Messages

1

General Board / Re: SysML 1.5 Block parts compartment shows blocks on the diagram?

« on: May 25, 2022, 10:23:20 pm »

Hmmmm... that makes sense to me. I guess I was hoping to be able to suppress specific parts within a block when I show the part's corresponding block on the diagram to avoid redundancy. (Why would I show only some of the "child" blocks? Because they have parts I want to show on this diagram, but I dont want to show every child to avoid clutter.)

I see that you can suppress various things on the diagram properties dialog, but parts is not one of them I guess.

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General Board / SysML 1.5 Block parts compartment shows blocks on the diagram?

« on: May 18, 2022, 01:34:46 am »

I was under the impression that if I have a diagram with "Block A" on it and "Block B" and "Block C" as child parts (composition relationship) to Block A, if Block C is removed from the diagram, then the parts compartment should should show only Block C (since Block B is on the diagram it doesnt need to be shown in the compartment).

But in v16 (and in 15.2 before that), the parts compartment shows all blocks, whether they are displayed on the diagram or not. Is this intended?

3

General Board / Extending SysML with Profile

« on: May 18, 2022, 12:04:33 am »

I managed to create my own profile, export/import it, and can see/use the results within my new toolbox.

All I did so far was create a stereotype of <<block>> that I named <<function>>. (So I have a diagram with a metaclass object named Class, a stereotype object named "SysML1.4::block", and a stereotype object named "function". There is an extends relationship from function to Class, and a generalization connector from function to the SysML1.4::block object.)

My questions are:

• My toolbox shows "Block" as the name of my custom object... is there any way I can make this display Function?
• In order to use Composition connectors between function blocks, I have to use the SysML Block Definition Toolbox, I cannot use the quick connect functionality (click the arrow next to the block and drag to the desired block). Is there any way to enable composition connectors with my custom stereotypes? Or, is there a way to add composition connector to my custom toolbox so I dont have to switch so often?

4

General Board / Re: Exporting model with package hierarchy to CSV file

« on: January 13, 2022, 05:18:57 am »

Awesome, that works perfectly! Sorry I took so long. I too wish I could use SQLServer... but the IT Department does not want to waste resources on setting it up and maintaining it. I am optimistic that the v16 SQLite support may help avoid access... but we'll see.

5

General Board / Re: Exporting model with package hierarchy to CSV file

« on: January 13, 2022, 03:32:59 am »

@Geert, thanks for the quick reply... but I am still getting a "the select statement uses a reserved word or incorrectly spelled argument name. I looked through and didn't see anything. I haven't seen null used as a field name before, but I trust that that works.

Any thoughts?

6

General Board / Re: Exporting model with package hierarchy to CSV file

« on: January 13, 2022, 02:41:37 am »

Geert,

I'm trying to get a list of all objects under a given folder/subfolders. I figured your SQL statement would get me close. I copied it, change #Package# to 13.

When I run the query, I get "Too few parameters. Expected 1."

I know I'm missing something obvious (due to not being fluent in SQL), what is it?

7

General Board / Re: SysML Instance Modelling

« on: December 20, 2021, 11:46:33 pm »

@Eve: Thanks for the information, I looked briefly at properties, but it was several months ago. I dont remember figuring out that you could have tags on properties. I'll have to revisit that!

But I am a little confused (even before I start researching) because I'm trying to model a system of systems, each level with specific blocks. Properties are not the same as blocks, correct? How can I represent something as being "underneath" a block's property? For example, if I have "Instructor system" and the system has a "User Station" modeled as a property, how do I show that the user station is composed of two monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse?

@jandeliefde: That does sound very much like what I'm trying to achieve!

8

General Board / Re: SysML Instance Modelling

« on: December 18, 2021, 04:08:45 am »

Interesting, definitely need to digest this more thoroughly! As I've been doing some research on deployment diagrams, much of what I see relates to software onto hardware (even the SysML related stuff). Let me clarify my original question with an example:

At my system template level, I have a block that represents a user station, composed of several other blocks (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

Now I go to my system instance, and want to show that Room 314 has three of those user stations in it. I also need to show that two of the instances have an $80 keyboard, and the other one has a $50 keyboard (at the moment, I have the price modelled as a tagged value of the keyboard block, which is composed into the user station block).

If I didn't have to show differences down to the keyboard level, I would be tempted to create a room block at the template level, compose my user station into it and then create an instance of the room named 314, setting the multiplicity of the user station to 3.

As it is, I have created a Room 314 block in the system instance, then put it onto a BDD with two instances of the user station block. I adjust the keyboard TV accordingly.
But now, I have to show that the user stations are "inside" the room. I can't use composition or aggregation. I could use allocate, but I dont understand the ramifications of allocate... it seems to have more meaning than I am willing to give this usage. So I've been using "uses" relationships between the block and the instances.

9

General Board / SysML Instance Modelling

« on: December 18, 2021, 12:22:50 am »

I have a large system, structurally modelled using classes on BDDs with associated IBDs. Now I want to show that the large system is installed into multiple locations (system instance). Each system instance has different quantities of the "template" classes and, in some cases, the parts that compose the classes have different tagged values. So there are changes all the way down the structural model for each instance. Also note that each system instance may have objects not in the template, but that relate to or interact with objects from the system template.

At first, I created new classes for each system instance, using a generalization relationship to point back to the template system's class. But this leads to a lot of work for each system instance.

