Using Perspectives

You can access both built-in and custom Perspectives from a number of different points. This makes it easy to start your work in the appropriate environment with the required Perspective from any point, and to quickly and smoothly switch to a different Perspective if the need arises.

Conversely, if you prefer to have a wider range of tools and languages immediately available to you, you can select the appropriate 'All <perspective group name>' option in the Model Wizard or list to filter for all Perspectives for a domain.

Note that if a 'Perspective for Security Group' has been set for the model and you are a member of that security group, you will not be able to change the visibility of Perspectives as that will be defined by the administrator for the group.

Access

Currently, selecting a built-in Perspective will take you to the Model Wizard (Start Page 'Create from Pattern' tab). Some access paths first take you to the Perspectives Portal, and when you select a Perspective from there the Model Wizard has focus and you choose the appropriate Patterns to use (if required).

Other paths take you directly to the Model Wizard, where you first select the Perspective and then the Patterns to use (if required).

Selecting a custom Perspective does not open the Model Wizard, because custom Perspectives generally expose combinations of Technologies and facilities, and the system cannot determine which Technology to open the Wizard at.

Use a Perspective

Having selected a Perspective, and depending on what Perspective that is, you would expect to see impacts on the Model Wizard, 'New Diagram' dialog, Diagram Toolbox and 'Stereotypes' dialog, each offering fewer options more specific to the Technology or operations you are working in. For Perspectives related to Code Engineering, the code editors and code generators might also have a narrower focus.

As you develop models and/or engineer code, you will see the structures you require and not have to pick them out from many other structures of no relevance to the work you are doing.

Filter Perspectives Available

You are unlikely to use all the Perspectives available in Enterprise Architect, so if you prefer you can exclude the individual Perspectives - or complete Perspective Sets - that you do not need from display in the Model Wizard and selection lists. You do this using the 'Perspective Sets' dialog:

     Start > All Windows >  Perspective > Settings

The 'Perspective Sets' dialog defaults to the 'System' tab. If you want to exclude a complete Perspective Set, deselect the checkbox against that category in the 'Perspective Sets' panel.

Otherwise, if you want to just exclude individual Perspectives click on the parent Perspective Set name and, in the 'Perspectives' panel, deselect the checkbox against the Perspective name. In this illustration, the CMMN and Erikson-Penker Model Perspectives have been excluded from display.

Note that if you exclude a Perspective Set, the checkboxes against the individual member Perspectives remain selected. However, the Perspectives do not show in the selection lists in, say, the Model Wizard.

If you decide to show any excluded Perspectives again, return to the dialog and select the appropriate checkboxes. Alternatively, show all Perspectives as explained in Revert to All Perspectives.

Revert to All Perspectives

If you have filtered your list of Perspectives, or been working within a specialized Perspective such as Requirements or a customized Perspective, and you want to return to a non-specific environment, either:

• Select the 'Start > All Windows > Perspective > Settings' ribbon option to display the 'Perspective Sets' dialog, and click on the Reset All button  or
• Select > All

Notes

• A Perspective hides all Technologies that are not specifically associated with it; if you use custom Technologies in your work, add them to a custom Perspective with any built-in Technologies you want to use, so that all your specialized tools are available together
• An individual Technology might not present all facilities you need (for example, ICONIX does not have a diagram profile, so a Perspective that just exposes ICONIX does not allow you to create diagrams); select or create a custom Perspective that includes a Technology that adds the missing facilities (in this case, the UML Technology)
• In order to function when included in and presented by the Perspective, a Technology must remain enabled in the  'Manage Technologies' dialog

Learn more

• Model Perspectives
• Customizing Perspectives
• Types of Perspective
• The Model Wizard
• Perspectives Portal
• Perspectives for Security Groups