Patent ID: 8490023

Claim:
A method for navigating Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams, the method comprising: identifying a graph structure that represents a software application including at least one model, the graph structure further including at least one Unified Modeling Language diagram, where each Unified Modeling Language diagram defines a node in a plurality of nodes of the graph, wherein the plurality of nodes is interconnected by a plurality of predetermined hyperlinks; identifying a plurality of navigation paths that are both independent of each other and independent of the predetermined hyperlinks, each navigation path defined by: selecting, based upon user input, a set of nodes from the plurality of nodes; ordering, based upon user input, the selected set of nodes in a desired sequence; and defining a single path along the sequence such that: a root node in the sequence connects to only one other node in the sequence, a last node in the sequence connects from only one node in the sequence, and remaining nodes in the sequence connects from only one node in the sequence and connects to only one node in the sequence; enabling a user to select one of the plurality of navigation paths; and enabling a user to interact with the graph structure at the nodes along the selected navigation path by: traversing the nodes along the sequence of the selected navigation path; displaying, within the software modeling environment, the Unified Modeling Language diagram of the traversed node; and enabling a user to edit the displayed Unified Modeling Language diagram while traversing the nodes.