Time-aware model: original packages shown in diagrams after cloning

[Uffe]

Hi all,


I'm fiddling around with time-aware models to see if they're of any use.

First thing I tried was to set up a simple package structure as version 1.0.
- Parent package
  - Package diagram (showing child package)
  - Child package
    - Component diagram (showing component)
    - Component

Then I went ahead and cloned the whole structure to a new version 1.1. Here's what I got:
- Parent package [cloned]
  - Package diagram (showing original child package)
  - Child package [cloned]
    - Component diagram (showing original component)

This can't be right, can it? Since the child package is cloned, surely the diagram it's in should show the clone and not the original?
The way this is implemented, if I navigate between diagrams by double-clicking the child package, I go from the 1.1 version of the package diagram into the 1.0 version of the component diagram, even though the child package exists as a clone in 1.1 and has a cloned component diagram.

Am I missing something?


/Uffe

[Geert Bellekens]

Uffe,

I had a look at the time aware modelling feature and decided that it is not useful for me or my clients.
It really quickly becomes a mix of elements from different versions, all linked to each other.
Definitely not how I would design a feature like that.

Geert

[Uffe]

Yeah, it's looking that way from my perspective too. Kind of a cool demo feature, but it doesn't seem to have been integrated in any meaningful way, it doesn't support multiple branches and it doesn't seem to be possible to revert changes.

I'm trying to imagine what use case it's been designed for, but I'm coming up empty. It looks like something put together by someone who's never actually worked with version control or configuration management.

/Uffe

[Uffe]

Oh, and I found that if you've got the situation I had above, then select the non-cloned package in the cloned diagram and hit Clone Element as New Version, the old package is replaced by the new one in the diagram, and subsequently the Clone Element menu item is greyed out.

FWIW.

/Uffe

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Uffe,

I had a look at the time aware modelling feature and decided that it is not useful for me or my clients.
It really quickly becomes a mix of elements from different versions, all linked to each other.
Definitely not how I would design a feature like that.

Geert

Geert, Any cloning system will end up as a "mix of elements from different versions".  The trick is how to manage it properly.  We're looking at implementing our own cloning system (hopefully compatible with Sparx's) to do it a bit better.

Paolo

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Oh, and I found that if you've got the situation I had above, then select the non-cloned package in the cloned diagram and hit Clone Element as New Version, the old package is replaced by the new one in the diagram, and subsequently, the Clone Element menu item is greyed out.

FWIW.

/Uffe

As per my previous comments in the other TAM posts, I suspect it's working correctly.  Since the requirement for the initial clone of the diagram is to NOT clone any vertex, it is incumbent upon the user to determine which vertices to clone (including folders).

There is some "method in their madness".

Paolo

[Uffe]

Oh, and I found that if you've got the situation I had above, then select the non-cloned package in the cloned diagram and hit Clone Element as New Version, the old package is replaced by the new one in the diagram, and subsequently, the Clone Element menu item is greyed out.

As per my previous comments in the other TAM posts, I suspect it's working correctly.  Since the requirement for the initial clone of the diagram is to NOT clone any vertex, it is incumbent upon the user to determine which vertices to clone (including folders).

I'm not convinced. The way it works, the package has been cloned, but the original is shown in the cloned diagram.
Why would you want that?

Only reason I can see is that the cloned package doesn't contain any elements so you need the original in order to show package contents. But that only makes sense in the first generation anyway, so this is still more bug than feature in my book.

Still, if you're aware of it you can fix it immediately after parthenogenesis.¹

/U

¹ That's "creating a clone", children.