Reference Other Project's Model Elements

Project referencing is a feature that enable us to reference to an external project, and uses its model element in our own project. With this feature, we can analyze projects' data by visualizing different projects' model elements in a single diagram. Besides, we can organize our model in a more disciplined approach by having one Visual Paradigm project per library project. This also help slim up projects by separating part of it to isolated projects.

In this article, we will see how to reference to another project, and will go through some examples of incorporating referenced model data in various kinds of diagrams

Referencing Other Project's Model Elements

1.	Open the Model Explorer.
2.	Right click on the background of pane and select Manage Dependent Project... from the popup menu.
3.	This shows the Manage Dependent Projects dialog box. This is where we can add and remove dependent project. Click Add.
4.	Select the project to reference to and click Open.
	Dependency with the selected project is established. We can see the selected project in the dependent project list.
5.	Click Close.
6.	Let's create a diagram element that reference to the dependent project. In the Model Explorer, select the referenced project in the drop down menu to list the model elements contained in the dependent project.
7.	Select a referenced model element. Drag it and drop on a diagram.
8.	This creates a diagram element which reference to the model element in the dependent project.

Example 1: Forming a Class Diagram with Referenced Model Elements

Example 2: Forming a Sequence Diagram with Referenced Model Elements

Example 3: Forming a Business Process Diagram with Referenced Model Elements

Resources