Stardust offers several reverse-engineering facilities which allow the modeler to retrieve information from the model and have diagrams - or their parts - reconstructed in new diagrams in an automated way.
The easiest way to use already defined elements of a model is to drag an individual component (an activity, a participant, an application, etc.) from the Outline view area to the diagram canvas and drop it there.
Figure: Drag-and-Drop Functionality
After you have dragged a symbol to the diagram canvas, all the connections to other symbols present in this diagram will be retrieved from the model repository and restored automatically.
Entire hierarchies or their branches can be reconstructed in a diagram to visualize the organizational structures defined in the model. To have a diagram of an organization hierarchy generated:
Figure: Generating a Diagram visualizing an
Organization Hierarchy
If there are more than one organizations in the diagram, you see a list of organizations to choose from, as shown below:
Figure:Organization Hierarchy for more than one
organizations
Entire activity/transition graphs can be reconstructed in a diagram to visualize the series of activities defined in the model. To have a diagram with an activity graph generated:
Figure: Generating a Diagram visualizing an
Activity/Transition Graph
Note, that in a lane or pool the creation of activity graphs is only possible if the lane or pool does not contain sublanes and is not collapsed.
The model traversal allows to traverse a path (a linear structure) starting from a selected element in a diagram or the Outline view.
The Process Model Traversal View updates its content each time you perform one step forward in your traversal path by double-clicking a selected element in the list of Linked Objects. To return to your previous position, push the Pop button in the view. When your traversal path has been determined, select the elements and click the diagram canvas to place them in the diagram one by one.
Figure: Generating a Traversal Path Diagram
Each time a symbol is dragged into the diagram canvas, a check is performed on the base of the current model information to find out whether there are connections which have not yet been drawn between this symbol and any of the symbols visible in this diagram.
An explicit reload of all connections may, however, prove to be necessary. Use the option Reload Connections available in the diagram canvas pop-up menu. In the upcoming dialog, you can choose which connections should be drawn.
Figure: Reloading Connections from Model