External Project References

To add an external element to your project, go to the Ribbon and select the Project tab. In the Content group, you'll find the Add External Element button. Clicking this button will bring up the External Element Choice dialog.

In the External Element Choice dialog, you'll find a toolbar with several options for managing your external elements. The Add Project Reference button (represented by a Plus icon) allows you to browse for and add a project reference. The Collapse All button (represented by a Minus in a square icon) and Expand All button (represented by a Plus in a square icon) allow you to collapse or expand all nodes in the project tree.

External Element Choice dialog with external project references

The project tree in the External Element Choice dialog displays the hierarchical structure of the added project references, with folders and subfolders that can contain diagrams and elements. You can navigate through the tree to find the specific element you want to add to your current project. Keep in mind that the external elements added to your project will be in read-only mode and can only be edited in their original project.

To find a desired element you can also use the search box at the top of the tree control. Once you've located the element you want to add, click the OK button to add it to your current project. If you decide not to add any elements, you can simply click the Cancel button to close the dialog.

Using the External Project References feature in Software Ideas Modeler can save you a lot of time and effort when working on multiple projects or collaborating with team members. With its easy-to-use interface and versatile options for managing external elements, it's a valuable tool for any software engineer.

External project element reference

The Benefits of Utilizing External Project References

Incorporating external references into your software engineering workflow can yield numerous advantages, including:

• Element Reutilization - Establishing a library of frequently employed elements and incorporating them as external references allows for effortless accessibility and utilization across multiple projects, eliminating the need for duplication.
• Collaboration - This feature enables multiple team members to work on disparate portions of a project, which can then be seamlessly integrated into a unified project, especially beneficial in large-scale projects requiring collaboration from multiple teams.
• Modular System Development - The division of a project into smaller, more manageable parts creates a modular system, facilitating comprehension and maintenance of the project as a whole.
• Time and Effort Savings through Reusability - The creation of reusable elements conserves time and resources that would otherwise be expended on the recreation of common elements.
• Consistency Preservation - By referencing external elements, uniformity across the project is maintained.
• Enhanced Maintenance - With external references, updates made to elements in a single project are automatically reflected across all other projects referencing them, leading to streamlined maintenance processes.