(Build ID: 182774)

* Sometimes when running the application, the OutOfMemory error occurs. This means that your computer has not enough memory for working with the application. Ways of solving the problem are described in section OutOfMemory problem.

Operating system: Any Java SE 7 or later compatible operating system, i.e., Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8, Linux, OS X (most testing procedures and debugging were performed on these operating systems).

HTML browser: Any. Preferred Firefox or Internet Explorer and Safari for OS X.

Java Virtual Machine: Oracle Java SE 8 Update 25 is recommended for Windows, Linux, OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Mavericks, and OS X Yosemite.

http://www.nomagic.com/support/jvm-list.html

First, obtain the MagicDraw installation files. You can download the latest version from the MagicDraw homepage http://www.nomagic.com/products/magicdraw.html

If you are going to install MagicDraw on Unix, MAC OS, or other operating system that is not Windows OS, then JVM must be installed on your computer. For more information about the recommended Java version, see http://www.nomagic.com/support/jvm-list.html

If you use an operating system other than Windows, Unix, or OS X, we recommend to run MagicDraw from the no-install package (see section Using no-install package).

Using installer

1. Before you begin, ensure that your computer meets the minimal system requirements for running the program.

2. Download either:

• MagicDraw_<version number>_win.exe (or MagicDraw_<version number>_PE_win.exe of Personal edition or MagicDraw_Reader_<version number>_win.exe of Reader edition) or for 32-bit Windows.
• MagicDraw_<version number>_win64.exe (or MagicDraw_<version number>_PE_win64.exe of Personal edition or MagicDraw_Reader_<version number>_win64.exe of Reader edition) for 64-bit Windows.

3. Double-click the installer.

4. If the User Account Control dialog appears asking your permission for the installer to make changes in your computer, click Yes.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to install MagicDraw.

6. To start MagicDraw, do one of the following:

   • On the taskbar in Windows, click the Start button, and then, click MagicDraw.

   • Open the MagicDraw installation\bin folder and double-click the magicdraw.exe file.

NOTES:

• For more information on starting MagicDraw, see Starting MagicDraw for the first time and activating licenses.

• For more information on how to change the Java version, see Changing Java version.

• For more information about memory allocation, see section "Memory allocation" in MagicDraw UserManual.pdf.

OS X

1. Before you begin, ensure that your computer meets the minimal system requirements for running the application.

2. If you use earlier versions than MagicDraw 17.0.5, 17.0.4 SP2, you must have the JVM installed on your computer.  See the list of recommended Java versions: http://www.nomagic.com/support/jvm-list.html

3. Download MagicDraw_<version number>_mac.dmg (or MagicDraw_<version number>_PE_mac.dmg of Personal edition or MagicDraw_Reader_<version number>_mac.dmg of Reader edition).

4. Double-click the installer.

5. In the MagicDraw installation window, drag the MagicDraw folder to the Applications folder.

6. Close the MagicDraw installation window.

7. To start MagicDraw, open the Application / MagicDraw installation folder and double-click the MagicDraw.app file.

8. If the message appears asking your permission to open the file, click Open.

Unix

1. Ensure that your computer meets the minimal system requirements for running the application.

2. You must have the JVM installed on your computer. See the list of recommended Java versions: http://www.nomagic.com/support/jvm-list.html

3. Download MagicDraw_<version number>_unix.sh (or MagicDraw_<version number>_PE_unix.sh of Personal edition or MagicDraw_Reader_<version number>_unix.sh of Reader edition).

4. From the MagicDraw_<version number>_unix.sh shortcut menu, select the Properties command and then click to select the Allow executing file as program check box. 

5. Double-click the installer.

6. Follow the on-screen instructions to install MagicDraw.

7. To start MagicDraw, open the MagicDraw installation/bin folder and double-click the magicdraw file.

Using no-install package

You can download the no-install package to run the product on any operating system, compatible with Java 7 or later.

