Explore relationships of existing objects and their immediate relatives
You might also explore the encyclopedia by reviewing the immediate relatives of an object. This process can be repeated allowing you to take any number of paths around related objects.
In both types of Explorer diagram: network and landscape, if a single Diagram, Symbol or Definition object on an Explorer diagram is selected, a menu entry, Show immediate relatives, is available on the Edit menu and in the context menu. If activated, this menu entry runs a report that finds all the objects in the encyclopedia that have an immediate relationship with the selected object. There are following differences in relationship reports for the network and landscape style:
•In the network style of Explorer diagram, which is selected by default, running the Show immediate relatives option allows System Architect to draw node symbols for the immediately related objects and draw a relationship line from the original (selected) node to each of the new nodes. A dialog will open containing a tree of tickable options if any items can be added to the diagram. All items are selected by default. Changing the state of an option with children will update the state of all of those children, and so on.
The new node symbols are placed in an elliptical arrangement to the lower right of the selected node. You might have these symbols arranged in a straight line if the property of the Explorer diagram Arrange Relatives In A Straight Line is selected. Sometimes there is many related objects and placing all of them in this arrangement is not practical. To delete the relationship of a symbol, right‑click it, and then click Delete relationships for selected symbols.
Immediate Relatives can be deleted again through the Delete Immediate Relatives option. Note however that if these items were already present on the diagram when immediate relatives were shown those items will still be removed. There is the Delete relationships for selected symbols option as an alternative and you can also select and remove the added relationship lines which will prevent the related items from being removed.
If there are more than the number specified in the diagram property Maximum Relatives In Expansion, System Architect arranges one less than that number and represent the remainder in a Group symbol, which it puts in the arrangement. You might "expand" that Group symbol into the node symbols that it represents, but the limit implied by Maximum Relatives In Expansion is honored again. You can expand a Group symbol – click it, and then click Edit > Expand Group. When expanded, Group symbols can be merged with the parent or originating symbol with the Merge Group option to cause lines from the group to its contents to be reconnected to the originating symbol and the group symbol itself will be removed.
Definition nodes whose definition type can represent an explicit relationship line can be merged with the Merge Relationship Node option. This works where nodes have been left with connecting lines in the following patterns:
Source -> Relationship node -> Destination Merging the node results in a single line from the source to the destination.
Destination -> Relationship node -> Source Merging the node results in a single line from the destination to the source.
Relationship Node -> Source, Destination. Merging the node results in a single line from the source to the destination.
•In the landscape style of Explorer diagram, running the Show immediate relatives option draws the relatives inside the selected symbol. If the relatives are already present on the diagram, they are moved inside the parent or related symbol. Therefore, relationships between related objects are not shown in relationship lines. The Delete relationships for selected symbols option is unavailable for this type of Explorer diagram.
To redraw related symbols inside the selected symbol in the landscape style, select the parent object, and then use the Refresh selected symbol and its successors command.
The Delete Immediate Relatives option is always available when a single symbol is selected. This will remove symbols which have the selected symbol as the smallest containing symbol.