The Graph Browser (Figure 3-23) provides a graph hierarchy based view on the repository. The Graph Browser allows you to inspect the contents of the selected graph, and perform operations on the graph and its contents. Like all browsers, the Graph Browser is integrated into the Main Launcher. It is also possible to launch a new Graph Browser instance in its own window from the Launcher’s Browsers | Graph Browser menu.

The middle list shows all the graphs that belong to the selected projects or are sub-graphs of them, and the list on the right shows the elements of the selected graph. You may determine which elements (objects, relationships, or roles) of the selected graph are visible in the right hand list from the pull-down list labeled Show. In Figure 3-23 all objects of the graph ‘TASTW’ are shown (please note that the contents of the Graphs list is filtered to show only WatchApplication models whose name starts with capital ‘T’).

The Graph Browser also allows you to inspect hierarchies between graphs. Whether the hierarchy shown in the tree view is that of decomposition, explosion, both of them (the default setting) or none can be changed from the Tree pull-down list. In Figure 3-23 the hierarchy is shown according to explosion structures: e.g. ‘TASTW’ graph has direct sub-graphs called ‘Time’ and ‘Timer’ (there are also others but as the view is filtered with ‘T*’, only the ones with a ‘T’ as the first character in their names will be shown).

From the menu of the Graphs list (Figure 3-24) you can open graphs in editors, execute and access generators, view the properties of graphs, open graphs in the Info Tool, duplicate graphs, delete graphs or their representations, and create new graphs. This menu is largely similar to the Graph menu in the editors, with the addition of duplication and deletion operations.

To duplicate or replace a graph:

The Replace Tool is described in Section 3.3.5. If Deep Copy or Copy to Depth is selected, and no context is added to the right-hand list of the Replace Tool, the operation will simply create a new graph that is a duplicate of the current graph. Copying to a depth of 1 will result in the objects from the original graph being shared with the duplicate graph. Copying to a depth of 2 will create new copies of those objects, but not of any objects they may contain in properties, and not of any explosion or decomposition graphs they may have.

To delete a graph, select it and choose Delete Graph from its pop-up menu. Confirm the deletion dialog that opens

Similarly, you can delete some or all representations of a graph, but leave the conceptual graph. Note that if you delete representations, their relationships will be deleted and objects may be deleted depending on your current deletion settings. If you want to keep the conceptual relationships and objects, open a new diagram representation on the graph first, and do not delete that. Alternatively, you could open a Diagram Editor and select and copy the elements you want to keep. After deleting the unwanted representations, you can open a new diagram for that graph and paste the copied elements there.

To delete representations of a graph:

A list dialog opens for selecting the representations to be deleted.

If no graph is currently selected, the menu allows you to create a new graph. You can then select that graph and open it in an editor.

The element list on the right has four operations: viewing and editing the properties of the element, inspecting its use in different models, copying it to the clipboard or replacing the element.

To open a property dialog for a given element in a Graph Browser:

Property dialogs, the Info Tool and Replace Tool are described in more detail in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.3 and 3.3.5.