You can edit relationships and element properties directly in matrices. Clicking the selected cell allows for
- Creating or deleting relationships between elements.
- Defining or removing element properties or tags.
This feature not only facilitates management of ordinary relationships between elements, but also allows for a faster creation of traceability links between elements, for example, between requirements and the architecture or requirements and test cases. Such an improvement saves huge amounts of time in comparison to linking elements in diagrams. It significantly increases applicability and usability of matrices.
To create a new relationship between model elements in the dependency matrix, do one of the following
Commands on the shortcut menu of the cell, for creating a new relationship, depend on criteria specified in the Criteria area of the matrix:
- Possible relationship types correspond to the types specified as dependency criteria (see solid-line boxes in the following figure).
- Possible directions correspond to the directions specified in the Direction drop-down list (see dashed-line boxes in the following figure).
Double-click the cell. If only one relationship type and direction is available, the relationship is created instantly. If several relationship types or directions are available, the shortcut menu opens.
If you see the warning stating that the dependency criterion cannot be applied, it means that:
- row/column elements cannot be modified.
- relations between the row/column element types cannot be created according to the:
- constraints from the UML Meta Model (Meta Model user guide located in the modeling tool main menu > Help).
- DSL relationship rules.
- Right-click the cell. In the shortcut menu, under Create New (Row To Column) or Create New (Column To Row), select a relationship type you need to create.
If you have specified to display in the matrix, relationships with both directions, the shortcut menu of the cell will look like the one in the following figure.
Thus make sure you have selected a relationship type with relevant direction.
To create multiple relationships between model elements simultaneously in the dependency matrix
- Press and hold Ctrl on your keyboard to be able to select multiple row and column elements.
- Do one of the following:
- Double-click the cell while holding Ctrl. If only one relationship type and direction is available, the relationship is created instantly. If several relationship types or directions are available, the shortcut menu opens.
- Right-click the cell. The shortcut menu opens.
- From the shortcut menu, select the relationship type to create.
To remove a relationship between model elements from the dependency matrix
- Do one of the following:
- Double-click the cell. If only one relationship type and direction is available, the relationship is removed instantly. If several relationship types or directions are available, the shortcut menu opens.
- Right-click the cell. The shortcut menu opens.
From the shortcut menu, under Delete, select the relationship you need to remove. The relationship is removed both from the matrix and the model.
To remove all relationships of a cell
- Double-click or right-click the cell. The shortcut menu opens.
- From the shortcut menu, under Delete, select Delete All. The relationships are removed both from the matrix and the model.
To remove relationship(s) of multiple cells
- Press Ctrl and select multiple row and column elements.
- Double-click or right-click the last active cell. The shortcut menu opens.
- In the shortcut menu, under Delete, do one of the following:
- Select the specific relationship type to remove.
- Click Delete All to remove all relationships at once.
