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Review: Logic Explorers CodeLogic for Java 1.5
by Drew Falkman
Summary
Nothing can save development time like good documentation.
Understanding the big picture allows developers to go deeper
faster. This is especially true when getting back into an
application after a few months or starting a new job and
diving head first into a complex Java application. The people at
Logic Explorers are trying to make this easier for you.
CodeLogic 1.5 will allow developers to dynamically generate
documentation on the fly - in Unified Modeling Language (UML)
flow, sequence and class diagrams.
More Information
Introduction
Code evolves. Not on it's own, of course, but with your help.
OK, so maybe more than your help, maybe you do it all. But the
point remains that what we initially plan on building ends up
being something quite different--if not by the time the
project's over, surely a year or two down the road. Now imagine
that you get hired to jump in and start cranking on an
application that someone else has evolved or you haven't worked
on in a good number of months. Wouldn't it be nice to have some
documentation? Well don't bother looking up the planning
docs that are on file from this application because this app has
evolved. This is where CodeLogic comes in.
Just point it to your Java application/project and CodeLogic
will go through the .java source files and generate your
documentation. From the developer's perspective no complicated
configuration or real work is necessary; CodeLogic does the work
for you. You can then either browse through these diagrams in
CodeLogic or you can export them in a number of formats.
While I think this is overall a good tool to have in the
arsenal, I have to warn: this is a simple tool in an early
version by a small company. The documentation is sparse, though
admittedly the application is easy enough to use that not much
documentation is necessary(provided you have an understanding of
UML diagrams).
Getting Started and Using CodeLogic
From what I could tell, CodeLogic is currently available only
for Windows 2000, XP and ME. CodeLogic will integrate with a
number of Java IDEs: Eclipse, Borland JBuilder, Oracle
JDeveloper, and JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA and of course the
standalone application. Setup is a breeze, CodeLogic selects a
JVM automatically, you select an install directory and which IDE
plug-ins to install.
Using the Standalone
In order to use the standalone application, you first need to
point CodeLogic to your application/project. You do this by
pointing to a single .java source file in the application.
Afterwards, CodeLogic will give you a number of folder options.
Important note: make sure all of your project files are in a
centralized directory or they will not be parsed.
Using the Plug-in
Using the plug-in is a somewhat different process than using the
standalone application. I tested this using Eclipse. I found the
plug-in most useful on a class-by-class basis. For example, I
could right-click on a .java file in Eclipse and select the
"Switch to CodeLogic" option. This would parse the
file and open the resulting CodeLogic diagrams in a new Java
window. I could see this being quite useful to a developer who
just needs to quickly get a picture of what is going on inside
of a Java class before he/she dives in and starts making
changes.
That said, I would be remiss in not mentioning that I observed
some odd behavior in the plug-in functionality. The trial version
limits actions and this could simply be a result of that, but
parsing an entire project resulted in at first nothing, then on
reloading the plug-in it generated diagrams for one class in the
project seemingly at random. Hopefully this is an isolated
incident, but I recommend testing in your environment with your
IDE before purchasing.
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