The Diagram and its focus

The Diagram draws the Model. It is read-only: to change the Model, design a change (see Design a change).

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1. System, checkout, order
2. Click a State for details
3. Event on a Transition

Levels

The Diagram starts at the System level and zooms in step by step. Double-click a node, or press the ↗ handle on it, to open it.

• System: nodes without arrows: Whole System, the Actors, and the Features that no Actor reaches. An Actor’s subtitle says how many Features receive its Events.
• Whole System: every Actor and Feature, with arrows that give the number of Events between them.
• Actor: that Actor, the Features that receive its Events and the Events between them.
• Feature: its Machines and the Events between them.
• Machine: its States and Transitions. A State with sub-States can be expanded in place, and opened to see its sub-States.

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1. Whole System
2. User: an Actor
3. Proposal selector
4. Legend

The breadcrumb at the top, such as System › checkout › order, goes back to any level; a Feature opened from an Actor or from Whole System remembers where it came from. Fit fits the view to the level, and the plus and minus buttons zoom.

Details

Hovering a node or an arrow shows its title and the first sentence of its description. A click selects it and shows its details in the side panel: the description, the Events, the Transitions with their conditions, and the Requirements that apply. With nothing selected, the panel describes the System.

A legend explains the colours: States that a Proposal adds, removes or changes, Drifts, initial and final States.

Drawing a Proposal

The Proposal selector at the top draws an open Proposal over the current Model. New and changed elements are blue, removed ones red and dashed, and the side panel lists the changes and the Tasks of the Proposal, with Approve and Reject.

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1. Previous and Next
2. Legend of the colours
3. List of changes

Drifts

An open Drift is drawn as a red node attached to the element it points at, with a Drift that points at nothing in the Model floating on the root. Selecting it shows its two sides, What happens and What should happen, and Points at, with Dismiss Drift to close it.

Focus

The View on diagram button on a Proposal or Task card, and every chip on a Task, a Drift or a History entry, opens the Diagram focused on the elements that card touches. A bar under the toolbar tells what the focus is of (Proposal P3 – <title>), the name of the current step, a counter 2 of 5, and:

• Previous and Next, to go step by step: each step moves the view to its elements, and every other element fades to 30% but stays clickable;
• <M> not found, when some references no longer resolve, with the list in its tooltip;
• Only these, to show only the elements of the focus;
• Clear, or Escape, to leave the focus.

Enlarge screenshot:

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1. The Task in focus
2. The State the Task touches

The elements of the focus get a cyan outline; those a Proposal changes keep their blue or red. The same focus works in Requirements and Specs, where View requirements or a chip scrolls to the section, Area or field and marks it.

An empty Model shows The Model is empty. Import the existing code or start from scratch; later, design changes from the Board. with Import from Code and Start from Scratch.