Using SmartDraw

The TFD examples in this chapter were drawn using SmartDraw 6. A demo version of this software is included on the book's CD-ROM. After you install SmartDraw 6, launch it and you will be prompted for which version you want to try. Select the Standard version and click the Try It Free button. Click Try It Free again when you get the SmartDraw Free Trial window. You will now be at the Welcome to SmartDraw! window shown in Figure 11.2. Click the "Create a new drawing" icon and then click OK. Later on, when you launch SmartDraw again to work on an existing TFD, click on "Open a recently used Drawing," select it from the pull down list, and then click OK.

Figure 11.2: Welcome to SmartDraw! window.

Now select Software Design from the Create New Drawing window as shown in Figure 11.3. This has drawing elements that you can use for your TFD, or you can just stick with the basic geometric figures that will also appear in the drawing window. Click Create Blank Drawing and you get the SmartDraw Hint window. You can view the tutorial or click OK to proceed. There are a number of drawing icons across the top of the blank drawing window.You only need to use a few of these for your TFD, namely the Draw a Rectangle, Draw a Connector Symbol (Circle), and any or all of the four line types: Straight Line, Arc, Segmented Line, or Curved Line.

Figure 11.3: Create New Drawing window.

Drag from the figure icon to place one in your diagram, or click the figure's icon and draw the figure to whatever size you desire . To draw flows, click one of the line types, click the starting point of the line, drag the cursor to the end point, and unclick. The first time you do this the line will not have an arrowhead . To add one, click the line and go up to the Line menu at the top of the SmartDraw window. Pull down the Line menu and click Arrowheads ‚ to get the window shown in Figure 11.4. Select one of the Right arrowheads. One example is highlighted in the figure.

Figure 11.4: Arrowheads window.

To delete an unwanted element, click it and press the Delete key. To add text to any element, click it and type the text you want. To copy an element, click it and choose Duplicate from the Edit menu or just type Ctrl+D. To move an element, click it and drag it to the desired position. Select a set of elements by dragging a rectangle around them. Once selected, they can be moved, duplicated , or deleted in a single operation.

Elements can also be edited. Resize or reshape an element by grabbing and dragging the handles that appear. Rotate an element by holding the cursor over the small circle that appears nearby and move the mouse in the direction you want to rotate with the left button held down. You can customize your TFD further by changing colors, fonts, and other attributes using various pull-down menu selections.