Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide an improved
software development tool that simplifies a graphical representation of software
code for a developer. The software development tool provides the developer with
a more coherent, manageable, and abstract graphical view of the project model,
and facilitates the developer in graphically debugging and editing the associated
software code. The improved software development tool detects a group of related
elements in the code, and collapses a portion of the graphical representation of
the code associated with the group of related elements.