1. You must have the JVM installed on your computer.  See the list of recommended Java versions: http://www.nomagic.com/support/jvm-list.html
2. Ensure that your computer meets the minimal system requirements for running the application.
3. Download MagicDraw_<version number>_no_install.zip (MagicDraw_<version number>_PE_no_install.zip of Personal edition or MagicDraw_Reader_<version number>_no_install.zip of Reader edition).
4. Extract files.
5. Set Java home:
   1. Open the magicdraw.properties file, which can be found in MagicDraw_<version number>_no_install\bin folder.
   2. In the JAVA_HOME line, add the path to the Java software. For example, on Windows OS:
      JAVA_HOME=C\:\\Program Files\\Java\\jdk1.8.0_25\\jre

6. To start MagicDraw, according to OS, do one of the following:

   • On Windows OS - open the MagicDraw_<version number>_no_install\bin folder and double-click the magicdraw.exe file.

   • On OS X - open the MagicDraw_<version number>_no_install folder and double-click the MagicDraw.app file.

   • On Unix - open the MagicDraw_<version number>_no_install folder and double-click the magicdraw file.

MagicDraw is a stable environment, if it is configured properly and if the stable JVM is used. USE RECOMMENDED JVM TO AVOID MANY PROBLEMS. All recommendations are written below. As MagicDraw is a Java application, most of the stability and performance depends on the JVM implementation. Refer to the JVM specification and problem descriptions, if you have problems on the specific OS.

JDK 1.1.x, 1.2.x, 1.3.x, 1.4.x, 1.5.x, and 1.6.x is not supported.

To review your system and JVM information (in case you have already installed MagicDraw) on the main menu click Help > About MagicDraw and then in the opened dialog click the Environment tab. JDK version can also be encountered from the command-line prompt by typing the command:

java -version

Attention for non-Windows users!
You have to start the application setup from the command-line prompt. Your system should have Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed BEFORE running the MagicDraw installer (preferred versions are mentioned above).

The latest MagicDraw demo version is available for download at:
https://www.magicdraw.com/download

Changing Java version

In the magicdraw.properties file, which is located in <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin, add the value for the following parameter:

JAVA_HOME=<path to new JRE>

NOTE: Integrated MagicDraw runs on the JVM specified by the IDE. In order to change JVM, you need to modify startup properties for the IDE, MagicDraw integrates with. If you are running MagicDraw integrated with IDE, read the appropriate readme.html for specific integration, which can be found in <MagicDraw installation directory>/integrations/<IDE directory>.

Changing the location for storing configuration files

By default MagicDraw configuration and auxiliary files are stored in the following location:

If MagicDraw is running, you can open the configuration files folder directly from the application. Do the following:

1. On the main menu, click Help > About MagicDraw.
2. Open the Environment tab.
3. Click the Configuration Files hyperlink.

• <MagicDraw installation directory>
• Common Application Data location (on Windows OS)
• Other directory

1. Open the magicdraw.properties file, which is located in <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin.
2. Change the parameter value from

   -DLOCALCONFIG=true

   to

   -DLOCALCONFIG=false

3. On Windows OS, add the additional parameter

   -DWINCONFIG=false

   IMPORTANT: It is important to add the DWINCONFIG parameter on Window OS, otherwise the configuration files will not be stored at MagicDraw installation directory.

1. Open the magicdraw.properties file, which is located in <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin.
2. Change the parameter value from

   -DLOCALCONFIG=true

   to

   -DLOCALCONFIG=false

NOTE: The Common Application Data location is the following:
• On Windows NT4 - C:\WINNT\Profiles\All Users\Application Data
• On Windows XP - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
• On Windows Vista/7/8 - C:\ProgramData

Do either:

1. Open the folder, where the configuration files are stored (for the exact location, see the preceding table).
2. Create a new file named magicdrawredirect.
3. In the file, type the absolute path to the folder, wherein MagicDraw configuration files will be saved, for example, C:/<directory name>.

