Diagram of a layer organization

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

The diagram shows the following information:
  • The layer level.
  • The name of the elements that are 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 were 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 that are 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 on the other side of the symbol are dependent projects. The required and dependent projects can be easily spotted because the check box at the beginning of the line is selected.
  • Check boxes are displayed on the lines of the projects that are contained in the other layers. They are selected when the projects are required by or are 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 that 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 that are 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 complete the following actions:
  • Move a project. To do so, select a project and click one of the two buttons to move the project upwards or downwards. These buttons are disabled if the project cannot be moved, 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 in the dependent projects.
    • You can move a project and add a layer to create dependencies between projects that were initially in the same layer. Creating dependencies between the projects of the same layer is impossible.

      Click the move buttons that are 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 that 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 Patterns 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 of this project and the instances of 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 projects.

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

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