Response: I asked my self this same question after my own code had grown huge and had started confusing me. I mean my own written code. It was hard to follow up and to remember the flow and logic I had in mind at the time of writing the code. May be you are in the same prison.
Here is what I did. I already had a UML tool (Visual Paradigm Standard Edition 10) installed on my Computer. I used this tool and I reverse engineered my code into a Class diagram, and Sequence diagram as well. This tool is an award winning and one of the best UML tools you can find. It is actually the best if I may be prompted to say. You can do any UML modeling with this tool. So, with this tool, I could easily visualize how my code was structured from the generated class diagram, and the flow from the sequence diagram. Well, this worked well but I felt I would be more comfortable if I did all this modeling in my environment (NetBeans 7.3) .
I did some search and this is what I found.
I found that Visual Paradigm being a great tool, It has Integration capabilities with a number of IDEs including NetBeans,Eclipse, VisualStudio and others. The Integration capabilities they provide allow you to do all the UML modeling in your Environment. You can draw Class Diagrams, ERD, Sequence Diagrams, Activitity diagrams, Code Reverse and Foward Engineering and many other things.
For NetBeans,
1. On the NetBeans website, I found NetBeans IDE UML Features. They highly recommend the SDE for NetBeans from Visual Paradigm.
2. On the Visual paradigm website, I found 4 Quick steps to start UML Modeling in NetBeans
3. There is a NetBeans UML plugin that you can just install in NetBeans.See the NetBeans UML plugin project. See also what NetBeans' say about UML
After perusing all the three options above, I did some more research and,
This is how I integrated UML into NetBeans 7.3 and got It working!!
Step 1. I already had NetBeans 7.3 and Visual Paradigm for UML 10.0 Standard Edition already installed on my computer. I went to Tools->IDE Integration->NetBeans Integration (CheckBox)->Next->Next. This installed UML into my NetBeans 7.3 install location automatically.
After doing this, I opened NetBeans and Created a new Java application and right clicked the application as described here. I did not see Visual paradigm options on the Right menu as expected. So I went to step 2.
Step 2. I restarted NetBeans. I went to Tools->Plugins->Settings->Add-> type Name(UML), URL( http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/netbeans/updates/6.9/uc/m1/dev/catalog.xml )->Click Ok. Wait for this update process to finish. This finds the NetBeans UML Plugin. When this is done, go to Tools->Plugins->Available Plugins. You should see "UML" on the list. Check it and click install. When installation is done. Thats all.
Step 3. To be sure that everything was successful, restart NetBeans -> NewProject. You will see UML on the list. Also, when you create a new Java project and you right click, now the Visual Paradigm menu is there as shown here. Enjoy!!
I will be glad to hear from you. If you have never tried, try this. If you have tried and have gotten it working, share with us.
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