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Diagram Binding


The Organizer provides the ability to manage the diagrams and other documents that build up a project, without the need for an external version or revision control system.

Important is that one diagram is represented by one file, and the mapping between diagrams and files are kept in the system file. The system file is the file that is opened when issuing the Open command in the Organizer. The system file has by default the extension .sdt.

A diagram may be bound to a physical file using the Organizer by:

Automatic Binding

Diagrams may be bound automatically when the diagram is saved for the first time. The name of the physical file will by default be <diagram name>.<ext>, where <diagram name> is the name of the diagram and <ext> is a suggested extension of three letters indicating what type of diagram is contained in the file. See Save for information on default file names and extensions.

Example 49

The block diagram with the name DemonBlock will by default be bound to the file demonblock.sbk

Manual Binding

Diagrams and files may be bound manually, on demand, via the command Connect. A file selection dialog appears and the selected diagram may be connected to an existing file. Another possibility is to look for the diagram file in a certain directory.

Figure 54 : Connecting a diagram to an existing file

When connecting a diagram, there is a possibility to automatically connect all diagrams in a possible substructure, the Expand Substructure option. The names of the files are not important when mapping files automatically, using this feature, since the diagram name is stored in the file. What is important though, is the extension of the file name which must correspond to the type of diagram stored in the file.

Source and Target Directories

Two settings in the Organizer are related to where diagrams are stored. The two settings are:

The source directory and the target directory may be changed in the Organizer by using the Set Directories command. In the Set Directories dialog there is also an option to either show the absolute path to files, or to show the path relative the Source directory. For a complete description of the functionality of this command, please see the Set Directories.

Figure 55 : Specifying the Source and Target directories

This affects the way paths to files are stored in the system file:


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