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The Quick Linker
If you want to create new elements and connectors quickly on a diagram, you can use the Quick Linker on an initial element to guide you in creating related elements and connectors of the appropriate types, without having to weigh up the full range of options from the Diagram Toolbox.
The Quick Linker consists of paired menus that list the commonest objects appropriate to the context of the selected element. You simply choose the type of element you need from the first menu, and that displays the second menu offering a choice of appropriate types of connector between the original and new elements. When you select the connector, you create a new element connected to your initial element, complete with any subordinate objects such as Object Nodes and Action Pins.
If you drag the Quick Linker arrow onto an existing element on the diagram, only the connector menu displays, so that you select the type of connector to create between the two existing elements.
Display the Quick Linker Menus
There are two methods of accessing the Quick Linker menus.
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Click on Quick Linker Arrow |
When you click on an element in a diagram, the Quick Linker arrow is displayed at the upper right corner of the element:  Click on this arrow and drag it in the direction in which you want to create the new connector and element. When you release the mouse button, the element menu displays. When you select an element type, the connector menu displays.  When you select the connector type, the element and connector are added to the diagram in the location in which you displayed the menus. |
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Press Ctrl+Shift+Arrow key |
After selecting the element, press Ctrl+Shift and the keyboard arrow key for the direction in which you want to create the new connector and element (Right, Left, Up or Down). The element and connector menus display. When you select the type of connector, the new element and connector are created off the edge of the element appropriate to the arrow key you pressed. For example, if you press the Right Arrow key, the new element is created to the right of the original element. |
Notes
- On the initial (element) menu, the 'Create Multiple Elements' option displays the 'Create Multiple Elements' dialog, on which you specify a number of elements to create; the default entry is the base element and connector for the diagram type, but you can click on the drop-down arrow in each field and select other types of element and connector appropriate to the diagram type
- Also, the ' to Toolbox' option, which defaults to selected, filters the list of elements and connectors to only those also available through the Toolbox page for the current diagram type; deselecting the option allows the full range of types of relationship and target element for the type of source element to be listed
- The 'Filter to Toolbox' option is not displayed if you are working on a diagram with an applied metamodel or view, such as an ArchiMate 3 Business Layer Application Usage diagram; such diagrams have a fixed element/connection set that cannot be altered
- When using the Ctrl+Shift+<arrow key> method on a Sequence diagram, you cannot use the Up or Down keys; the Right and Left keys create a connector to a Lifeline element
- When using the Ctrl+Shift+<arrow key> method on a Timing diagram, you cannot use the Right or Left keys
- If the connectors and elements suggested by the Quick Linker do not include the types you need, you can also create them from the Diagram Toolbox pages
- A Technology Developer can create new or different lists and combinations of elements and connectors