Create a Breakdown Structure Diagram Using Open API

Breakdown structures are commonly used in project management when there are needs in visualizing parent-to-child relationship. This article will show you how to create a breakdown structure diagram using Open API.

The breakdown structure diagram will be created by the plugin.

 Create Blank Breakdown Structure Diagram

A blank breakdown structure diagram can be first created using DiagramManager.createDiagram.

//Create blank diagram
DiagramManager diagramManager = ApplicationManager.instance().getDiagramManager();
IBreakdownStructureUIModel breakdown = (IBreakdownStructureUIModel) diagramManager.createDiagram(IDiagramTypeConstants.DIAGRAM_TYPE_BREAKDOWN_STRUCTURE);
breakdown.setName("Sample Breakdown Structure Diagram");
breakdown.setShowTaggedValues(true);

Create Title

Once the blank diagram is created, we can then create the title, which is an element, from IModelElementFactory.

//Create the Title
IBSElement titleProject = IModelElementFactory.instance().createBSElement();
titleProject.setName("Project");
titleProject.setCode(1);
//Create the element shape on the diagram
IBSElementUIModel shapeTitleProject = (IBSElementUIModel) diagramManager.createDiagramElement(breakdown, titleProject);
shapeTitleProject.setBounds(425, 25, 100, 50);
shapeTitleProject.resetCaption();

Create Elements and Sub-Ordinates

Except the title, every element in a breakdown structure diagram is considered as a sub-ordinates (children) of another element. Thus, a element can be created by the method IBSElement.createBSElement().

//Create Specification (One of the sub-ordinates of the title)
//This is a sub-ordinate of the element Project
IBSElement specification = titleProject.createBSElement();
specification.setName("Specification");
specification.setCode(1);
//Create the element shape on the diagram
IBSElementUIModel shapeSpecification = (IBSElementUIModel) diagramManager.createDiagramElement(breakdown, specification);
shapeSpecification.setBounds(50, 125, 100, 50);
shapeSpecification.resetCaption();

Create Tagged values for elements

To assign a tagged value to an element, you will first need a tagged value container created from IModelElementFactory. Then you can create a tagged value using ITaggedValueContainer.createTaggedValue(). Afterwards, the element will be assigned the container using method IBSElement.setTaggedvalues().

//Create tagged value container
ITaggedValueContainer tvContainerProject = IModelElementFactory.instance().createTaggedValueContainer();
//Create tagged value
ITaggedValue tvProject = tvContainerProject.createTaggedValue();
tvProject.setName("Effort");
tvProject.setType(ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT);
tvProject.setValue("695 h");
//Assign the element a tagged value container
titleProject.setTaggedValues(tvContainerProject);

For convenient, you can also create a private method under the java class, which can be used for multiple times. Here is an example of using a private method:

//Another way to create tagged values using private method
//newTaggedVal() is a private method that returns a tagged value container
specification.setTaggedValues(newTaggedVal("Effort", ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT, "272 h"));
elicRequirements.setTaggedValues(newTaggedVal("Effort", ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT, "68 h"));
anaRequirements.setTaggedValues(newTaggedVal("Effort", ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT, "68 h"));
wriReqSpecDoc.setTaggedValues(newTaggedVal("Effort", ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT, "68 h"));
creArcPlan.setTaggedValues(newTaggedVal("Effort", ITaggedValue.TYPE_TEXT, "68 h"));

And there is an example the private method:

private ITaggedValueContainer newTaggedVal(String name, int type, String value) {
  //Create a tagged value container
  ITaggedValueContainer container = IModelElementFactory.instance().createTaggedValueContainer();
  //Create a tagged value in the container
  ITaggedValue taggedVal = container.createTaggedValue();
  taggedVal.setName(name);
  taggedVal.setType(type);
  taggedVal.setValue(value);
  return container;
}

Create Connectors

When the elements and sub-ordinates are created, we are ready to create some connectors using DiagramManager.createConnector().

//Create connectors from the title
diagramManager.createConnector(breakdown, IBreakdownStructureUIModel.SHAPETYPE_BS_CONNECTOR, shapeTitleProject, shapeSpecification, null);
diagramManager.createConnector(breakdown, IBreakdownStructureUIModel.SHAPETYPE_BS_CONNECTOR, shapeTitleProject, shapeImplementation, null);
diagramManager.createConnector(breakdown, IBreakdownStructureUIModel.SHAPETYPE_BS_CONNECTOR, shapeTitleProject, shapeTesting, null);
diagramManager.createConnector(breakdown, IBreakdownStructureUIModel.SHAPETYPE_BS_CONNECTOR, shapeTitleProject, shapeDelivery, null);

Show up Diagram

Finally, show up the diagram.

//Show up diagram
diagramManager.openDiagram(breakdown);

Sample Plugin

The sample plugin demonstrate how to create breakdown structure diagram using Open API. After you deploy the plugin into Visual Paradigm you can then click the plugin button in the application toolbar to trigger it.

Download Sample Plugin

You can download the sample plugin here.