Freeze Visible Connectors

Working in a collaborative platform brings with it challenges of working with models and diagrams that are often in flux, and where a number of modelers contribute to related diagrams and models. For example a diagram could have been defined for a project iteration (sprint) and during the sprint an architect could be working on the same objects on another diagram for the next iteration, adding new relationships. Enterprise Architect's default behavior is to add these to any existing diagrams that contain the related objects. This might not be a welcomed outcome for the owner of the original diagram.

The Freeze Visible connectors feature is a useful way of ensuring that a diagram set up at a certain point is not automatically updated when new relationships are added to the repository that connect two or more objects on the diagram. By setting the diagram connectors' Freeze Visible property the diagram owner is telling the tool not to update this diagram when connectors are added somewhere else in the model.

A modeler can, of course, continue to add additional connectors to the diagram or 'unfreeze' the connectors and reload the diagram to see the changes. This feature facilitates collaborative model creation and helps teams work together without getting in each other's way. If this situation occurs frequently it might be worth considering using the Time Aware Modeling feature, which allows new versions of existing elements to be created to model future states.

You can hide or show connectors on the current diagram or on other diagrams using the 'Links' tab of the Properties dialog; see the Hide/Show Connectors Help topic.

Access

Design your diagram, and ensure that it shows the relationships that you require. Then fix the diagram as at this point in time by selecting one of these options:

Learn more

• Diagram Properties - Connectors (Properties dialog)
• Properties Window - Diagram (Properties window)
• Hide/Show Connectors