Surrogates are Model Xtractor extension elements: virtual types to group all global functions, constants and variables, or to group global functions into categories; virtual data types for not strongly-typed languages; groups or containers that do not translate into the actual component implementation, but to a well-defined logical structure, that would help to better understand an API.

Model Xtractor is universal, in the sense it can represent not just object-oriented constructs from programming languages, but also database relationships or XML structures. This chapter shows how databases are particularly represented in Model Xtractor.

This chapters will discuss additional concepts and techniques in Model Xtractor. Type aliases can be simple alternative names, that appear such as in “Int32 (int)” in a shape or node title, or “typedefs”, definitions of types through expressions with other types. Custom type casting was performed on imported metadata for some libraries that used very generic parameter or return types, when stronger types would have been more appropriate. Surrogates are virtual entities added to metadata by Model Xtractor for procedural constructs, such as global functions or constants. Or for a better encapsulation of global functions in surrogate category types.

In the Properties – Diagram tab, we tried to provide a minimal set of flags from whose combination you can get a different look and feel for a diagram. This chapter covers those related to Stereotypes and Modifiers, while another topic will refer to the rest of switches, concerned more with styles and themes.

This is the short list of all operations you can perform in the Model Xtractor online applications. While we left any kind of menu aside, you can do everything from toolbar icons, operations on selected elements, drag and drop, clicks or double-clicks, key shortcuts.