Drill Down bis Repetita

Started by M.LE-MONNIER, November 11, 2021, 11:42:06 AM

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M.LE-MONNIER

Hi Phil and Hervé and other members

I would like to speak again about the drill-down function to link a specific view to an element.
Hervé proposed a solution I use a lot in spezialisation-plug in (great thanks to him) but in the last version of archi, this plugin must be uninstalled.
If the part Icons is integrated and answer to my needs (a little exception for the adaptation of size for integrated image as icon), the part of drill down no.

The solution proposed by the forum (topic 786) is not sufficient.

In fact, I need to attache the link to the element and not to the diagram as proposed in the solution.

I use same elements in several diagrams but each element is associated to one main diagram decribing his own architecture. So when we speak about a subject, we can navigate between the diagrams via elements more easily.

In past, I used the link by drop the view inside the object in diagram but it's difficult to keep a good level of quality when we used a lot of elements and diagrams.

The solution of Herve fits very well  and it allows me to import a lot of information automatically to attach the same view to several elements or differents views to a lot of elements.

So, is it possible to propose a equivalent solution :
Choose an ID for the target view and fill a property with the chosen ID
Link to the chosen view by double click.

An extract from the herve's plug in for exemple ?

Thanks for your answer.

Phil Beauvoir

#1
There are no plans to implement this feature in that way (property with ID). We might devise an alternate solution in a future version.
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Jean-Baptiste Sarrodie

Hi,

Quote from: M.LE-MONNIER on November 11, 2021, 11:42:06 AM[...]
The solution proposed by the forum (topic 786) is not sufficient.

In fact, I need to attache the link to the element and not to the diagram as proposed in the solution.
[...]

TBH, I really don't think we'll ever implement it this way as I'm strongly against this constraint: what you want is just a special case of a more generic use-case. Maybe it work in your context, but that's more an exception than the rule.

When modelling, the drill down feature is needed, but depending on the view you start with, the target view which best describes an element is almost never the same: if I have an overview of my information system with key data flows between applications, I could drill down to another flow oriented view centered on an application, and then I might want to drill down again, on the same application component, but this time with a deployment diagram showing how this application is hosted.

In Herve's plugin, this was in fact seen as a limitation finding its root in the way Herve had to store information: only inside properties. As properties are attached to the concept and not the visual representation of the concept in a view, it was not possible to change this target on a per view basis.

As said elsewhere, the way to do this in Archi is by adding a view reference inside your element, resize it and make it transparent. Because that's a common use-case, we might at some point make it possible to do it in one step as proposed in this old issue.

For the time being, what you could do is create a toolbox view with your most commonly used elements and their view reference.

Regards,

JB
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Phil Beauvoir

#3
I've been thinking about the "drill down" idea for some time. Quick brainstorm thoughts:

  • A selected diagram concept has a drop-down box in Properties containing a list of all Views in the model. Select one (or "none") for the linked View
  • Double-click and/or context menu on a diagram object to jump to the linked View (if set)
  • Users would probably ask for this also in the HTML Report diagrams
  • Support in Exchange Format File export/import
  • Manage delete, rename, of linked View, update list when adding new Views, Undo/Redo
  • Manage Import of Model to ensure linked Views are valid

So you see there are a number of considerations. Done properly it could take some time.
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rxcolvin

Just to note that your further "style" your View Reference element by:
* Using the label to change the text (which by default is the name of the view)
* Use an image to replace the standard Icon
* Remove the Icon  by selecting Show Icon: Never in the Image tab

Personally, I remove the image, change the text to ">>>", text color to (hyperlink) blue, shrink this down to the minimum size and place it in the bottom RH corner of the element I want to drill down from.

Phil Beauvoir

Quote from: rxcolvin on November 16, 2021, 18:16:54 PMJust to note that your further "style" your View Reference element by:
* Using the label to change the text (which by default is the name of the view)
* Use an image to replace the standard Icon
* Remove the Icon  by selecting Show Icon: Never in the Image tab

Personally, I remove the image, change the text to ">>>", text color to (hyperlink) blue, shrink this down to the minimum size and place it in the bottom RH corner of the element I want to drill down from.

Some good ideas there, thanks for sharing.
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