Model element and view

A model element is an elementary component of a model. It will be created when you create a shape on a diagram, or when we create one directly through the Model Explorer. An example of model element is class.

Creat a model element through Model Explorer

You can visualize an existing model element by dragging and dropping a model element from Model Explorer to diagram. We call the visualized form of model element a view, or a shape, depending on whether we want to emphasis the differences against model element, or we want to focus on diagramming operations.

Creating a view from an existing model element through drag and drop

When developing context-based diagrams, you will reuse a model element in different diagrams, resulted in creating multiple views. Each model element can associate with zero to multiple views. When you make specification-level change, such as changing of name, on any view, the change will be applied to all views.

Showing a view of a model element

If you want to open a diagram from a model element, right click on the model element in Model Explorer and select Show View... from the popup menu. Then, select the view to open in the Show View dialog box and click Go to View to open the diagram.