Object Substitution

Brian

I thought I would start with a post to the Metastorm Community with a tip on a recent capability that we have added to ProVision.  Users now have the ability to substitute an object in the model with another object of the same type.  When the object is substituted it will assume the same position and links in the model as the previous object.  This feature was first put into ProVision with the Dimension capability.  It was expanded with the 6.2 Object Sharing capability, but it will work for any object whether dimensioned, shared or regular.

 

To use Object Substitution, do the following:

1. Place the new object that you want to use in your open notebook.

2. Find the object that you would like to replace and right-click on it.

3. Select 'Edit' in the pop-up menu, and then 'Substitute Object' within Edit.

4. An Object Select dialog will appear with all the objects of the same type.

5. Select the new object, then select OK.

6. The new object will appear in the model in place of the old, with all of the appropriate association changes.

 

This capability will work whether the object is a standard node in a model or a lane in a workflow model.  I trust you will find this capability useful.

 

Brian

Roger Blair

I had a look at this feature and it works really well. 

 

Thanks Brian

Jim Clendon

Hi Brian

 

I've used this feature and have noted the following.

 

(1) The Object is ONLY substituted in the model you are currently working in.   So if the object needs to be substituted in multiple models you will need to visit each model.

(2) When you substitute an object it will create new links between the substitite object and any other object thats were linked to the substituted object.  So you may need to remove the links to the substituted object if they are no longer valid.

 

The approach I still use when an object has to be substituted in all models is:

(1) Add the subsitite object to the model I'm working in. 

(2) Move the links from the object to be subsitutued to the new object.  These links no longer exist in any of the models, only the object that still needs to be subsituted.

(3) Copy the links and the substitute object

(4) Right click the object to be substituted and hunt it down using 'where used'. 

(5) Paste the sustitute object into each models, noting if there is a link to the object being substituted it needs to be moved to the subsitite object.

 

What I would like with the Subsititue object function is an option to do this for all object instances in all models.

Timothy Gallivan

With the premise that you can only substitute objects on the active model, I used the Navigator model to meet this need.  (This works well if you have associations linked in the object attributes).

 

1)  Create a test Navigator model.

2)  Place the object that you want to replace within  the model as noted in  the previous post.

3)  If you have associations with it, it will have a 'cross' icon located at the bottom of the object.  Click on this icon to view the associations.

4)  Click "OK" to view the associations on the Navigator model.

5)  As noted above, go through the substitute objects process.  Your object's association attributes will automatically update to the new object.  (the old association will remain at this time.)

6)  Final step....In the objects inventory, remove/delete the object that you don't want to keep.

 

Hope this helps!

Clint Pegram

Hi Brian,

 

I agree with you to have a Find and replace object substitution function available. OT to make this a priority.

 

Regards

Clint

Javier Herrera

Brian,

 

Please advise if the captioned is available in v6.3.1.

 

Regards,

Prabir Kumar

Brian, thanks for the above post for Object sustitute... i hve used it it saved lots of effort..