How to Use Diagram Info Shape?

Overview of this Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Diagram Info Shape to display the description and Version (Project Management) of a BPD.

In order to complete this tutorial you must have Visual Paradigm installed. You also need to have basic knowledge in modeling with Visual Paradigm.

Using Diagram Info Shape

1. Download Online-Shopping.vpp. You can also find this file at the bottom of this tutorial, under the Resources section.
2. Open the downloaded project file in Visual Paradigm.
3. Open the Business Process Diagram Online Shopping. You should see the class diagram below:
   
4. Before we add a Diagram Info Shape into the diagram, let's take a quick look at what we have specified in this diagram. Right-click on the background of the diagram and select Open Specification... from the popup menu.
5. In the General tab of the specification window you can see the description entered.
   
6. Open the Project Management tab. Some of the properties have been set.
   
7. Click OK to return to the diagram.
8. Let's make use of a Diagram Info Shape to display the diagram description and Version (Project Management) on the diagram. From the diagram toolbar, drag Diagram Info out and drop it onto the diagram.
   
9. The Diagram Info Shape is created with two rows - Name and Description. Move the Diagram Info Shape to the bottom right corner of the diagram.
   
10. Let's add a row into the Diagram Info Shape. Right-click on the shape and select Add Item from the popup menu.
    
11. Enter Version as the row name.
    
12. Let's fill in the version number. Instead of hard coding the version, you can retrieve it dynamically with the use of variable. Double click on the adjacent cell and enter ${pmVersion}.
    
13. Click on the background of diagram to confirm editing. You can see 2.0 is shown:
    

List of Available Variables

Besides ${pmVersion}, here is a list of variables you can use in Diagram Info Shape for showing the actual values of Project Management properties specified:

Project Management Property	Variable
Iteration	${pmIteration}
Phase	${pmPhase}
Discipline	${pmDiscipline}
Version	${pmVersion}
Priority	${pmPriority}
Status	${pmStatus}
Difficulty	${pmDifficulty}
Author	${pmAuthor}
Create date time	${pmCreateDateTime}
Last modified	${pmLastModified}

Here is a list of variables for retrieving general properties:

Property	Variable
Name	${nickname}
Description	${description}
Teamwork Project Revision	${teamworkRevision}