Using Trace to quickly elicit model elements from an identified figure, drawing, diagram, plot, graphic, or table from a domain source document

Sometimes, instead of using text from a domain source document, one wishes to elicit model elements from a figure, drawing, diagram, graphic, or table (which may or may not also contain text and/or engineering values). The SysML Trace relationship can be used to quickly elicit model elements from a Document identifying a non-text source:

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The SysML Trace relationship can be used as a quick way to traceably elicit model elements from an identified diagram or table from a domain source document. You may visually remove the Trace symbols as each element is elicited to reduce clutter.

In this trail example the domain source «document» with diagrams was Arduino Mega 2560 Rev3 Pinout Diagrams (PDF), which shows pin allocations for In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) headers for the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for ATmega2560 and ATmega16u2 chips on an Arduino Mega2560Rev3 micro controller board. The elements that were elicited from the diagram «document» can be nicely listed in MagicDraw/Cameo using a compartment for Trace::getTracedFrom(in ref).

Unfortunately, there are currently some minor limitations when using Trace in SysML1.6+.

One issue is that only a NamedElement can be a source or target of a Trace, so a Slot can't be traced this way:

The UML «Trace» and SysML Trace can't be applied to a Slot as target (because Slot is just an Element, not a NamedElement).

That's a concern when Slots are used to hold elicited engineering values, such as the header-pin to chip-pin breakout mappings shown in the example. This matters especially if you want to use Slots to carry Context-Specific Values!

The UML Trace is between any NamedElements. But SysML does not provide for a /tracedTo operation for every element kind:

The SysML1.6 derived /tracedTo is only available on AbstractRequirement (but in MagicDraw/Cameo you can use derived relationships to achieve the same thing on other kinds of NamedElement).

The next slide shows how.

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Using a generic MagicDraw/Cameo query table to track /tracedTo for any NamedElement type using a derived relationship

Notes

[ISSUE, LIMITATION, WARNING]{INFORMATIVE} The UML «Trace» and SysML Trace can't be applied to a Slot as target (because Slot is just an Element, not a NamedElement).

[CAPABILITY, TIP]{INFORMATIVE} The SysML Trace relationship can be used as a quick way to traceably elicit model elements from an identified diagram or table from a domain source document. You may visually remove the Trace symbols as each element is elicited to reduce clutter.

[ISSUE, LIMITATION, WARNING]{INFORMATIVE} The SysML1.6 derived /tracedTo is only available on AbstractRequirement (but in MagicDraw/Cameo you can use derived relationships to achieve the same thing on other kinds of NamedElement).

[POLICY, STYLE]{STRICT} Webel Parsing Analysis «pa» diagrams are NOT intended as final presentation diagrams! They serve merely to traceably elicit model elements, which may then be shown in other (typically much tidier) presentation diagrams elsewhere.

Snippets (quotes/extracts)

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