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I'm improving a content management system which uses classes as well as function files (just php files which contain various functions).

E.g. I have a class called Admin and a function file which has functions for displaying an overview of the admins, create a new admin, edit an existing admin, delete an admin ...

The function files use the classes and do the visualization part of the mvc concept whereas the classes are responsible for the controller part. The model part is done by a mysql database.

I know that there a class diagrams in UML. Is there a way to extend this diagrams with the loose functions from the function files so that the documentation is complete?

I'm using Visual Paradigm Community.

Christophe
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Alexander Behling
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1 Answers1

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There is no UML element for representing independent functions.

You may however consider a free standing function as a special form of object in its own class. In fact, in some designs, “functor” objects are even designed to be used in place of a functions.

To avoid possible confusion, you may extend the class diagram with your own profile that would define a stereotype «function». Stereotypes are supported by any serious UML modeling tools (here for visual paradigm).

The multiplication of such micro-classes might not necessarily make your documentation easier to understand. You may therefore consider to regroup closely related functions in the same “box” (stereotype «function group» or «module» ?). Your narrative suggests for example that you have a group of functions which implement in reality a repository (from the list you gave: adding, changing, deleting, searching the same kind of persistent objects) or a view (from your explanation about visualization): the grouping would then in any case facilitate to understand their close relationship.

Christophe
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  • I already thought so because my research did not return anything. The code isn't fully OOP and therefore it is hard to document it with UML. But I'm not aware that there is a better solution. If anyone know one I'm open to it. I just want to somehow document the current state and then the target state, so I could make a roadmap. In the meantime, I'll try your suggestion with the stereotypes. Thank you a lot for your help. – Alexander Behling Sep 16 '20 at 14:21
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    Having to deal with a codebase with god functions that were used by everything, it would have been nice to be able to visualize that as a good heuristic to break it into sub function. Thanks for this suggestion, that works! – Dolanor Sep 07 '22 at 21:42