1. Open the magicdraw.properties file, which is located in <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin.
2. Change the parameter value:
   

   -Dlocalconfig.location=<absolute path to a chosen location>

   NOTE: If you have defined to store files in the MagicDraw installation directory (see section To store configuration files in MagicDraw application installation directory), files will not be stored in the defined location.

Redirecting output info to console

MagicDraw output information by default goes into the magicdraw.log file. If there is a need, you can redirect the output to console.

NOTE: If you cannot find the magicdraw.log file, see section magicdraw.log file location.

On all operating systems

In the magicdraw.properties file, which is located in <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin, add the value for the following parameter:

APP_ARGS =-verbose

Web page

To download the demo of this version and to get contact information or purchase details, please go to: http://www.nomagic.com

New features

For information on MagicDraw new features, see New and Noteworthy at http://www.nomagic.com/news/news-noteworthy.html.

What edition do I need?

For information on MagicDraw editions, see http://www.nomagic.com/products/magicdraw/magicdraw-edition-comparison.html.

Forum

Discuss and get answers about No Magic products in No Magic Community Forum. With respect to the growing interest in No Magic products, we have expanded the capabilities that had been provided by our newsgroups and have moved the content to the online Forum. You are welcome to post your comments and questions here.

Knowledgebase and new issue registration

• Knowledge base and new issues registration - http://www.nomagic.com/support.html
  
• Issues, suggestions, and requests about new features can be submitted directly from MagicDraw application - Help > Report an Issue.
  
• sales@magicdraw.com - questions regarding academic and site discounts, delivery, customer profile, invoices and related issues.
  
• contact@magicdraw.com - email for other contacts.
  

We are awaiting your comments and suggestions. More than a half of the features of the current version added because our demo version users have requested them. Do not miss the chance to see your desired features in the future versions!

Documentation

You may find user's guides and tutorials stored in <MagicDraw installation directory>/manual directory or use MagicDraw Help. To open MagicDraw Help on the Help menu click Help Contents.

Performance improvements

• Increase a java heap size. The java heap size increasing and purpose of this is described in details in section OutOfMemory problem.
• Do not keep unused diagrams open. Perform the following steps:

1. On the Option menu, click Environment. The Environment Options dialog opens.
2. In the General option list, expand the Save / Load options group.
3. To the Diagrams Lode Mode option, assign the Do not load diagrams value.
4. Restart MagicDraw.

Your projects will be opened over a shorter period of time without opening a diagram as well as use less memory.

• Increase an active validation period. Perform the following steps:

1. On the Option menu, click Environment. The Environment Options dialog opens.
2. In the General option list, expand the Active Validation options group.
3. Increase the Active Validation Period (seconds) value.
   IMPORTANT! Be aware about limits of the Active Validation Period size, as a long period may be an alternative of switching an active validation off.
4. Restart MagicDraw.

Using reduced active validations takes less memory.

• Turn off active validation.
• Split the project to read only modules. Keep read only modules not loaded. This may help only if your project contains several parts with minimal dependencies between them. For more information about working with partially loaded projects, see section "Working with partially loaded projects" in MagicDraw UserManual.pdf. You can also find the “Project Decomposition Description” sample in <MagicDraw installation directory>\samples\product features\ project decomposition.

OutOfMemory problem

Sometimes when running the application, the OutOfMemory error occurs. This means that your computer has not enough memory for working with the application.

If during your work the out of memory Error dialog appears, change the java heap size and/or the MaxPermSize directly in this dialog (change the option that is labeled with red color).

NOTE: The java maximum heap should be set to less than the available physical RAM on the machine, that is the RAM minus the amount of memory taken by any other processes that will run concurrently. Otherwise your JVM process will likely swap and that will slow down the application. If the heap size is increased too much, you will get the "Could not create the Java virtual machine" error message and MagicDraw will not start.

