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Visustin - How to use

Visustin reverse engineers source code to flow charts. Use it for diagramming and documenting your code.

Getting started

Step 1. Select your programming language. This is important – an incorrect language setting will produce funny charts. Details on supported languages

Step 2. Load the code. You have several ways to do this:

1. Open the code file. Visustin can load any plain text file. Just press the button on the toolbar.
2. Copy & Paste allows you to transfer any code snippet or module to Visustin. As a shortcut, hit Ctrl+D to Draw the contents of the clipboard immediately.
3. Drag & Drop files and code snippets to Visustin.

Note: Some programming systems use binary source files. Visustin is cannot load binary files. In this case, Copy & Paste the code in Visustin.

Step 3. Draw the flow chart. Press the Draw button or hit F5. Visustin automatically creates a flow chart from your code. No editing is necessary.

Flow chart or UML?

By default, Visustin works in the conventional flow chart style. Alternatively, it can also produce UML-like activity diagrams. Select UML activity diagram style in the Options menu. Both flow charts and UML diagrams contain the same information. The difference is in the chart symbols. Pick the style you prefer.

Flow chart vs. UML

Sample code	Flow chart	UML
If x < 10 Then y = 1 End If

Editor

Visustin creates flow charts in a fully automated way. With the Editor you can edit them as needed. Just press the Editor button or hit F7. Editor requires Visustin Pro Edition. It is enabled in the free demo version as well, but saving and printing are disabled.

Using the charts

You have several options to using the flow charts or activity diagrams in your documentation:

• Save the chart in a file. Visustin supports a multitude of file formats.
• Print the chart. You can print either a single-sheet chart, suitable for small charts, or a multi-page mosaic.
• Export to Visio.
• Export to Word or PowerPoint.
• Copy & Paste into your favorite application.
• Save as HTML and publish on a web site.

Note that these actions are disabled in the free demo version. Check out the sample charts to see how they look. For a test drive, feel free to send some of your code to Aivosto. We will save or export the charts for you.

Toolbar

Tips & tricks

Create a partial chart from a shorter piece of code. Simply select the code you wish to flowchart and press the Draw button.

Drag & Drop code into Visustin. Drag either a source code file (from Windows Explorer) or a selected code snippet (from your code editor). When you drop the code, Visustin loads the code and takes action based on where you dropped it:

1. Drop on code panel: Load code.
2. Drop on chart image panel: Load code and draw a flow chart.
3. Drop on a button: Load code and continue as if you had pressed the button.

Code samples can be found in the Samples menu.

More tips

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