Generating UML from C++ code?

Question

Is there a tool that can parse C++ files within a project and generate UML from it?

score 83 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 04 '23 at 18:25

83

Here are a few options:

Step-by-Step Guide to Reverse Engineering Code into UML Diagrams with Microsoft Visio 2000 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140255(office.10).aspx

BoUML - http://bouml.free.fr/features.html

StarUML - https://staruml.io/

Reverse engineering of the UML class diagram from C++ code in presence of weakly typed containers (2001) - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.27.9064

Umbrello UML Modeller - https://apps.kde.org/umbrello/

A list of other tools to look at - http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~migod/uml.html

edited Apr 04 '23 at 18:25

mpliax

49
1
8

answered Jan 02 '09 at 05:47

jwpfox

5,124
11
45
42

Reaccepted to the more thorough answer. – gak May 01 '12 at 22:59
Umbrello seems to be for Linux/KDE only. – Rhubbarb Jul 18 '12 at 12:06
2

See similar questions [**here**](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6203015/automatically-generate-a-uml-diagram-of-my-c-code) and [**here**](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1407948/c-to-uml-reverse-engineer-round-trip-engineering) and [**here**](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/577489/c-uml-class-diagram-autogeneration). – Keshava GN May 30 '13 at 10:04
8

BoUML is not free! – deepdive Jan 21 '14 at 08:17
StarUML does the job – dannymo May 25 '16 at 18:43
5

StarUML failed super hard to produce anything helpful whatsoever. – bitmask Jul 06 '17 at 09:02
BoUML is free again! – CodingFeles Jul 28 '17 at 07:27
1

BoUML is not the greatest tool. Very dated UI and struggles hard with new C++ syntax or dependencies it doesn't know. – user643011 Oct 13 '17 at 23:16
BoUML is now free again!!! – Tedi Jan 28 '18 at 09:04
Modelio does the job – Feb 05 '18 at 10:17
umbrello didn't create and gave error opening a file as if it didn't have permission whilethe file had world wide permissions. – nurp Sep 30 '19 at 07:30
1

As far as I can find, umbrello does not generate UML diagrams. – DanielLC Feb 14 '20 at 04:21
@dannymo StarUML doesn't do the job. It only imports classes, which was also broken in my case. It doesn't create class diagrams(dependencies between classes). – KulaGGin Dec 02 '22 at 14:47

score 56 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 22 '15 at 14:30

56

If its just diagrams that you want, doxygen does a pretty good job.

edited Dec 22 '15 at 14:30

Sergio Basurco

3,488
2
22
40

answered Jan 02 '09 at 18:50

user48956

14,850
19
93
154

2

I just got complete class hierarchy on a +300K LOC project with Doxygen, it really does a pretty well job! – HFSDev May 07 '13 at 14:32
Not exactly. For example: https://www.doxygen.nl/manual/diagrams.html . Doesn't generate the dependencies of the class, only what classes it inherited from. On the page to the example, there is class B that depends on class A but the output image doesn't show it, it only shows inheritance. – KulaGGin Dec 02 '22 at 14:30

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '13 at 23:22

16

I've developed a tool called Doxygraph which can parse the XML generated by Doxygen and turn it into an interactive UML class diagram which you can view in a web browser or import into any software that can read Graphviz "dot" files.

answered Jun 23 '13 at 23:22

Oktalist

14,336
3
43
63

2

Very nice application! Apart from the fact that it depends on quite a lot of libs I didn't have (downloaded later from cpan), the entire thing works perfectly. Thanks! – Rubens Oct 07 '13 at 11:43

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 02 '09 at 04:32

15

I believe Enterprise Architect can do that.

answered Jan 02 '09 at 04:32

cschol

12,799
11
66
80

2

Indeed it does, and does well. I've been using it for years, and to me it's by far the best price/performance tool for it (among those I used). I've tried StarUML and Together also - the first has potential, but is still incomplete. The second is painfully slow. – Fabio Ceconello Jan 05 '09 at 22:45
I didn't try Rational Rose, though, since it's well above my acceptable price range. – Fabio Ceconello Jan 05 '09 at 22:46

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 18 '12 at 12:11

8

I find that Wikipedia can be a great source of information about such tools, especially for comparison tables. There's a page on UML tools. See in particular the reverse engineered languages column.

answered Jul 18 '12 at 12:11

Rhubbarb

4,248
6
36
40

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 02 '09 at 14:13

5

UML Studio does this quite well in my experience, and will run in "freeware mode" for small projects.

answered Jan 02 '09 at 14:13

Patrick Johnmeyer

31,462
2
26
24

You can run it in free (restricted) mode under Wine. – SChepurin Sep 02 '15 at 13:07

Aleksey Kontsevich · Answer 7 · 2017-05-12T00:33:58.743

3

Seems Umbrello produces best UML from C++ code (suggest to use latest version >= 2.22) comparing to command-line autodia for Dia and other tools.

StarUML have not produced good diagrams for me: strange import, not usable, does not work for many people: https://github.com/staruml/Cpp/issues

edited May 12 '17 at 00:33

answered May 07 '17 at 13:36

Aleksey Kontsevich

4,671
4
46
101

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 13 '12 at 02:01

2

I have used Rational Rose and Rational Rhapsody for reverse engineering large projects. I would prefer Rational Rhapsody for getting the UML class files for C++ !

answered Dec 13 '12 at 02:01

Shan

5,054
12
44
58

obecalp · Answer 9 · 2009-01-02T06:00:28.463

1

Whoever wants UML deserves Rational Rose :)

edited Jan 02 '09 at 06:00

answered Jan 02 '09 at 03:40

obecalp

1,721
1
12
15

2

good program but very expensive ! – ak3nat0n Apr 02 '09 at 22:09
The link in this answer is out of date. The current link is http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/products/swarchitect/cpp/ – Dan Nissenbaum Sep 14 '12 at 13:13
1

Both the original link and the one in the comments are out of date. Don't know where to find the current version. – Bruno Alexandre Rosa Feb 13 '19 at 13:05
impossible to find the product page. – nurp Sep 30 '19 at 07:33

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 02 '09 at 06:06

1

StarUML does just that and it is free. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for a while. There were a couple of offshoot projects (as the project admins wouldn't allow it to be taken over) but they too have died a death.

answered Jan 02 '09 at 06:06

graham.reeds

16,230
17
74
137

1

StarUML have not produced good diagrams for me strange import. @Rhubbarb, it works under Linux and Mac as well. – Aleksey Kontsevich May 07 '17 at 13:39
Latest release now is Aug 2018, so it has been picked up again – bart s Jan 16 '19 at 12:16

Generating UML from C++ code?

10 Answers10

Linked