• The maximum theoretical heap limit for the 32-bit JVM is 4G. Due to various additional constraints such as available swap, kernel address space usage, memory fragmentation, and VM overhead, in practice the limit can be much lower. On 32-bit Windows systems the maximum heap size will range from 1.1G to 1.3G. On 32-bit Solaris kernels the address space is limited to 2G. On 64-bit operating systems running the 32-bit VM, the max heap size can be higher, approaching 4G on many Solaris systems (Java HotSpot VM FAQ).
• On 64-bit VMs, you have 64 bits of addressability to work with resulting in a maximum Java heap size limited only by the amount of physical memory and swap space your system provides (Java HotSpot VM FAQ).

If the out of memory Error dialog does not appear or increasing the heap size does not help, study the full error message. In the exception message, further information is supplied after java.lang.OutOfMemoryError. Here are some common examples of what the additional information may be, what it may mean, and what to do about it:

• Java heap space
  This indicates that an object could not be allocated in the heap. The issue may be just a configuration problem. You could get this error, for example, if the maximum heap size specified by the –Xmx command line option (or selected by default) is insufficient for the application and needs to be increased.
• PermGen space
  This indicates that the permanent generation is full. If an application loads a large number of classes, then the permanent generation may need to be increased. You can do so by specifying the command line option –XX:MaxPermSize=n, where n specifies the size.
• unable to create new native thread
  This indicates that OS cannot allocate memory for the new thread. This formula gives a decent estimate for the number of threads you can create:

  (MaxProcessMemory – JVMMemory – ReservedOsMemory) / (ThreadStackSize) = Number of threads
  JVMMemory=Perm Size + Heap Size.
  

  In this case you need to decrease the java maximum heap size or/and decrease the stack size for threads. You can do so by specifying the command line option -Xss.
• requested <size> bytes
  The Java HotSpot VM cannot expand its heap size if memory is completely allocated and no swap space is available. This can occur, for example, when several applications are running simultaneously. If you see this symptom, consider increasing the available swap space by allocating more of your disk for virtual memory and/or by limiting the number of applications you run simultaneously. You may also be able to avoid this problem by setting the command-line flags -Xmx and -Xms to the same value to prevent the VM from trying to expand the heap. Note that simply increasing the value of -Xmx will not help when no swap space is available (Java HotSpot VM FAQ).

You can change the java maximum heap size (-Xmx), permanent generation maximum size (-XX:MaxPermSize), thread stack size (-Xss) in the Environment Options dialog or in your <MagicDraw installation directory>\bin\magicdraw.properties file, in the line:
JAVA_ARGS=-Xmx800M -XX\:PermSize\=40M -XX\:MaxPermSize\=150M -Xss512K

NOTE: Integrated MagicDraw runs on the JVM, specified by the IDE. If you are running MagicDraw, integrated with IDE, you will need to modify startup properties for the appropriate IDE.

Application pause time problem

If you are having problems with pause times in your application, try to change the default garbage collector.

• If you have a single-processor client machine, it is suggested to use the Concurrent Mark-Sweep (CMS) Collector in Incremental mode. When trying incremental mode, it is recommended the following as an initial set of command line options: -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+CMSIncrementalMode -XX:+CMSIncrementalPacing -XX:CMSIncrementalDutyCycleMin=0 -XX:CMSIncrementalDutyCycle=10
• If you have a multiprocessor machine (especially with four or more processors), try one of the parallel garbage collection algorithms - Concurrent Mark-Sweep (CMS) Collector or Parallel Compacting Collector. The parallel compacting collector is used specifying the command line option -XX:+UseParallelOldGC, CMS collector is used, specifying the command line option -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC.

StackOverflow problem

Sometimes when running the program, the StackOverflowError occurs.

If you are running the Sun's, IBM JVM, set the following java properties in your <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin/magicdraw.properties file to avoid the above problem:
to the line JAVA_ARGS=-Xmx800M, append the string -Xss<stack size>.
For example:
JAVA_ARGS=-Xmx800M -Xss2M
This sets java stack size to 2 megabytes.

