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Clone Element as New Version
Cloned elements are the core of the Time Aware modeling capability. When a clone is made, a new element is added to the 'To-Be' model and a trace relationship is added that connects the new element back to its 'protege' in the 'As-Is' model. This allows details to be added to the cloned element leaving the 'As-Is' element in its original state. Creating clone elements helps maintain seamless development between the 'As-Is' and 'To-Be' model, ensuring changes are well defined, encapsulated and traceable.
Creating a clone of the linked elements on a diagram is a simple migration process driven by version number. The element migration process builds a clone of your selected element and updates it with a user defined version number. In addition to duplicating their base version, the necessary relationships between the clone and the original are created to ensure the logical consistency and traceability of the new model. When cloning an element as a new version, Enterprise Architect intelligently determines where to route the new element's relationships to correctly reflect the intent of the new model version.
Where a relationship exists to another model element in a previous version, the model is examined to see if there is a new version of the target element first and, if so, that element is now used as the target of the relationship. If there is no over-ride, the relationship is set to the existing element. This behavior is extremely useful when studying the impact of making changes to elements in base versions that are expected to remain unchanged throughout multiple versions of a model's lifecycle.
Cloning an Element
The image demonstrates the process of Cloning an Element as a New Version. Note that Diagram Filtering is being used to highlight elements where 'Version' contains '2.0' |
Access
On a 'To-Be' clone diagram containing an external element (an element held in a different Package) to be cloned, click on the element.
Ribbon |
Design > Element > Manage > Clone Element as New Version |
Context Menu |
Right-click on element | Clone Element as New Version |
Create a new clone element
Step |
Action |
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1 |
On the 'New version number' dialog, the 'Enter Value' field defaults to the version number of the current diagram as the version number to apply to the clone element. You would tend to use this number but, if necessary, you can overtype it with a different one. |
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2 |
Click on the . The external element becomes a clone in the diagram's parent Package, with the specified version number. |
Example
Select a linked element on the 'To-Be' diagram clone.
Select the 'Design > Element > Manage > Clone Element as New Version' Ribbon option.
Alternatively the option can be found in the ribbon menu.
Finish with the new 'To-Be' element.
Notes
Learn more