UML tools for eclipse IDE

Comparing eclipse IDE: UML Designer, Papyrus and Eclipse Modeling Tools

UML Designer, Eclipse Papyrus, and Eclipse Modeling Tools are all part of the Eclipse ecosystem, particularly focused on model-driven development (MDD). While they can overlap in functionality, they serve different purposes or cater to different user needs.

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1. UML Designer (by Obeo)

• Overview: A tool dedicated to UML modeling that provides a user-friendly interface.
• Features: Lightweight, drag-and-drop interface, customizable viewpoints.
• Best for: Beginner users who want standard UML diagrams.

2. Papyrus (by Eclipse Foundation)

• Overview: A powerful modeling tool that supports multiple modeling languages.
• Features: Support for UML 2.5, SysML and MARTE modeling languages.
• Best for: Complex modeling, academic and industrial-grade modeling projects.

3. Eclipse Modeling Tools with UML Plugins

• Overview: A general-purpose Eclipse package with optional UML plugins (like MDT UML2, EMF, GMF, etc.)
• Features: Supports multiple modeling languages and frameworks: EMF, GMF, Ecore tools, etc.
• Best for: Developers creating custom modeling tools or DSLs

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Comparison Table

Tool	Purpose	UML Diagram Support	Complexity	Target Audience
Eclipse UML Designer	UML modeling	Good UML support	Medium	Developers needing custom diagram views
Eclipse Papyrus	Multi-language (SysML, UML, MARTE...) modeling environment	Full UML 2.x support	High	System engineers, advanced UML users
Eclipse Modeling Tools	A package that includes EMF, GMF, and more	Varies by plugin	High	Developers building modeling tools

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Note: The UML Designer 9.0.0 standalone IDE is based on eclipse Oxygen (2017) and includes a JRE 8. UML Designer 9.0.0 can only run on older Ubuntu (e.g. 18.04 or 20.04); newer Ubuntu versions will have compatibilty issues with SWT included with UML Designer. The UML Designer 9.0.0 plugin will not work with current eclipse versions running on JDK 17 and higher.
Solution: Try running UML Designer in a Docker container with an older Ubuntu (e.g., 18.04 or 20.04) and the library versions match what UML Designer expects.
You can use an image like this:

FROM ubuntu:20.04
RUN apt update && apt install -y openjdk-8-jdk libgtk-3-0 libcanberra-gtk3-module libfreetype6
COPY UMLDesigner/ /opt/UMLDesigner/
WORKDIR /opt/UMLDesigner/
CMD ["./UMLDesigner"]

Or even easier: use a base image with Eclipse Oxygen preinstalled.

Eclipse IDE tips

1 Importing a Git project

To import a Git project into an eclipse project, open the command line terminal and move to eclipse workspace:

user@host:~$ cd eclipse-workspace/

clone the Git project into a newly created project folder:

user@host:~/eclipse-workspace$ git clone https://github.com/davidflanagan/jstdg7 Flanagan-JavaScript-Book-7Ed

The Flanagan-JavaScript-Book-7Ed folder is going to be the base folder of the eclipse project.
Run eclipse IDE and open the "eclipse-worskspace" folder. To import the project, select the option File -> Import -> General -> Project from Folder or Archive and click on Next button.

This opens a the "Import Projects from File System or Archive" window, click on "Directory" button. This opens a file chooser, navigate to the newly created folder and click on Open to import the project into eclipse IDE.

2 Importing a Maven project

Download a maven project, for example by cloning a git repo or by using the maven archetype plugin
In my case I am going to clone the maven project from git

Open the command line terminal and move to eclipse workspace:

user@host:~$ cd eclipse-workspace/

clone the Maven project into a newly created project folder:

git clone https://github.com/heroku/java-getting-started heroku-getting-started

You have cloned the Git project into the heroku-getting-started folder. That folder is going to be the base folder of the eclipse project.
Run eclipse IDE and open the "eclipse-worskspace" folder. To import the project, select the option File -> Import -> Maven -> Existing Maven Projects and click on Next button.

This opens a window that allows you to chose the project root directory, click on the Browse button.
This open a file selector, select the folder of the Maven project to be imported. This is what you get:

Select the pom of the project you want to import and click finish. In case you are importing a multi module maven project select the parent pom and all the poms of subproject you want to import.

3 Make eclipse IDE build faster

3.1 Turn Off Validations

As soon as you open a project, eclipse starts to build the project. Validation is part of projects building. If your workspace has many projects open, validation may take too long, threfore you may want to turn off validation to make building faster.

You can disable validators either for your project or for your workspace. To disable validators for your workspace, select Window -> Preferences -> Validation. This opens the Validation window. You can tick the second check box in the upper list "Suspend all Validators" or you can choose to disable individual validator by clearing the box next each validator.

3.2 Uncheck Auto Build

The menu item Project -> Build Automatically is checked by default. That means eclipse build all projects (both closed and opened projects) in your workspace whenever you open the workspace or run a clean command. So, if you your workspace holds many projects, it is convenient to uncheck the Build Automatically item.

Doing so, it will disable automatic building for the projects. To build the project you are currently working on, select the Project -> Clean item, uncheck Clean all projects and select Build only the selected project.