Hello Stephen,

in my opinion, if you have a complex object model with a lot of inheritance, it's hard to follow in a UML Class Diagram... for most of the projects I have been involved in, where UML was used, UML was an overhead. For small designs, UML is great... for complex object models, UML is too hard to follow and maintain.. and for reverse engineering, I've never seen a good tool yet.. It's like the holy grail.. :)

Anyway.. I invite you to have a look at Borland's Together tool if you are looking for a UML tool that can generate some code and keep it in sync with your model... it's expensive though... and I've seen it work only with small/simple models.

Also, if you are looking for a modeling/code generator tool, you might want to have a look at what we do : www.xicommunity.ca

This site offers you the XI-Factory, a tool that allows you to design you business model (mix of UML/business objects) online (free of charge). The XI-Factory will generate on-the-fly a working prototype of your model so your users can try it and give you feedback about it. At the end of the process, you can generate the .NET Solution from the model and finish the development in your environment. Depending on the complexity and number of business rules, XI-Factory will generate 40% to 100% of the final application.

Regards,
Alex