The script which is shared in this post can be used to visualize ARIS Meta-Model.
By using the script, you can visualize all(full) or some part(partial) of ARIS meta-model and know for instance if there is any possiblity to connect <server> with <application> or <business service> etc. as shown below:
The above model is the output generated by the scripts. In order to make it generic the visualization process requires user specific inputs i.e. what object types are required to be visualized because many users will not be interested to visualize all of <Entire Method> filter which is theoratically possible if users opted to select all object types but it not worthy of common use. Practically, you might be interested to know if <server> can be connected to <business service> and <applications>. For this you are required to know the underlying object types of your symbols.
Pre-requisite for scripts:
- ARIS Business Server should be using jre1.6 and above
- ARIS Business Server Version: 7.1, 7.2 and above
- ARIS Business Server should have atleast one active Network card which will be used for license validation i.e. mac address validation
- <Entire Method> must allow to create <Structuring Model> Type with <Structuring Element> Symbol and <contains> connection type. <Contains> connection type must be allowed to have "Description" attributes. For most of the ARIS users this condition will not be problem as Structruing Model is usually available with entire method filter.
- Scripts should be installed within appropriate Report and Macro category.
Moving forward, these scripts were developed an year ago and some licensing feature were added to it. By default, you will receive <free license> which is valid for 50% of object types of the filter you want to visualize. But if you send contact information then customized license can be generated for you and you can just replace the text within license file. See next para for location of license file. Also refer to the end of this post for how to get full license.
The script is composed of two sets of files which need to be imported within appropriate ARIS Report and ARIS macro categories with the following names:
<ARISMetaModelReport> within Reports Category
<ARISMetaModelMacro> Within Macro Category
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Double check the name of categories as these are hard-coded within the scripts.
Macro Category will contain <Tlicense.txt> which will contain two lines.
First line is the the hexaencoded/encrypted text and second line is the license info. These two should be on separated lines as shown below: (after getting complete license you can replace the text within licensing file to receive full meta-model functionality)
Import the attached macro and report scripts into appropriate category. as shown in above pictures.
How to use the Script?
The script usage is pretty straight forward.
1. Login with your filter
2. Create empty Folder within in your repository.
** It's strongly recommended to use separate repository for visualization.
3. Evaluate <ARIS META-MODEL Visualization macro> on folder level.
4. After successful license validation you will see the following screen
5. The visualization will be performed in two passes, in first pass macro will generate the objects, symbols and models based upon user selected object types and then on second pass (by changing the login filter to entire method) it will visualize the meta-model.
6. B/c this is the first pass, so select <YES> to generate models and objects.
7. You will be prompted to select object types which you want to visualize. As shown below: (**object types will appear depending upon the login filter)
(**because free license is used you can see at the top of windows with object count used for visualization rounded to (largest integerst) <<(less than) {50% of object type count})
8. The above screen is regular selection box you can use <SHIFT>, <CTRL> etc to select all the choices and use appropriate buttons << and >> which is standard procedure for selection so no need to explain this.
9. Let say you are interested to see how <application system> and <application system class> are linked together . Select the appropriate object types as shown below and press ok
10. Now these object types will appear in different symbols depending upon the models i.e. for <Application System Class> object type, it may be allowed in some models with different symbol appearance. So you need to select models that you are interested to visualize for relationship purpose.
{set of model} = set of all models that allowed the object type selected in previous step.
If unsure, use CTRL-A to select all the model types.
11. After model select, the macro will generate models, symbols, object types, connections as shown below:
12. **Because all the objects and models will be created within same folder, model generation should be made on empty folder.
13. Now for second pass, in order to visualize meta-model within on model, use entire method to login. And this time after running macro select <NO>.
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Reading Visualization Model:
Refer to the following model:
The model will contain place holder objects in-lieu of real objects as there is no single model in ARIS that allows all symbols to be placed on. So <Structuring Model> is used to do visualization. It is assumed that <Entire Method> allows <Structuring Model> along with <structuring element symbols> and one connection type <contains> as shown below.
**if you have renamed this model type to something else than no worries as API values are used within script so it will run without problem.
However, if your entire method does not allow the above model then visualization part of macro (second pass) will not work.
If there is multiple connection allowed between objects for example:
"Application System Type" object <provides input for> and also <uses> another "Application system type" object as shown below:
Then in the visualization model you need to read the attribute of connection to know the real connection name/type allowed between objects.
This means that there are four possible connection between two symbols of <application system type> and <application system type> objects. You need to refer to original symbols to know where each connection can occur.
Known Issues
- Sometime during visualization part, you will receive message that entire method is not used for login even if you have logged in with entire method. This can be solved by re-login with entire method.
- Sometime you will see many object types even if your custom filter allows limited number of object types if you encountered this error then <cancel> script executing and re-login with your custom filter.
Full License
In order to receive full license, leave your comments & provide feedback:
<ARIS Business Server Mac Address> <ARIS Business Server Operating System> <Your Name> <Company Name> <Email Address>
Limitation:
Matrix model types, UML Diagrams and Read-Only Model types can not be visualized.
