Rational Programming Patterns

Diagram of a layer organization

This diagram shows a stack of layers. The layer displayed by default in the first position is the lowest layer. Its level is 0. The projects contained in this layer are visible from the projects of the higher layers, displayed one after the other. In this diagram, a project is required by one or more projects only if it has been explicitly checked.

Description of the diagram

The diagram is ordered. The projects will be explored in an upward direction (from the highest to the lowest layer) to resolve the links between instances. This order also applies to the projects located in the same layer.

The diagram shows the following information:
  • The layer level.
  • The name of the elements displayed in the diagram: layers and projects. You can modify the name of a layer by clicking the layer name and by entering a new name, which will be saved.
  • The application domains, if some have been specified on projects. These domains are used to group projects according to application criteria. You can then use them to have a filtered view of the projects involved in the development of a specific topic.
When you select a project, two elements are displayed:
  • A symbol is displayed on the project line. It shows the reading direction of the project dependencies. The projects pointed by the symbol are required by the selected project. The projects located on the other side of the symbol are dependent projects. The required and dependent projects can be easily spotted because the check box located at the beginning of the line is selected.
  • Check boxes are displayed on the lines of the projects contained in the other layers. They are selected when the projects are required by or dependent on the selected project. A project can have more than one required or dependent project in another layer. However, no check box is displayed on the projects which belong to the layer of the selected project. No dependence link can exist between the projects of the same layer.
    These check boxes have a twofold purpose:
    • A display function. When they are selected, they indicate the required and dependent projects.
    • An edit function. You can select the check boxes to specify the required and dependent projects.
    Note: You can see the order of the projects required by a project by selecting this project and by clicking Properties. The display order in the properties corresponds to the order in which the projects are explored to resolve the links of the current project.

Possible actions on the projects in the diagram

You can:
  • Move a project. To do so, select a project and click one of the two buttons which move the project upwards or downwards. These buttons are disabled if moving the project is not possible, according to the project dependencies.
    • You can move a project inside its layer. If you do so, you modify the order in which projects are explored to resolve the links of the instances located in the dependent projects.
    • You can move a project and add a layer in order to create dependencies between projects initially located in the same layer. Creating dependencies between the projects of the same layer is impossible.

      Click the move buttons associated with the diagram to move the selected project until you create a new intermediate layer. This new layer comes in between the existing layers.

      A message is sometimes displayed to warn that a project does not have the visibility which corresponds to the layer where it is located. This message is displayed when a project does not have any dependent project in the layer whose level is immediately higher. With the message, you can identify these projects and, if needed, move them to the higher-level layers, or declare a dependent project in the higher-level layers.

  • Add a project to the diagram.

    If you created a project in Rational Programming for System z but have not included it in the build path yet, you can click Add to add it to the path. Select the project in the list of the available projects. If you do not add this project to the path, the links between the instances contained in this project and the instances contained in the other projects of the location cannot be resolved.

    It is automatically integrated into the highest-level layer because it does not depend on any of the existing project.

  • Remove a project from the build path.

    Select the project and click Remove. This action does not delete the project but removes it from the build path.

  • Display the properties of a project.
    Select this project and click Properties. You can:
    • See the hierarchy of the projects required by the selected project.
    • Assign one or more application domains to the project. You can use these domains to filter the diagram and only display the projects involved in the development of a specific topic. Domains are displayed after the project names in the tree.
    .

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