«
»

ActionScript 3.0 UML and Code Generation Tools

ActionScript 3.0 Code Generation and UMLIf you are interested in generating UML and/or AS3 code you might want to take a look at the following tools. The price tags range from $0 to $239.

Cairngen - Free
http://www.ericfeminella.com/blog/cairngen
This tool provides AS3 code generation for Cairngorm based Flex projects. You’ll need to have Ant installed and know how to run and modify Ant scripts so there is a barrier of entry here. It would be great if Cairngen had a GUI.

VASGen – Free
http://selfmummy.com/vasgen
There are a few issues with VASGen, like no package name support, but the AS3 code generation is pretty good. This tool is definitely worth checking out, especially considering the price. If you aren’t planning on using Cairngorm and you want a free tool this might be the solution.

UMLet – Free
http://www.umlet.com
This app can be set up as a Flex/Eclipse plug in. Pretty cool, no code generation from what I could tell though.

Enterprise Architect – $239-$135
http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/products/ea.html
At one point I had a trial copy of EA that was generating AS3, if memory serves me it did take a few hours of changing settings and research to get the code gen working though. Unfortunately the current price tag is out of my reach so no further information is available.

Visual Paradigm – $70-$59
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/product/vpuml/personaledition.jsp
Visual Paradigm claims AS3 generation but I’ve seen some concerns, and have my own (that doesn’t look like AS3 to me, notice the lack of a package?).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 9:52 am and is filed under ActionScript 3.0, Cairngorm, Flash Platform, Flex, Flex Builder, Flex Builder 3, OOD, OOP, UML. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “ActionScript 3.0 UML and Code Generation Tools”

  1. We’ll just have to wait until Saffron is released:
    http://www.levelofindustry.com/journal/category/saffron-uml
    :-(

  2. Informative post, thanks! Adriaan

  3. Hi Sean.
    Great blog you have here.
    I just want to give my cents about VisualParadigm in regard to AS3.
    I have used it to generate AS3, and have not had problems in regard to get packaged generated correctly. I have worked with a alot of different UML editors and really think the VP is one of the better. Especialy after the AS3 generating got in there. Unfortunatly the price you mention is not excatly rigth, as the personal edition don’t enclude the AS3 generation, but you have to go for the standard edition to get that feature. :( (3 times the personal price).
    I have played around with an AS3 generator in StarUML but never got that to work. I followed this tutorial http://www.flashfocus.nl/forum/showthread.php?t=37074 I don’t speak Dutch, so that might explain why I never got it to work :)

    Asger

  4. @Asger,
    I got it working

  5. Hey Sean,

    I used VASgen for a while. It was great but kind of showed its bones when you’d want to move a class from one package to another. For large, complex projects, I eventually turned to a trial of Enterprise Architect. The learning curve was a bit steep (as was the price tag), but I eventually bought a Professional copy. I now use it for all of my modelling. And I’m finding that I am writing more class-based code now than before I had a UML modelling tool that output stub code.

    The interface is pretty foreign. Adding attributes (properties) and operations (methods) feels very heavy-handed. It’s bured a couple of levels deep. And they don’t share the same window. Overall though, I’m really happy with it.

    I still have hopes that Saffron will see the light of day.

Leave a Reply