As the values within an object should remain
mutually consistent, only editing one value while many are not visible tends to be a
poor solution. The user interface for choosing to edit a property value in place, as
opposed to simply selecting an object, also frequently causes headaches for both tool
developers and users. The display and behavior of the value while it is edited are
similarly problematic. Only if these issues can be overcome will in-place editing be a
useful addition to true property dialogs.
Automatic Language Help Particularly for new users of a modeling language,
good documentation of the language is essential. While nothing can beat or automate
the creation of well-written introductory material, a tool can at least provide a textual,
human-readable representation of the concepts and rules of the de?¬?ned modeling
language. The metamodeling language and tools should offer ?¬?elds to add free-form
textual documentation of the various concepts, to be incorporated into this automatic
language documentation. Keeping this information with the de?¬?nition of each
concept gives the best chance that it will be kept up to date: unlikely if the description
is written in a separate ?¬?le.
14.3.5 Generic Modeling Tool Functionality
Unsurprisingly, the level of modeling tool functionality provided by most initial
releases of DSM environments is modest at best.
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