Is there any way to make diagrams in dia switch the information that is viewed depending on the zoom view. Assume I have a Model-View-Controller architecture. At some times I want to see the high level view. However, at other times I want to see the particular classes inside the Model, View, or Controller. Is there any way to do this with dia or any other modeling software?
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Typically, you'd create different diagrams for each desired level of abstraction. Some modeling tools allow for hyperlinks between them (e.g. Enterprise Architect). Have you given the UML component diagram a try for your overview and do you use class diagrams for the details? That way you don't mix up things. With your approach you'd have to define for each element at what zoom level it would be allowed to appear. That would cause problems because UML does not suggest anything of the diagrams to have a zoom-level-dependant behaviour.
If you need a zoom dependent behaviour for conveying your ideas to others, maybe you'd be better of using helpers for presentations like Prezi.
observer
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The reason I suggested this approach is because the architecture that we have is so large that it would be impossible to talk about the entire design at once. Thus, if we had the ability to discuss about the different parts while subcategorizing the components it would make conversations about the design much easier. I am considering attempting layering the diagram and turning different layers on for different components as a last resort... Thanks for your feedback though. – richbria90 Feb 22 '13 at 15:56
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Yes, that is a frequently recurring problem :) Sometimes for the big picture it can be nice to create an overview and print it in a really big format so you could put it on a wall and discuss it. We had that once for designing a big database. However, normally the diagrams should not exceed the usual paper formats (as a rule of thumb to limit the complexity). – observer Feb 22 '13 at 16:28