ConceptDraw V Professional 5.5.0.1 is project for people who need to produce high - remainder flowcharts , engineering draft , and other intricate illustrations . If you ’re fain to trade with its interface oddity and steep learnedness breaking ball , it ’s an efficient program that goes well beyond conventional schematisation software like OmniGraffle Professional (; February 2006 ) .
ConceptDraw V Pro features several enhancements over edition 5.2 , include support for color transparency , exportation to Microsoft Visio XML , and a host of hemipteran repair . If you do n’t need some of the Pro edition ’s advance characteristic , there ’s also a $ 149 Standard version , which has fewer pre - quarter objects and lack the Pro version ’s built - in scripting language .
More than diagrams
ConceptDraw provides predefined templates for diagram in 20 category , from business to web designing . When you select a template , ConceptDraw correct your document ’s musical scale , baptistry , grid , and other scope appropriately , and give library of vivid objects worthy for your diagram . If you choose to pull back from simoleons , the program ’s repertoire of canonical material body includes ellipsis , rectangles , stock segments , sectors , arcs , and splines .
As with other diagramming programs , ConceptDraw lets you connect any twosome of object with lines that shift automatically when you change the position of either physical object . you’re able to ram join lines to flow around objects , as well as determine how they behave when they intersect with one another . This is handy for keeping flow chart and interchangeable diagrams goodish .
The Shape Properties dialog lets you select an aim ’s filling color , line width , and other features . To foreclose inadvertent changes , you also can interlace an object ’s geometrical attributes , such as its aspect ratio , situation , and gyration . you may produce programmable hyperlink that connect objects to a Web page , spring to a location in the current document , or open any document or program . ConceptDraw also rent you delete tables that specify any object ’s property as numeric values or formulas , giving you even more precise control . For example , you may make the length of a rectangle dependant on its breadth , or set a lot to change size when you move it .
One of ConceptDraw ’s most muscular features is a scripting speech called ConceptDraw Basic , which lets you tailor-make the programme ’s behavior at the software , written document , page , or aim tier . With scripts , you may create , say , a document that mechanically retrieves datum from an outside database and build a diagram to expose that information . Unfortunately , although the manual does a fairly good caper of explaining general scripting concepts , neither it nor the scripting reference pecker is all that helpful to father — both would benefit from tutorials and additional examples .
Problems and quirks
ConceptDraw Pro now lets you import and export Microsoft Visio XML files , but it still does n’t support PDF significance . And , although you could export to PDF , object transparency mount get lost in the process . ( The company is mindful of the problem and is exercise on a kettle of fish . ) ConceptDraw ’s lack of funding for soft drop phantasma is another surprising omission .
ConceptDraw ’s port is take exception , too . With up to 16 separate toolbars and an assortment of other dialog box and palettes , it ’s sometimes unmanageable to find what you desire . For good example , the new transparency slider is hidden at the bottom of the color picker , and you do n’t see changes until you dismiss the dialogue . Tabbed dialogue and palettes help reduce screenland clutter , but their interface is n’t reproducible — for instance , tabloid in the Shape Properties dialog have text labels , but tabs in the swim pallet skylark icons . Even the Template Gallery is a moment odd : revelation triangles next to the family name rotate when you sink in on them , but they do n’t let out anything or have any other outcome .
Macworld’s buying advice
Despite its flaw , ConceptDraw Pro V Professional 5.5.0.1 is a capable schematisation program that ’s brimming with potential . And if you take the clip to learn the app ’s scripting language , you could do affair that you ca n’t double with other schematization software system .
[ Franklin Tessler is a university professor and radiologist who oftentimes uses diagramming software in his work . ]
