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 the 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.
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.
▪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.
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.