Auto-hidden connectors

[Uffe]

Hi all,


I just noticed a feature I haven't seen before: EA auto-hides certain connector types depending on diagram layout.

If you create two classes A and B, and draw an Aggregation from B to A (so that A is the container and B the contained), then move and resize A so that it completely encloses B, EA hides the connector.

You get the same behaviour with a Composition, and with a Nesting. Associations, Generalizations and Realizations, on the other hand, are not hidden. This makes sense; the first three are purely structural relationships after all.

I like this function but I don't know what it's called, which connectors/elements/diagrams it affects, whether there are any options I can set to modify it, or where it's documented.

Does anyone else?

Cheers,


/Uffe

[Geert Bellekens]

Sorry,

I know it exists, but I don't know if/where it is documented.

Geert

[Paolo F Cantoni]

It's part of the (only partial) support for ArchiMate (visual) embedding.  Unfortunately, ArchiMate doesn't have the theory correct regarding embedding and Sparx's support of even that crippled theory is less than optimal, but once you understand what's going on, you can take appropriate action and construct usable models that contain visually embedded vertices and auto hidden arcs.

As with the 3 level model discussion, I'm interested in discussing what I think is going on and commentary on the solution we've created.

Paolo

[Glassboy]

Unfortunately, ArchiMate doesn't have the theory correct regarding embedding and Sparx's support of even that crippled theory is less than optimal,

Surely not! :-)

[Helmut Ortmann]

Hi,

if you have an algorithm to decide whether a connector is hidden in a diagram you can use the property isHidden of diagramLink class via addin or script.


Helmut

[Uffe]

Actually, no.

These connectors are not hidden in the sense that DiagramLink.IsHidden is True. They show up as visible (ticked) in the Set Visible Relations dialog too.

So they're not hidden. They're just... not shown.

/Uffe

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Actually, no.

These connectors are not hidden in the sense that DiagramLink.IsHidden is True. They show up as visible (ticked) in the Set Visible Relations dialog too.

So they're not hidden. They're just... not shown.

/Uffe

I guess, formally, they are "Suppressed" not hidden.  However, this is a semantics bug...  If the arc is not visible, then it shouldn't be shown as visible in the Set Visible Relations dialog; which, in turn, should be called Set Relation Visibility.  Its ALL abut the words!

Besides, I thought, in the old days, you could make then visible via the Set Visible Relations dialog.  But since everything is so clandestine we can't tell of the functionality changed or not.

Paolo

[Uffe]

Agreed. What would be useful is if the Visible Relations dialog had a Suppressed column as well to identify these neither-visible-nor-hidden connectors.

The column should just list True/False and not be editable since the suppression is automatic.

/U

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Agreed. What would be useful is if the Visible Relations dialog had a Suppressed column as well to identify these neither-visible-nor-hidden connectors.

The column should just list True/False and not be editable since the suppression is automatic.

/U

The WHOLE dialog could do with a revamp...

The usual (and expected) Select All / None is missing.
The output should be in sortable columns
Filters should be provided to help narrow down the targets

In enterprise level models and diagrams, there might be hundreds of relationships on a diagram.

Paolo

[skiwi]

The WHOLE dialog could do with a revamp...

The usual (and expected) Select All / None is missing.
The output should be in sortable columns
Filters should be provided to help narrow down the targets

In enterprise level models and diagrams, there might be hundreds of relationships on a diagram.

Paolo

+1

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Further to this thread and rework of the Set Relationships Visibility dialog.  It seems to me that if I have a set of objects selected, and I initiate the dialog, I'm asking for the set of relationships that exist only between the selected items.

For very large enterprise scale diagrams - which might have hundreds of items - more than a dozen is usually enough to make the dialog a pain.  Restricting the list of relationships to to those between the select objects would be pretty useful.

Thoughts?
Reported,
Paolo

[Glassboy]

I'd settle for just being able to straighten the association class connector :-)

[Uffe]

I'd settle for just being able to straighten the association class connector :-)

That's not a connector - that's a link. Let's stay on topic, people.

Paolo, sounds good. The dialog should have a button to switch to all-connectors-in-diagram though, in case you had something selected and didn't realize it.

/U

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Paolo, sounds good. The dialog should have a button to switch to all-connectors-in-diagram though, in case you had something selected and didn't realize it.

/U

"Natch"!   But since we don't even have Select All/Select None, I thought that might be "a bridge too far".

Paolo