[BUG] Archi 4.7 Saving - Connection Relationship Errors

[reed155]

archi4_7Error.docx

Version of Archi

4.7 Early Access

Archi Plug-ins

Archi Excel Plugin
Archi Scripting
Lightbox

Operating System

Windows 10

Expected Behaviour

Should save without error as in 4.6

Actual Behaviour

Does not Save, presents an error.

Steps to Reproduce the Behaviour

1. Edit model
2. Attempt to Save

Please contact me privately of the error log if needed.

[Phillipus]

This suggests that somehow the connection does not have the correct relationship. Does it open and save OK in Archi 4.6? Try deleting the connection and re-adding a new one.

[Phillipus]

Archi 4.7 has more error reporting for cases like this, so the bad connection may still be there in 4.6 but just not have an error message. The only way I can be sure is to have a copy of the model file.

[reed155]

It opens and saves fine in 4.6. I may be able to share a copy of the file privately with some anonymization. Please let me know how to share it with you directly.

[Phillipus]

Please email it to info at archimatetool.com

[jbsarrodie]

FWIW, one colleague very recently had the same issue. After some investigation, the issue was already there at the first time, but Archi 4.6 was not able to detect it. Archi 4.7 as able and raised the message. I had to manually fix the .archimate file.

@reed155 Do you use coArchi, the collaboration plugin, with this model ? If yes, did you also used some jArchi script to change the type of some objects ?

[Phillipus]

...but Archi 4.6 was not able to detect it. Archi 4.7 as able and raised the message.

@jbsarrodie That's correct, because 4.7's ModelChecker now checks that a connection's source and target diagram objects match the connection's relationship's source and target elements. This will not raise an error in 4.6. The cause could lie elsewhere - in jArchi perhaps.

[jbsarrodie]

This will not raise an error in 4.6. The cause could lie elsewhere - in jArchi perhaps.

I suspect a model corruption after a successful git merge:

• two users work on a model which contains (between others) a relationship R from A to B
• User A creates a new view V using R, then publish
• User B changes R so that it now goes from A to C, then publish
• Result is a model in which a view V exists with a connection from A to B, this connection is related to relationship R which is between A and C !

I once thought about this edge case but then forgot about it. I think we should make sure when reloading the model that all connections are in sync with underlying relationship, and if not simply update (if new source and/or target are still on the same view) or delete them.

[Phillipus]

@jbsarrodie We should track this case on the coArchi issue tracker. But @reed155 has not listed coArchi in his list of plug-ins, so maybe not the case here?

[reed155]

The model I derived my test model from leveraged the coArchi Plugin (Archi 4.6). And the case that @jbsarrodie mentioned seems like it very well could have happened. We have many users that merge to the same model using CoArchi.

[reed155]

FWIW, I did not use jArchi to change object types on this model.

[Phillipus]

OK, thanks for the info. I've transferred this issue to the coArchi issue tracker under the assumption that this is the cause. This way we can investigate a solution based on @jbsarrodie comments:

I think we should make sure when reloading the model that all connections are in sync with underlying relationship, and if not simply update (if new source and/or target are still on the same view) or delete them.

[Phillipus]

@reed155 But send me your model if you like so I can attempt a manual fix.

[michaelansley]

Hi,

I'm receiving the same error with very similar circumstances: Archi 4.6, coArchi, team of about 20 people using the model, branching, jArchi, and then towards the end of a merge process I get the missing folder.xml error message. When I loaded the model in 4.7, I started receiving the error indicated by @reed155. If I can provide any additional info or support, please let me know.

Michael