General Use of Diagrams

For the general use of diagrams, Innovator often offers alternative procedures that you can use depending on their suitability for your purpose.

Creating New Elements in the Diagram

There are many ways to create a new element: A respective create template is always the basis for this.

Note

You can customize create templates for elements in the configuration.

A unique name is created and selected for elements with names.

Note

Diagram elements can only be renamed if the model language is set as display language. If required, change the language by clicking the flag in the status bar.

  • Option 1: Using the mini toolbar in the context menu

    Position the mouse pointer where you want in the diagram, click with the right mouse button and select a template for the element you want from the context menu's mini toolbar.

    The diagram element is inserted in the diagram and added to the model structure.

  • Option 2: From the gallery in the ribbon

    Click on the icon of the element type you want in the gallery's Create Diagram Contents group and move the mouse pointer where you want in the diagram. The icon is "attached" to the mouse pointer. Click with the left mouse button where you want to place the element.

    It is also possible to keep the left mouse button pressed and drag the icon and drop it where you want in the diagram.

    Click with the right mouse button on the templates you want and activate the Repeated Creation toggle command to create multiple elements of the same type. Move the mouse pointer where you want in the diagram and click on the left mouse button to create an element.

    The diagram element is inserted in the diagram and added to the model structure.

  • Option 3: Using the carousel of a selected diagram element

    Select the source element in the diagram. Click on the icon of the link you want to make to the target element in the carousel and keep the mouse button pressed. Drag the rubber band where you want the new element to go and release the mouse button. Select the desired element from the drop-down list of permissible elements.

    The diagram element is inserted in the diagram and added to the model structure. The selected link is created between the source and target element.

  • Option 4: Creating in the model structure and then dragging into the diagram

    Create an element in the model structure and drag it to the diagram as a new element.

Adding Existing Elements to the Diagram

You can add existing elements using the Model Contents, Details, Bookmarks or Result Region tool windows. The element you want is selected and then dragged to the diagram using drag-and-drop.

Selecting Elements in the Diagram

You can select elements in the diagram using the mouse and keyboard.

see "Selecting Elements in the Diagram"

You can overwrite configured display options for diagram content locally in the Display Options dialog. The settings apply for all elements of the same type within the active diagram.

For certain diagram contents, the display can differ in the two dialog modes (Edit Mode (F6) or Read-Only Mode (Ctrl+F6)).

For classifier diagrams, you can use the display options to display the multiplicity of the roles of associations. In each case, only explicitly made settings are displayed. The default value (1) is not displayed.

To enable the easier editing of the roles of associations, the multiplicity of roles is always displayed in Edit Mode, including the default value (1) if appropriate. Only the use case diagram also displays content in accordance with the display options in Edit Mode.

see "Display Options Dialog"

Select the element you want to remove from the diagram and select Design>Edit>Remove from Diagram (Del). This removes the element from the diagram but does not delete it from the model. The element still exists in the model structure or in other diagrams too.

Please note that subelements cannot be separately removed.

see "Removing Elements from the Diagram"

Select the element you want to delete from the model and select Design>Edit>Delete from Model (Shift+Del). The Delete from Model dialog box appears and lists all the elements that are affected by the command. You can add elements to the Result Region without deleting them. If you confirm the element list with the Delete from Model button, all elements listed are deleted from the model.

see "Deleting Elements from the Model"

The diagram can be as big as you want so you have the option of looking at a section of the diagram. Scroll bars do not exist. The Diagram Overview shows the respective diagram section that can be seen in the document window in a black box. You can move these black frames in the Diagram Overview using the mouse.

You can move the diagram in the diagram editor with the mouse. This allows you to control the section of diagram you can see.

see "Moving a Diagram in the Document Window"

Changing the size of a diagram also has an effect on the diagram section.

see "Changing the Size of a Diagram (Zoom)"