My second attempt used instance objects of each class used by the system instance. This minimizes the amount of work required to model a new system instance. But I am confused as to how I can show quantities of instance objects. My first thought was to use composition relationships with multiplicity, but you cannot use composition from (or to) instance objects. For the time-being, I have "usage" relationships with multiplicity from instance objects to system-instance-specific classes. But then, when I put those classes on another BDD, I have no indication of parts/properties (I understand that I wouldn't get those specific compartments due to the different relationship, but I was hoping a "used" compartment would show).

Being relatively new to SysML, am I completely missing something? I've seen some information about "instance modelling" in UML, but SysML doesn't seem to have that? Currently, SysML instance objects seem relatively useless... I cannot show how the instances relate to form a system instance. What I've seen on the internet usually runs along the "an instance object is a specific instance of a class, like Mercedes:Car..." I get that. But how do I use instance objects in a model?

10

General Board / Re: Changing Inherited Tagged Values Possible?

« on: November 23, 2021, 02:28:35 am »

I’ve done some more testing. I’ve figured out how to update TVs in inherited properties. I was trying to use the properties pane (you can’t change the TVs there nor create a new TV), but if you click on the triangle button on the properties pane to bring up the properties window, everything works as I expected.

Seems like maybe this is a bug in the properties pane? (talking with Sparx support)

I still have not figured out how to adjust value property values of inherited properties.

Edit: Sorry, spoke too soon. Doing the above allows me to change the TV value, but then the monitor in User Station also changes it’s value. More to the point, it also changes the TV value in all blocks that inherit from User Station. (I created another block, named it Type1 User Station, and drew a generalization relationship to User Station.) When I change the TV value of Monitor in SysAdmin User Station, the value changes in User Station and in Type1 User Station.

11

General Board / Re: Changing Inherited Tagged Values Possible?

« on: November 20, 2021, 01:15:48 am »

Just to followup, I created a test project with just the setup described in the first post. I created a Value Property, price (via instructions in "Simple SysML for Beginners: Using Sparx Enterprise Architect", chapter 4). It has units dollars. Then I went to the Monitor block and added the price twice: once named as unit and once named as yearly (for initial and recurring costs).

Monitor now shows two value properties.

I went into the User Station block and clicked on the monitor property. In Features|Parts/Properties it lists both prices. I right-clicked and said "redefine" on both. This gave me an instance for the US Monitor. I gave different prices and confirmed that the prices did not adjust in the Monitor block, just in the monitor part under US.

Then I went into Admin User Station and tried to do the same thing on the monitor part there. I can't redefine, no option on the right-click menu.

So how can I have properties that change values per "instance?" TVs dont work, Value Properties dont work?

Or I'm doing something completely wrong!

Edit: OK, that's weird... sometimes when I click on the Monitor in AUS it greys out the Redefine selection, other times it's not greyed out, but it does nothing.

12

General Board / Re: Changing Inherited Tagged Values Possible?

« on: November 19, 2021, 11:16:08 pm »

Thanks!

The reason you can't change the TV in Admin User Station (AUS) is that it does not have its own TV (at present).  You are literally looking at the TV in User Station (US)!  (change the value in US and you will see the value change in AUS)

Yes, this is exactly what I'm seeing. Just to be pedantic, to make sure I don't overassume, I'm trying to change the TV in monitor, which is a composition child to US, not the TVs in US or AUS.

You will need to create a TV in AUS so that you can manipulate its value directly.

But this is what I cannot do. If I click on the Monitor property under AUS in the project explorer and look at tags, I cannot add a "provider" TV (by clicking the add button). The "new" TV just goes away. I do have "show duplicate tags" checked.

What I expect to see is what happens if I go to the Monitor part under US, which is that when I change the value of the TV, a new property pops up to the top of the tag stack with the newly assigned value.

What I'm afraid of (only because of the time required to change everything) is that I am misunderstanding TV's vs SysML value properties. Is what I am trying to do with the monitor (label various properties of it such that I can tweak them wherever it's used) something that value properties would be easier to use?

13

General Board / Changing Inherited Tagged Values Possible?

« on: November 19, 2021, 08:00:16 am »

I'm using 15.2, trying to understand SysML.

I have a generalization structure:  SysAdmin User Station -> User Station

The User Station is composed of a Monitor (so Monitor is considered a "part" within User Station, according to the compartments on a BDD). The monitor has a TaggedValue, "provider", and I have its value set to "us".

I make sure that SysAdmin User Station has a property for the monitor (as inherited from User Station). Now, I want to modify the monitor's provider TV from "us" to "them". But I can't. I can only modify the TV if the owning element is a child part (when Monitor is a direct composition to User Station). If the element is a child property (Monitor does not directly compose SysAdmin User Station, it's inherited from User Station) I cannot modify the TV.

Am I trying to do something abnormal? I was hoping to have a monitor with multiple properties, that I could tweak anywhere along the generalization hierarchy. Is this achievable?

14

Bugs and Issues / Re: Copy/Paste BDD results in duplicate parts in IBD?

« on: October 28, 2021, 10:53:58 pm »

Response from Sparx:

"This issue has been addressed. A correction was available in the builds post 15.2.1558 including the latest version 16 beta."

I'll reply once the IT team updates and I try again.

15

Bugs and Issues / Re: Copy/Paste BDD results in duplicate parts in IBD?

« on: October 21, 2021, 10:28:35 pm »

Given the silence, I assume the duplication is unexpected and probably something wrong elsewhere in my model... like my generalization hierarchy is relating two elements that shouldn't be or something.

Any thoughts on what to look for?