Specification Editor

You can store descriptive texts for Innovator elements as specifications; these can then be used e.g. in model documentation. Types (text definitions) can be configured for specifications in order to categorize them. You also edit the requirements here.

Purpose

The specifications describe model elements or requirements textually; images are not supported. They can be categorized for the separate description of different aspects. You can configure various text definitions in order to do this. Requirements have the Requirements Text text definition.

All text definitions that are configured as "Is Formatted Text" and text definitions not configured with "Is Formatted Text" with the Document Area display variant are displayed in the specification editor.

Call

If model elements are selected in the interface, you can use the Start>Open>Specification (F3) command to open the editor for editing specifications of these model elements.

The Design>Edit>Specification (F3) command for opening the specification editor is also available in diagram editors.

Structure

All of a model element's specification texts which can be formatted are shown as tabs in a window in the Document area. The text definitions shown there are taken from the model configuration.

The window's tab shows which element specification texts are shown for. The element's namespace is shown in the tool tip.

The name, icon and element type are displayed in the header; for requirements, the ID is displayed, too.

The tabs use icons to indicate the following:

The specification text contains the configured default text or is empty
A customized specification text is stored
A specification text of another relevant element is shown as read-only

For specification texts that cannot be formatted, you can alternatively configure that they are not displayed at all in the Texts group in the Properties tool window.

Creating Specifications

Usable Functions

You can edit specification texts if Edit mode is activated for the respective model element.

If the Is Formatted Text property is set for the text definition in the configuration, the text editor offers the following functions that you can execute via the context menu or the Text ribbon tab:

Change font and size 1
Change font color and style
Copy format
Delete format
Reset to default font 2

Set font to default. Default is defined in the configuration for this text type or set in the options.
Format paragraphs (bullets, indent, alignment)
Insert and edit tables (insert and delete rows and columns, set column widths, set first row as header)
Inserting or Modifying Hyperlinks with [Ctrl]+[K]

You can access the target address if text is highlighted or if the insertion point or selection is within a hyperlink.
Display a hyperlink on an image in a file attachment as link or image.
Insert model references
Spell Check

If a specification text is deleted and saved, it is reset to the configured default setting.

Requirements

You edit requirements in the Requirements Text text definition in the specification editor. Requirements support the implementation and checking of targets in the development process of systems. This enables the user to e.g. import a business rule as text from a Word document and Dependency link it as a requirement with a use case or a task using dependencies.

It is easy to create, manage and track requirements with the Innovator Office Integration product included in the Innovator for Business Analysts license and is also available for the other products. It consists of add-ins for the Microsoft products, Word and Excel.

You can use the Word add-in to synchronize requirements in the model with requirements in Word documents.

Innovator Office Integration has an add-in for Excel that you can use for importing requirements from Innovator models.

Model References

You can insert a reference for a model element in the specification text by dragging the element from another window, e.g. the model tree or a diagram and dropping it on the text. The text shown is the element's name. This is also maintained in e.g. the Properties window in the specification text when it is renamed. If the text is open when you are renaming, you may need to reload the text from the server into the interface before you can see the new name.

Image as File Attachment

An image in a file attachment can be shown directly as an image rather than a hyperlink in the editor for specification texts with the Text>Hyperlink>Toggle Display command.

You can change the size of the image in a dialog in the Modify Image context menu.

The image is directly outputted in the specification text when printed and upon documentation generation.

Placeholders

Specifications can contains placeholders; these are then replaced by actual values when the text is integrated into a documentation upon generation This expansion also occurs if the respective model element is in the Read-Only Mode.

Specifications can contain the following placeholders:

$(model_name) is replaced by the name of the model.
$(name) is replaced by the name of the element.
$(creator) is replaced by the user who created the element.
$(creation_date) is replaced by the date the element was created.
$(modifier) is replaced by the name of the user who last modified the element.
$(modification_date) is replaced by the date the element was last modified.
$(history) is replaced by the usual history entry; this contains information about the date and time of creation and last modifications made by the respective user.
$l(<label name>) is replaced by the value of the label entered for the element. You must use the logical label name.
$(label) is replaced by a text which contains all assigned labels with their values in the form name : value. No Labels is generated if no labels are assigned.
$t(<text name>) is replaced by the value of the specification text entered for the element. Formatted texts are embedded without formatting. The logical text name must be used.