Shape

A shape describes how to render a view, or a portion of one, in a diagram. It identifies the actual drawing — the position, dimensions, or line of what is shown. A shape is either a path (a line) or a rectangular shape (a box).

Coordinates are expressed with the point datatype. The origin (0, 0) is the top-left corner of the diagram, with values increasing rightwards along the x axis and downwards along the y axis.

Shape is abstract: it is never serialized directly. Every shape in a document is one of its concrete subtypes, distinguished by its type. As an OntoUML element, every shape carries the identity properties id, created, and modified; shapes do not carry descriptive properties such as name or description.

Shape has two subtypes:

• Path — a line defined by an ordered list of points.
• Rectangular shape — a box defined by a top-left position and a size, itself specialized by Rectangle, Diamond, and Text.