Improvements on PlantUML output

[enikao]

• Leaving out Node as superclass would make diagrams more readable (less lines).
• In typescript an optional property is shown with a question mark postfix. Using this instead of <> might make the diagrams easier to read (less space needed).

Extracted from LionWeb-io/lionweb-mps#89 (comment)

[dslmeinte]

The 2nd point is easy, but what can I do about the 1st one in the generic diagram generation functionality?

[enikao]

Wouldn't something like

if (concept.extends == Node) {
  // don't write `extends Node`
}

suffice?

[dslmeinte]

Isn't it up to the caller of the functionality to not do that? It's not required to specify that a classifier extends Node if it doesn't any other.

OTOH: it makes sense to weed it out.

[enikao]

We could make it a configuration flag, but I can see very few use cases where it makes sense to display the inheritance from Node.

[joswarmer]

If you really want to support this and more, you need something like the MPOS diagram language that I created for the Tax Office and Clario. But that would be a serious extension.

[dslmeinte]

If you really want to support this and more, you need something like the MPS diagram language that I created for the Tax Office and Clario. But that would be a serious extension.

Exactly, and as always it's about the balance. This functionality is really meant as something “quick-and-not-entirely-dirty” to gain insight, but not as a tool to make well-documented diagrams for knowledge transfer with.

[dslmeinte]

Fixed by #128