NOTE: Integrated MagicDraw runs on the JVM, specified by the IDE. If you are running MagicDraw, integrated with IDE, you will need to modify startup properties for the appropriate IDE.

Computer freezes or reboots while exiting MagicDraw or repaint problems occur

This may happen because of Java SDK and Windows direct draw incompatibility. We would suggest you to turn off the direct draw for MagicDraw application.
In the <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin/magicdraw.properties file to the line'JAVA_ARGS=' append additional part
-Dsun.java2d.noddraw.

NOTE: Integrated MagicDraw runs on the JVM, specified by the IDE. If you are running MagicDraw, integrated with IDE, you will need to modify startup properties for the appropriate IDE.

Java Virtual Machine could not be started

Open the <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin/magicdraw.properties file for editing and comment the lines defining default memory settings. These lines should look like this:

# DEFAULT_MEMORY_SETTINGS_64=-Xmx2400M -XX\:PermSize\=60M -XX\:MaxPermSize\=200M -Xss1024K
# DEFAULT_MEMORY_SETTINGS_32=-Xmx800M -XX\:PermSize\=40M -XX\:MaxPermSize\=150M -Xss640K

After the install, MagicDraw cannot be launched or it just appears on the screen and vanishes

Try the following solution:

1. Start MagicDraw with system property no.printer.lookup=true.
2. In the <MagicDraw installation directory>/bin/magicdraw.properties file to the line'JAVA_ARGS=' append additional part
   -Dno.printer.lookup=true.

MagicDraw installer is not started or MagicDraw is not started on Linux OS

MagicDraw installer may not be started or MagicDraw itself may not be started, because of changes in default system Java. In this case when starting installer or MagicDraw, no GUI appears or when starting from command line the following message is displayed:
Configuring the installer for this system's environment... No Java virtual machine could be found from your PATH environment variable. You must install a VM prior to running this program.
We would suggest the following solution:

• Change your default system Java to recommended.
• After some Ubuntu update, the Ubuntu Java overrides default Sun Java and default system Java becomes Ubuntu Java. To start the MagicDraw installer, Ubuntu-restricted-extras should be installed. For more information about installing the Ubuntu-restricted-extras, see the Ubuntu website: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats.
  

Sometimes MagicDraw becomes unpredictable

1. Open the <Configuration files directory>\.magicdraw\<version number> and delete all cache folders. For more information about configuration files location, see section Changing the location for configuration files storage.
2. Restart MagicDraw.
   

Loading the external profile (not MagicDraw native)

IMPORTANT! Be aware that incorrect changes in the alias.properties file can result MagicDraw project load failures.

When MagicDraw cannot load profiles or modules that are UML XMI compliant, but not MagicDraw native, you need to modify the alias.properties file by adding a mapping from xmi URI's to MagicDraw internal URI's. The alias.properties file can be found in the <MagicDraw installation directory>\data folder.  In this file, you can see the examples of the lines for mapping.

If you are not sure how to modify the alias.properties file, please contact the MagicDraw Support Team at http://www.nomagic.com/support.html.

1. On the main menu, click Help > About MagicDraw.
2. Open the Environment tab.
3. Click the MagicDraw Log File hyperlink.

If for some reasons MagicDraw cannot be started, look for the magicdraw.log file in configuration files directory. For more information about configuration files location, see section Changing the location for configuration files storage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Example files

After you have installed the MagicDraw, you can open an example of a diagram. These files are in the samples directory.

DEMO version of the MagicDraw allows saving a project with 20 classes, 25 use cases, 25 states, 25 lifelines, 25 actions, 25 instances, 25 nodes, and 25 components, although it can read and print projects of any size.

The DEMO version expiration date is limited. The exact expiration date is provided in the email containing demo license key.

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/) and JIDE Software (http://www.jidesoft.com).