Tool Mentor: Using Rational Rose® to Manage Classes

Purpose

To represent classes in Rational Rose®98.

Related Rational Unified Process Activities: Architectural Design, Class Design.

Overview

The following steps are performed to manage classes:

1. Creating Classes
2. Creating Operations

1. Creating Classes

To create a class:

1. Right-click to select the model or package in which the class will be located.
2. Select Class from the New option on the short-cut menu. A "NewClass" class icon is added to the browser.
3. While the new class is still selected, type the name of the class.
4. In the documentation field, enter a short description of the class.

1. Creating Operations

To create an operation:

1. In the browser, right-click to select the class in which the new  operation will be placed.  Select Open Specification from the short-cut menu.
2. Select the Operation tab from the Class Specification.
3. Right click in the operation pane and select Insert from the short-cut menu.
4. Double-click on the new operation to display the Operation Specification.
5. Enter the name of the operation.
6. Select the return class of the operation from the pull-down list, or enter it if it does not already exist.
7. Enter a brief description for the operation describing its purpose.
8. To create the arguments for the operation, click on the Detail tab.
9. Right-click in the arguments pane and select Insert from the short-cut menu.  A new argument will be created.
10. Enter the name of the argument.
11. Click twice, with a brief pause between clicks, on the type field.   A pull-down selection list will be displayed.  Select the class of the argument, or enter it if the class is not yet defined.  Click on the name or the argument to finish entering the type.
12. Click "OK" to save the operation specification.
13. Click "OK" to save the class specification.