Extracting and checking out information

The Enterprise Extract feature enables you to extract and check out information from the current encyclopedia and copy it to another encyclopedia.

Extracting Information: You may simply extract information (diagrams and definitions), which places a copy of the information in the target encyclopedia – that information is ‘frozen’ in the target encyclopedia; it can be utilized but not changed. Meanwhile the information extracted may still be changed in the current encyclopedia.

Checking out information: You may also extract and check out information from the current encyclopedia, which places a copy of the information in the target encyclopedia, and prohibits further change to the information in the current encyclopedia, since it is ‘checked out’. Checking out information is a multi-step process – you must extract the information first (or nominate it to be extracted), then nominate it to be checked out, then perform the actual check-out.

The basic steps are:

2 If you want also to check out the item, nominate the item to be checked out (it must already have been nominated to be extracted).

Perform these steps:

1 Right-mouse click over the Explorer, and then select Prepare to check out to project from the floating menu. When this has been done, System Architect enters “Extract mode” in which Extract filters become available, and a new Extract to project encyclopedia entry becomes available in the Access Control dialog. (If the menu entry Prepare to check out to project is clicked again, System Architect exits from “Extract mode”.)

2 Right-mouse click on an item (diagram or definition) and select Access control from the floating menu.

3 In the Access Control dialog, select the action Extract to project encyclopedia. You may include subordinate definitions and subordinate diagrams by toggling on the appropriate choice.

▪Subordinate diagrams: For a definition, a subordinate diagram is any child diagram connected to the definition’s symbol. For a diagram, a subordinate diagram is any child diagram connected to a symbol on the selected diagram.

You have now nominated the selected diagram or definition to be extracted. This fact is indicated in the browser by a red arrow with a double arrowhead to the left of the selected diagram or definition.

You may un-nominate items that you have nominated to be extracted, by performing these steps:

1 Right-mouse click on an already nominated diagram or definition (indicated in the explorer by a red double-arrowhead to their left) and select Access Control from the floating menu.

2 In the Access Control dialog, select Do not extract to project encyclopedia in the property Select desired action.

To check out a diagram or definition, you must first nominate it to be extracted, then nominate it to be checked out, then check it out. Perform these steps:

1 Right-mouse click on a diagram or definition already nominated to be extracted (indicated in the Explorer by a red double-arrowhead to their left), and then select Access Control from the floating menu.

2 In the Access Control dialog, select Check out to project encyclopedia in the property Select desired action. You may include subordinate definitions and subordinate diagrams by toggling on the appropriate choice.

To un-nominate items that you have already nominated to be checked out, perform these steps:

2 Select from the two actions available: Do not check out to project encyclopedia and Do not extract to project encyclopedia. The former action enables the user to reverse a previous nomination “to be checked out” and to nominate the item “to be extracted” only. The latter action allows the user to reverse a previous nomination “to be extracted”.

You may easily review the items “to be extracted” or the items “to be checked out” and change the dispositions of those that you have nominated. To do so, perform these steps:

2 Specify the appropriate filter, and then click OK. The browser will be updated to hide/show items based on the filter you selected.

To extract or check out items, perform these steps:

3 In the Merge/Extract dialog that opens, select the target encyclopedia path and the collision requirements (always overwrite target, never overwrite target, use more recent), and then click OK. The actual extraction is executed.

When nominating items to be extracted, please be aware of these points:

▪An item may not be nominated “to be checked out” if it is locked, frozen or checked out in the master.

▪If an item is nominated “to be extracted”, all items referenced by that item are also set “to be extracted”.

If an item that is referenced by a complete list is marked “to be checked out”, the container of that complete list will also be marked “to be checked out”. (As examples: if an Attribute is so marked, so is its owning Entity; if a Class Attribute or a Method is so marked, so is their containing Class.)

During the extract process, System Architect performs checks against the project encyclopedia for ‘collisions’ of same-named diagrams and definitions.

Where no collision occurs, System Architect simply installs the item in the target project encyclopedia.

When there is a collision, the following considerations apply:

▪An item may not be checked out to the project if it is checked out or frozen by someone other than the merge/extract process in the project.

▪The item’s data already present is overwritten by the material being extracted only if it fulfills the collision requirements specified earlier.

An item marked “to be checked out” has the property Target Encyclopedias in the master set to the path of the project encyclopedia. In the project encyclopedia, the item has its property Source Encyclopedias set to the path of the master encyclopedia. (The Source Encyclopedias may contain lists of such master encyclopedias.)

An item marked “to be checked out” is now marked checked out by merge/extract in the master encyclopedia. An item simply marked “to be extracted” is marked frozen by merge/extract in the project encyclopedia and its “to be extracted” status is removed in the master.