Enterprise Elements

Relationships

EDGY defines three types of relationships each of which can connect two elements to express their interplay. This limited number reflects a deliberately simplified model compared to other visual languages used in engineering practice.

Using just three relationships, various enterprise elements can be collected and connected:

Link

A link relationship describes an association between two elements.

Flow

A flow relationship describes a behaviour or dynamic sequence between two elements, and the passing of objects between them.

Tree

A tree relationship describes a containment or aggregation between a parent and a child element of the same type.

Relationships connect elements

The link relationship is an association between two elements. By default it is non-directional and unnamed and just shows that the two elements are related. Links can also be made directional by giving them a direction and a name.

The flow and tree relationships are unidirectional, describing a source and a target endpoint.

If a bi-directional connection between elements is intended, two relationships should be defined: one from element A to element B and one from B to A.

All three relationships can be displayed visually as a line or arrow, but also expressed implicitly through proximity, containment, indentation or alignment on a grid.