and multiplicity.
f. For geometry data types, just type the word geometry into the type box.
g. For character varying use string
h. For numbers use int or double
i. For date, just type the word date into the box
17. The <
STEREOTYPES > ADD
18. To add UNIQUE constraints just right click and select ADD > OPERATION. Change the word
OPERATION to UNIQUE and then in brackets add the fields that the constraints operates on.
(NB: Don’t use the CONSTRAINTS option as this is not suitable)
Appendix 1 – Creating a << PRIMITIVE >> Data Type
1. Create the PRIMITVE ENTITY
a. Drag a new CLASS object onto the diagram
b. Add the attributes that you need for the primitive type
c. Click OK to create the object
d. Right-click on the CLASS and then select STEREOTYPES > EDIT STEREOTYPES and
select the << PRIMITIVE >> type from the list
2. Create the PARENT ENTITY
e. Then create the second CLASS (entity) that will use this primitive type
f. Add attributes as usual
g. However, when adding the attribute that will contain the primitive type, scroll down
in the TYPE list and find the primitive type (i.e. don’t select int or string for the type)
3. Create the RELATIONSHIP
a. Add an association to the diagram
b. Right-click on the association and select OPEN SPECIFICATION
c. Set the correct relationships and cardinality
d. Set one end of the relationship (PARENT end) to NAVIGABLE FALSE and the other
(CHILD end) to NAVIGABLE TRUE as shown below