There are two types of switch. PatternSwitches and OptionsSwitches.
Without switches, it would be necessary to specify new configuration parts for every project specific pattern and every combination of display options.
Note that simply declaring any type of switch has no effect by itself. It is necessary for a binding or a selector to make use of the switch before it will appear in the switches panel and take part in the presentation of any class diagram.
<PatternSwitch name="authorPattern" prompt="@author pattern"/>
Creates a string pattern switch called 'authorPattern' with the label '@author Pattern'.
<OptionsSwitch isSingleSelection="false" name="authorOptions" prompt="types authored by">Creates a checkbox (because single selection = false) options switch which can be used to control how, say, types with matching @author tags are displayed.
<Option value="Fred"/>
<Option value="Bill"/>
</OptionsSwitch>