AcmeStudio allows the user to automatically generate a legend for a diagram that is being edited. This legend is added to the diagram, and includes entries for each of the types that are being used in the diagram. This version does not update the legend automatically when elements of different types are added to the diagram. After generating, the user will need to maintain the legend manually.
To generate the legend, make sure that a diagram is open, and the editor is active (selected). Execute View > Generate Legend. Note that, by default, the legend is centered below the diagram.
By default, generated legends are centered below the diagram. As long as the legend is not manually moved, it will be recentered automatically as the diagram changes. If the user manually relocates the legend, the position will not be affected by subsequent changes to the diagram – the user will need to manually relocate the legend. By default, the legend is generated to be laid out in columns; the size of the legend in this mode automatically resizes to fit the columns, and it is not possible for the user to resize the legend in this mode.
To change where the legend is positioned when generated, you can change this in the preferences for the legend. To access the legend preferences, go to Window > Preferences…AcmeStudio/Legend.
By default, the legend is populated with icons for the types that are used in the diagram, and assigned default text descriptions. These descriptions are either the name of the type of the element being depicted, or (if there is a comment in the Acme comment immediately above the type) the comment associated with the type.
To add types to the palette, select the type in the palette. Then, go to the legend and click in the legend. This will add the default icon and description for that type to the appropriate column.
To customize the description, select the label to edit, and then click on the label again to edit. Clicking outside the text editor commits the change.
In some cases, the label for the legend might be too long. It is possible to resize the column of a legend so that it is word-wrapped, to lessen its width. To do this, select and drag the column separator. This will cause resizing and word wrapping.
In some cases, the user may want to forgo the default column layout, or display large “actual-size” depictions of the elements. This can be done by selecting the legend, and checking the “Use large icons for items” check box in the Properties View.