The November release has numerous updates and changes across all levels of the Smartfacts solution: Smartfacts platform, Smartfacts plug-ins,

Smartfacts Platform

Introduction of the Pages Concept

We have added the Pages concept to the Smartfacts platform. This means that you can add rich text pages to the project tree that can be hierarchized. Any page may have child pages. You can manually edit pages or copy and paste content from MS Word or a website. The Pages are a Confluence like feature which is especially designed to document model based content.

Model references in a page: You can drag & drop nodes of a model tree into a page from the project tree. This will create a reference in the page. A user consuming the page can examine the delegated UI of the model node just as you know it from other features like comments, chats, reviews.

You add a page by using the local menu of a folder or a page and selecting the add page command.

Master pages: You can make a page a master page by checking the master page checkbox in the local menu of the page. Master pages automatically get loaded to the left side when a user enters a project. So, a master page could e.g. provide an overview of the project and current focus.

Stereotype Filter for the Model Tree

Every root node of a model can now carry a filter definition of stereotypes. If you want to filter the model tree down to nodes that only carry use case and sequence diagrams of a model, you use the local menu of the model root node and check the diagram types to define the filter. By checking the apply filter checkbox, the filter is activated.

Preset Global Visibility for Newly Published Models

Models that are newly published to Smartfacts are by default only visible to the user who has published the model. This user is the one and only model owner and the only user who can see the model in the Smartfacts model tree. So far, other users had to be provided visibility manually.
In order to simplify this, you can specify user groups in the Model Warehouse Profile in the Smartfacts tab under Global visibility for newly published models.
Simply add group names separated by a comma min order to automatically provide visibility for all these groups to the newly published model.

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Indexed Models

In this release, we reorganized the Indexed Models page (formerly known as Link Index). In order to migrate existing Git connections to the recent version, please do the following:

• Ensure that the existing Git servers have been correctly transferred / added to the External Servers section of the Model Warehouse Profile. Use the Text Connection button to ensure that connection and authentication are set up correctly:
  
  

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• In the updated Indexed Models page, the branches to be synchronized must be defined from scratch. To add a branch, click the Add Config button, select the Git server(s) and the desired branch. Repeat this for every branch of every Git repository supposed to be synchronized via the index:
  
  

New UI for the Smartfacts Global Configurations

Smartfacts provides its own Global Configuration Management concept which is vendor and platform independent and is based on the OSLC configuration management standard published by OASIS. Therefor, the Smartfacts project tree has a standard folder Global Components. This folder cannot be deleted and has a specific local menu that allows to add global components.

A global component can carry an arbitrary number of nested global configurations. Any global configuration may consist of local configurations and other global configurations.

The user simply maintains this structure in a tree. Any indexed model can be used to define a global configuration.

Headless Publishing

We aim to provide an experience in which no single use has to manually publish models any more in order to update the published models. Therefor, we provide the possibility to use the client application of specific authoring tools as “headless publishers”. So far, these tools have been added to this concept:

• Cameo Systems Modeler / MagicDraw / Magic Cyber-Systems Engineer

• Enterprise Architect

• Rhapsody

• Innovator

For Cameo Systems Modeler and its derivatives, the change detection that identifies if a model has changed or not only works when using Teamwork Cloud. Headless publishing does not make sense in a file based scenario.

For Cameo Systems Modeler and its derivatives, the headless publisher now also runs in a Linux environment.

Headless publishing profiles: All parameters required for publishing automatically via a headless publisher are maintained in a headless publishing profile. In this file, we have two new parameters.

1. doDeltaImport: Run the headless publisher in delta import mode. This reduces runtime, as only changed diagrams are published

2. doVersionOverride: Update the latest existing version on Smartfacts instead of writing a new version.

In oder to use the features, please ensure, that latest versions of the plugins are used.

Source Code Link Format

In this release, we have introduced a very efficient abbreviated link format for source code links. It replaces the previous, JSON-based format, which is still readable from the plug-ins. The great benefit of this format is that while the OSLC links are stored in the source code, the base URL of the links is maintained outside the source code files. This means that changing the base URL will not require to apply any changes to the source code files and hence not require to re-test the whole application. To use the abbreviated link format, you must consider the following points:

• if you are using the Eclipse plug-in, upgrade it to 2022.11.1 via the Get Plug-Ins functionality. (A corresponding VSCode plug-in will be available soon)

• Configure the link format in the Source Code Links section of the Model Warehouse Profile.

  • There is a default link format for links to Smartfacts-internal elements, which produces the following links:

    where @(' ') represents the language-specific comment pattern, oslc:// the global prefix, Elaborates is an example of the link type, SUV2.6 denotes the unit name, and EL-40dc... is the smartfacts ID of the referenced element.

  • To enable abbreviated link format for a specific codebeamer instance, add the following into the root-level templates array:

Experimental: Traceability Browser

We have added a first experimental version of the traceability browser. The traceability browser allows to analyze and visualize traces across multiple data sources based on the link index. It allows to select multiple data sources, filter the artifacts by specific filters and generate a traceability report.

The feature can be used from within the analysis center and defines a new analysis type called Traceability Browser.

IBM Jazz Integration

Update of picking / switching Jazz global configurations

We have updated the way you select a global context in the authoring tools, switch global configurations and examine the decomposition of a global configuration in your authoring tool. The new user experience has been implemented consistently across all modeling tools and all other authoring tools that use the concept of IBM ELM global configurations.

genOSLC for IBM ELM

A major update of genOSLC for the IBM ELM platform has been released. Major new features are

1. Link validity - for the first time ever, a company has implemented an integration with IBM ELM with full compatibility in link validity in a global config management scenario. Links between genOSLC enhanced authoring tools and e.g. DOORS Next automatically are set to suspect when e.g. the DOORS Next requirement changes. The mechanism is compatible with the ELM platform architecture and will also be available for the tool integrations outside ELM

2. Baselining: A global configuration containing local configurations of a genOSLC enhanced authoring tool can be baselined from within the ELM global config management application. This automatically trigger the baselining process in the genOSLC enhanced authoring tool.

PTC Codebeamer

Improved Cameo Systems Modeler Integration

Elements in diagrams that carry OSLC links are marked with a blue icon at the upper left corner of the element.

Traceability scenarios can be analyzed by using the Smartfacts generic table template. This template allow to add link information like linked artifact title, link type, link URI and linked tool name to the generic table.

Felicity integration

PTC has provided a new UI integration concept for Codebeamer. This concept allows to integrate UI components from an external application without having to exchange JSP files. We are leveraging this new integration concept. The details on how to integrate the Smartfacts UI components into a Codebeamer version of Felicity and newer can be take from the deployment help file.

Adding new requirements from within the plug-ins

We now allow to add a Codebeamer requirement directly from within any modeling tool. Codebeamer’s governance model make sure that only users who have the right to add requirement are allowed to do so.

Jama Connect

Improved authentication of the API

We have improved the way our solution authenticates against the Jama Connect REST API. As a result, the user will have to authenticate manually less often.

Improved Cameo Systems Modeler Integration

Elements in diagrams that carry OSLC links are marked with a blue icon at the upper left corner of the element.

Traceability scenarios can be analyzed by using the Smartfacts generic table template. This template allow to add link information like linked artifact title, link type, link URI and linked tool name to the generic table.

Dassault Systèmes, Cameo Systems Modeler

Cameo diagram navigation inside delegated UIs

The delegated UI of a diagram now supports also to follow navigation links into other diagrams via a double click. This allows to navigate through the Cameo model within a delegated UI of a Cameo diagram.