Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio® 2010

Chapter 5. Using Layer Diagrams

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Understanding a layer diagram

• Creating layer diagrams

• Defining dependencies on a layer diagram

• Validation using a layer diagram

In the past several chapters, you have learned about some of the different modeling diagrams available in the Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. This chapter examines the final diagram — the layer diagram.

Layer diagrams are used to describe the structure of an application at a high level. These diagrams can also be used to verify that the developed code conforms to the high-level design laid out in the layer diagram. One nice feature about layer diagrams is the capability to validate application design architecture against the code base, ensuring that the code and architecture continue to match during the development process.

In a way similar to a traditional architecture diagram, a layer diagram shows the major components of the architecture design. Dependencies between the components are also laid out on the diagram. A diagram consists of one or more nodes, referred to as layers. A layer can be used to represent any sort of logical group — for example, a namespace or a class file. When you define dependencies on a layer diagram, you can specify them on the diagram because of the architecture design, or you can automatically discover them based on the dependencies already built into the code. Layer diagrams can also be incorporated into the automated build process, allowing you to verify that code changes match ...