22.3. What to Look For in a Tool?
Given the above comments, here's a summary of some advice when choosing a UML tool, based on what clientsoften in hindsight after spending too much moneyhave shared with me.
- First, try a free UML tool. There are several options. Only buy a tool after the free options have been exhausted.
- Once you've chosen a tentative tool, especially in the context of a company-standard tool or a large purchasing decision, try it on a real project with as many developers as possible, before making a decision. Decide based on the guidance of your developers who have really used it for a long period, not based on the opinion of architects or others who have only made a cursory investigation.
- Choose a UML tool that integrates into your favorite text-strong IDE.
- Choose a UML tool that supports reverse engineering sequence diagrams from code. Or, if an otherwise satisfactory free tool doesn't support this, use the free tool for most developers, and buy just a few copies of a commercial tool that does, for when you want to understand call-flow patterns.
- Choose a tool that supports printouts to a plotter, on large plotter paper, in large font and diagram sizes, so that large-scale visualization is possible.