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Generating C# from Class Diagram in Visual Studio?

You can perform round-trip engineering in Visual Studio, to keep C# source code and class model in sync. In this tutorial, we will see how to create a class model in Visual Studio, and eventually generating source code from model.

Compatible edition(s): Enterprise, Professional, Standard

  • March 6, 2016
  • Views: 141,385
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Preparation

In order to follow and complete this tutorial, you must have Visual Paradigm installed, which can be downloaded from Visual Paradigm download page. Of course, you need Visual Studio ready, and with Visual Studio integration installed in advance. Finally, to make the tutorial easier to follow we are not going to describe every little step required to draw a class diagram in detail. We are assuming that you have the basic skills required to draw UML class diagram in Visual Paradigm.

Design system with UML Class Diagram

  1. Create a C# library project Map Viewer in Visual Studio.
    Create C# project
  2. Right-click on the project node in Solution Explorer, and select Open Visual Paradigm from the popup menu.
    Open Visual Paradigm
  3. In Diagram Navigator, right-click on class diagram and select New Class Diagram from the popup menu.
    New class diagram
  4. A new diagram is created. You are asked to enter a package header on top of the diagram. Enter myapp and press Enter. From now on classes to be drawn in this diagram will be placed in a (new) package named myapp. In code level, those classes will be in myapp namespace.
    Entering package header
  5. Click on the down arrow button near the shape selection Class in diagram toolbar, and select Interface.
    Create interface
  6. Click on the diagram to create an interface class and name it as IMap.
    Interface created
  7. Create operations in IMap. Right-click on the class IMap and select Add > Operation from the popup menu.
  8. Enter JumpToLocation(x:int, y:int): void to create a public operation JumpToLocation with parameter x, y and return void.
    Creating operation
  9. Press Enter to create another operation, Name it Clear() : void. Click on diagram to confirm editing.
    Operations created
  10. We need to create a class for town map which inherits IMap. Move the mouse pointer over interface IMap, press on the Resource Catalog icon and drag it out.
    Using Resource Catalog
  11. Release your mouse button on the empty space. Select Realization -> Class from Resourece Catalog to create a new class.
    Creating realization class
  12. Name the class as TownMap and press Enter to confirm.
    Class created
  13. As the TownMap class is implementing the interface IMap, we need to implement the operations defined in IMap. Right-click on class TownMap and select Related Elements > Realize all Interfaces from the popup menu. You can see that operations JumpToLocation and Clear are both inherited.
    Interfaces realized
  14. It is time to add properties to class. Right-click on class TownMap and select Add > Property from the popup menu.
  15. Enter name : string to name the property as name, and set the type as string. Press Enter to proceed to the next property. Enter x : double as property name and type. Then, press Enter and create property y : double.
    Properties created
  16. We need to create a new class Region with an aggregation (association) from class TownMap. Again, use Resource Catalog to create a class from TownMap. This time, use the resource Aggregation -> Class.
    Aggregated class created
  17. Follow the previous steps to create properties in class Region.
    Class Properties
    Region name : string
      desc : string
      x : double
      y : double
  18. Up to now, the diagram should look like:
    Class Diagram

UML to C# code generation in Visual Studio

  1. Save your work via the File menu.
  2. Now comes the code generation. Select the menu Update Code on Diagram Navigator.
    Update code
  3. Check the Solution Explorer. You should see a list of generated file. You can open them to fill in the code body.
    Code generated
  4. This is the end of the tutorial. Instead of closing Visual Studio now, you may try something more by editing the code like to add, rename or delete class, properties and operations, and select Update UML Model from Diagram Navigator, and observe the changes that will make in the class model. Enjoy!


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