Pop-up menus are an essential part of the diagram. They contain the most often needed commands that can be executed on the selected elements. Some important commands are available only in the pop-up menus! You can access the pop-up menus by clicking the right mouse button on the diagram drawing area.

 

The commands available on the pop-up menu depend on the type and number of the selected model elements. A pop-up menu usually includes at least the following commands:

 

•access to setting model element properties, e.g. Set Process Step Properties

•editing commands, e.g. Cut, Copy, Paste and Paste Special

•access to graphical properties, e.g. Graphical properties or Change name/font

•snapping elements to grid

•changing the modeling direction

•alignment of model elements

•alignment of text

•depth order of model elements

 

 

Using Editing Commands

Regular editing commands, such as Cut, Copy and Paste, can be accessed from the pop-up menu and used in the diagram. In addition, Paste Special contains the subcommands Paste as Instance, Paste Web Style, and Paste Stencil. By selecting the Paste as Instance command, if there is an instantiable element (a process step, store or organization item) on the clipboard, a new instance of the element is created instead of creating a new element. See also the Transfer Model Elements via Clipboard topic for information about pasting elements into another model. Selecting Paste Web Style will paste a web style from the clipboard to the selected element(s). Selecting Paste Stencil opens the Paste Stencil dialog in which you can choose which stencil properties are pasted from the clipboard to the selected element(s).

 

 

Changing the Modeling Direction

The modeling direction can be changed between vertical and horizontal using the pop-up menus. This is done by right-clicking an empty area in the diagram and selecting the desired direction from the Modeling Direction submenu in the pop-up menu. Note that when you change the modeling direction of a diagram, all the diagrams of the same type are affected.

 

 

Edit Model and Diagram Properties

You can edit information about the whole model by selecting the Set Model Properties option in the pop-up menu when the main diagram is active. This option opens the Model Properties Dialog. Selecting the Set Diagram Properties option opens the Process Step dialog. If the active diagram is the main diagram, you can edit the properties for the main diagram in this dialog, whereas if the active diagram is some other diagram, you can edit the properties for the corresponding child diagram. You can modify the properties of a diagram in the case you have full rights to that level, but you cannot delete the diagram unless you have full rights also to the parent diagram. You cannot delete the main diagram.

 

 

Creating a Diagram of Existing Model Elements

Part of the diagram can be replaced by a child diagram to simplify the representation. This is done by first selecting the part of the diagram, e.g. by area selection, and then selecting Create Child Diagram from the pop-up menu. A new diagram is created under the current one and all the selected elements are moved down onto that level. This is a very useful method when modeling in a bottom up fashion.

 

 

Showing or Hiding Diagram Contents

For a diagram element, you can select Show Diagram Contents from the pop-up menu. Then you can view and modify the child diagram contents in the same view in the parent diagram inside the child diagram content element if you have rights to that diagram. To hide the contents, select Hide Diagram Content from the pop-up menu. For these options to be visible, the element needs to have the "Diagram contents" option selected in the Graphical Properties Dialog and also the "Can be collapsed" option selected in the Text Box Properties for Model Elements Dialog. You can also use the [+] and [-] symbol shown inside the diagram content element to show or hide diagram contents.

 

 

Grouping Connectors

You can group the connectors in the diagram. See the connectors topic on how this is done.

 

 

Alignment of Model Elements

It is possible to align the existing model elements on the diagram. Only organization items cannot be aligned. Alignment is done by first selecting two or more elements from the diagram and then selecting the alignment edge from the pop-up menu. The elements can be aligned by their top, bottom, left or right edges. Elements can also be centered and distributed. The alignment is done with respect to the upper left corner of a rectangular area formed by the group of selected elements. Notice that it is very easy to place elements onto each other by accident. If this happens, the situation is easily corrected with the Undo button.

 

The following commands are available in the alignment pop-up menu:

 

•Left: Align all objects to the left of the selection.

•Center: Align all objects to the horizontal center of the selection.

•Right: Align all objects to the right of the selection.

•Top: Align all objects to the top of the selection.

•Middle: Align all objects to the vertical middle of the selection.

•Bottom: Align all objects to the bottom of the selection.

•Distribute Horizontally: Distribute the elements within equal distances from one another horizontally.

•Distribute Vertically: Distribute the elements within equal distances from one another vertically.

•Align Connector: Groups connectors that have the same starting and/or ending point evenly at the sides of the connected elements. If only one connector is selected, it's centered at the side it's connected to.

•Distribute Connectors: Distributes connectors that share the same starting and/or ending points so that they are distributed evenly at the sides of the source and/or target element. If only one connector is selected, it's centered at the side it's connected to.

 

 

Alignment of Text

 

It is possible to align the text within the element either horizontally or vertically.

 

The following commands are available in the Align text pop-up menu:

•Left: Align text to the left within the element.

•Center: Align text to the horizontal center of the element.

•Right: Align text to the right within the element.

•Top: Align text to the top of the element.

•Middle: Align text to the vertical middle of the element.

•Bottom: Align text to the bottom of the element.

 

 

Depth Arranging Model Elements

A useful diagramming feature is depth ordering for the elements. It is possible to do the following four ordering operations on any model element on the diagram:

 

 Bring to Front

 Send to Back

 Bring Forward

 Send Backward

 

 

Connector Level Selection for Viewing

 

You can switch between viewing the source diagram and the destination diagram of the connector by selecting Show Diagram and then either Source Diagram or Destination Diagram from the pop-up menu. This is useful if the start and end points are on different diagrams and you want to switch between them.

 

 

 

Viewing Related Elements

 

If elements or connectors have related elements or connectors (connected via a relation type of custom attribute) which are displayed as icons or shapes, the related items can be accessed with the Show Related Items menu. The menu lists all items that are connected to the selected element or connector. The items are grouped by relation, and selecting the items opens the Properties dialog for the related item.

 

 

 

Showing or Hiding Relation Connectors

 

If elements have relation connectors, their visibility can be toggled by selecting Relation Connectors from the pop-up menu. It shows a list of relation values that are set by "Relation (multiple occurrences)" connectors. You can select to show or hide all or select individual connectors to be shown/hidden. If a relation is visible on the diagram, its check box is selected.

 

You can also toggle the visibility of relation connectors by opening the pop-up menu from the diagram level and selecting Relation Connectors. All connector types that have "Relation (multiple occurrences)" selected are listed and you can select to show or hide all or some of them.

 

NOTE! When relation connector is hidden, the graphical properties and flow route are deleted. This has the effect that, if the relation connector is shown again, the graphical properties and flow route are created anew with the default settings. To retain the graphical properties and flow route, "Hide Flow(s)" pop-up menu command can be used.