Create links between model and documentation Copy link to clipboard

To create links between a specific model and a documentation in itemis Model Viewer, the following steps are necessary:

• For preparation, you have to create a configuration first.
• Copy the link of a model element to your clipboard.
• Paste the link in the documentation file.

These steps are described in more detailed in the following sections.

Create a configuration Copy link to clipboard

When working in projects you often have to deal with different versions of models and documents which are continuously developed. Different versions often have similar names. When creating and using links between them, the itemis Model Viewer needs to know which versions you work with. This scope can be defined with a so called configuration that you need to create in a first step. The configuration is a kind of container where you can add all files for which you want to create links.

To create a configuration:

• Click on File > New yconf in the main menu. A file selection dialog opens.
• Enter the name of the configuration file with extension .yconf, and save it in the desired folder.

Tips for saving the configuration:
Save the configuration at the same or at least near the location of your model and the documentation files.

Creating and saving a configuration

• Once you have saved it, the configuration opens in a new itemis Model Viewer editor tab.

Configuration editor

To add elements, e.g. the models and the documentation files, to the configuration:

• Click on the icon either on the top left of the tab or in the middle of the editor.
• A file selection dialog opens. Select the elements you want to add.

Once you add an element in the configuration list, you can see two columns: the first one displays the name of the entry and the second one shows you the location in which the entry is located in your file system.

Configuration editor with two elements

Tip: Add links to elements that doesn’t exist yet:

Maybe you want to add links to file types that are not editable (e.g. PDF files) or do not exist at the moment because they are generated automatically later. We have a special feature for you that makes that possible:

• Add a so called ‘placeholder element’ to the configuration, by clicking the icon in the configuration editor, and add the name of your PDF document plus the file extension. A red exclamation mark is displayed next to it to show that the file does not exist yet.
• You can now add the links to the editable version of the document, e.g. a Word document. (You don’t need to add this file to the configuration)
• Transform the Word document to PDF. Ensure that it has the same name as the PDF file. It should also be saved at the same location as the configuration file. (If you want to save it as another location, you can use a relative path as name of the placeholder element, e.g. ‘subfoldername/placeholdername.pdf’)
• As soon as the PDF file is available, itemis Model Viewer will automatically detect the change, the exclamation mark will disappear and the included links will be available.

Menu icons and placeholder area

Create folders in the configuration Copy link to clipboard

To get a better overview of your configuration list, you can organize the elements in a tree structure similar to a file system. With itemis Model Viewer, you can create folders to group the elements into a clear structure.

To create a folder:

• Click on the folder icon in the menu bar. A new folder with the name folder is created and placed in the configuration list. The new created folder is in focus and selected, so that you can directly give it a new name.

New folder in the configuration editor

itemis Model Viewer supports only unique names for each element in the tree. When you enter a file or folder name which already exists, an exclamation mark is displayed next to it, indicating that there is duplicate name.

To rename a folder you first have to select it. Then you can do one of the following:

• Click once more on it and the name becomes editable.
• Click on the icon in the menu bar, or
• Right-click on the folder. A context menu appears and then select the menu item ‘Rename’.

Give a new name to the folder and press [ENTER]. The folder is now renamed.

A folder can contain single resources e.g. .mdl files, Word files etc. or other folders. There are two ways you can add an element into a folder:

1. Select a folder and click the the icon in the menu bar. Then select a file from the file system and it will be added automatically in the selected folder.
or
2. Drag & drop already existing elements in the configuration editor list into a folder. The targeted folder is highlighted in blue and you can add the element in it.

Drag and drop an element to a folder

Afterwards, the targeted folder is opened and the element that you moved is selected.

Element is added to a folder

Edit and arrange the elements in the configuration list Copy link to clipboard

To change the order of the elements in the tree, navigate to the element and drag it to a new location. A blue line indicates where the element can be placed.

Rearrange the configuration elements by drag & drop

Right-click on an entry displays an context menu. The menu items ‘Move up/down’ and ‘Move to top/bottom’ accompanied by the related shortcuts, allow you to move the elements accordingly.

Context menu on right-click

To edit a location of an entry, right click on it and select the menu item ‘Edit location’. The file dialog opens where you can choose a new location.

When you don’t need certain files or folders in your configuration, you can simply delete them from the editor.

To delete an element from the configuration list:

• Select the element by clicking on it.
• Click on the button at the top of the editor area or press [DEL], and the selected element will be deleted from the configuration list.
• Right-click on the element and select the context menu item ‘Delete’.
• To delete multiple elements, press [Ctrl+A] to select them all, use [Ctrl+Left click] to select several element, or use [Shift+Left click] to select a range. Then click on the button or [DEL].

Note: Deleting a folder, will also delete the contained elements in it!

Further context menu items allow you to perform actions related to the selected item:

• Open: opens the element in a new tab in the itemis Model Viewer (.mdl or .pdf file) or in the original tool (Word file).
• Add file: adds a new element in the configuration list.
• Add folder: adds a new folder in the configuration list.
• Add placeholder: adds a placeholder in the configuration list.
• Open folder in file manager: open the folder in the file system that contains the selected element.
• Expand/collapse folder: expands or collapses a closed or opened folder.
• Rename: renames a folder in the configuration list.

These can also be performed by the accompanied shortcuts or they exist already in the menu bar.

When you have added and arranged all the necessary files, you have successfully created the configuration.

Create a link Copy link to clipboard

When setting up a new configuration and adding a documentation file without links, a exclamation mark is shown next to the PDF file.

Configuration including a documentation without links

So what we need to do now is creating a link between a model and a documentation:

• Activate the configuration for which you want to create links by clicking the ‘Activate’ button at the top of the configuration editor.
• Open the model from the configuration, e.g. by double-clicking the element in the configuration editor.
• Right click on a model element and select the ‘Copy link to clipboard(L)’ menu item. Now the link information is stored in your clipboard.

Copy link of model element to the clipboard

Tip: Don’t worry if you forgot the activate your configuration. A pop-up notification appears when clicking ‘Copy link to clipboard’ which allows you to ‘Activate’ an already opened configuration or to create a new one if none exists yet.

Open and activate an existing configuration

• Now open the documentation file to which you want to add the link. The file must be an editable text format, e.g. a Word document. (See the section about placeholders if your links should be available in PDF files)
• Select the text part which should be replaced by the link and press [Ctrl+V]. The link is added to the selected term.
• Save the file.

Add link to documentation file

• Create a new PDF document with the same name as the documentation file.

Active configuration with files and links

Provide link information to others Copy link to clipboard

When you have added all necessary elements to the configuration and the links between the document and the model, you can provide the files and the link information to others by exporting a bundle – a kind of archive. This enables other people to use the added links and navigate quickly between model elements and documentation and vice versa.