1.4 Other tools

In addition to editors, there are also other tools for searching, accessing, changing and importing/exporting design data in MetaEdit+. For the normal user, the most often used tools are the Info Tool and the Generator.

The Info Tool provides the user with the means to track where a certain design element has been used. As an example of this, let us try to find out where the ‘Stopwatch’ application is used:

1)	In the Graph Browser, select ‘TAST’ from the Graphs list and then ‘Stopwatch’ from the Contents list (as in Figure 1–6).
2)	Open the context menu for ‘Stopwatch’ by clicking the right mouse button.
3)	Select Info from the menu.

Opening Info Tool for Stopwatch

Figure 1–6. Opening Info Tool for ‘Stopwatch’.

An Info Tool (Figure 1–7) opens, showing the graphs in which the ‘Stopwatch’ object is used.

Info Tool for Stopwatch

Figure 1–7. Info Tool for ‘Stopwatch’.

The Generator is the main tool for generating text output (like code and documentation) from the design data. As an example of using the Generator, let us generate HTML documentation for our Watch example:

1)	Select ‘WatchModels’ from the Graph Browser’s Graphs list.
2)	Open the context menu for ‘WatchModels’ by pressing the right mouse button.
3)	Select Generate... from the menu (as in Figure 1–8) to open the Generator.

Alternatively you can start the Generator by pressing the Generate button from the toolbar in the Main Launcher.

Running report

Figure 1–8. Opening the Generator.

4)	A dialog opens, showing a list of possible generators to run. Choose ‘Export graph hierarchy to HTML’ from the list (as in Figure 1–9) and press OK.

Generating Watch documentation

Figure 1–9. Generating HTML documentation for Watch example.

MetaEdit+ will now generate the documentation for the Watch example and open the result in the system default web browser, where you can click diagram elements to see their details.