IBD - How to pull in an external block? What is it supposed to look like?

[avi10000]

Hi all,

(1) In an IBD, how do you insert an external block (i.e., a structure that’s external to the block named in the IBD header)?
I guess you pull it in from the Project Browser and drop it as a link. Correct? Otherwise?

(2) Once I have correctly pulled in the external block, what is it supposed to look like?

(3) What connector type do I use to connect it to other internal blocks? As usual - ie, with two ports and a solid line connector? 

   -------------

In the Help of another another SysML platform (competitor platform to EA) it is written: 

"Reference represents a structure that’s external to the block named in the IBD header— a structure that the block needs for some purpose, either to invoke behaviors or to exchange matter, energy, or data. The notation for a reference property on an IBD is a rectangle with a dashed border."


Thanks
Avi

 

[PeterHeintz]

Hi,
in the same way that you should not have an activity in an activity diagram, you should not have a block in an IBD.
What you should have, is properties or parts in the IBD playing the role of your "external block" (roles are not instances but very similar to instances).
To do so, create a BDD having your IDB parent bock and the "external block" as part or shared association on it.
After that go to you IBD and check the checkbox related to your "external block" under "Features & Properties/Parts / Properties".

[avi10000]

Thank you very much, Peter. This is great. I even get the dashed border on the external bloock being referenced.

Btw:

in the same way that you should not have an activity in an activity diagram, you should not have a block in an IBD.

Agree totally. However I do seem to recall that I have seen somewhere (articles or books) blocks inside  IBDs, and I assumed that I do not yet know enough to understand how that can be.

Avi