Functional description of control loops

[Yacine]

Hi guys,
since many years, I'm thinking about tools to describe to my programmers the functions that need to be implemented in a line, based on a P&ID.
Whilst I have already solutions for control steps, I'm laking an efficient and SYSTEMATIC way to describe control loops.
The common solution based on tagging the actors and sensors based on their location and a general function does not satisfy me.
The most trivial solution would probably to set up simple text shapes that contain some prosa and arrows showing the information and action flows.
I'd show and hide these comments by using layers... But this is still quite poor of a tool.
Has someone out there had a similar problem? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers, Yacine.

[Yacine]

So, I'm older by several "googling" nights and found out, that UML and SysML is the thing I was looking for.
Now both are basically just a bunch of diagraming "conventions". Which is fine as is, but the options, which Visio offers in it's UML template makes it a very interesting navigable document, that I would like to use.
So here my question, does any one know a good tutorial for using the Visio UML templates? There's very few on the subject in the net.

Furthermore I'm looking for a methodology for using these "MLs". They come as a rather unorganised set of tools.

Any comment is welcome. Y.

[Paul Herber]

The problem (as I see it) is that the UML built in to Visio is so non-standard that not enough people want to use it to make it worth documenting. Prior to Visio 2010 it was a very old UML 1.3, and now it has all changed anyway.

[Yacine]

How pity.
Do you use UML and if so which tool?

[Paul Herber]

http://www.sandrila.co.uk/visio-sdl/index.php
:-)

[JuneTheSecond]

Your challenge is valuable.

Once upon a time I was studying about loops of shapes.
It was not dynamic but static.
Visio shapes looped only 20 cycles.

Here is my old study.
http://june2.carrots.jp/english/monitors.htm