Using SysML – JIRA Mappings.

The new learning objective of this exercise are to explore and use existing SysML_JIRA mappings for Data Map and Model Transform connections.

This exercise assumes the student has

• IBM Rational Rhapsody 8.2 installed correctly on his or her machine with a valid license for use, and
• Syndeia 3.2 installed as a plugin for Rhapsody with a valid license for use
• Syndeia JIRA interface, correctly installed with a valid license for user.

We will use the provided Rhapsody project Syndeia_JIRA_Mapping_Tutorial.rpy. The user can use any JIRA repository they have available with the ability to create and edit issues within a JIRA project.  It is generally advisable to carry out these exercises in a non-production repository, a “sandbox”, set up for training and practice purposes.

Using mapping in Syndeia requires two new elements which are provided with these tutorials

• A mappings file, syndeiaTutorial_Rh.mappings, which contains the specific starting mappings used in this and the following exercises. To install this,

1. Close Rhapsody, if it is open
2. Rename the existing syndeia.mappings file in the .syndeia folder to something like syndeiaOld.mappings
3. Copy syndeiaTutorial_Rh.mappings into the .syndeia folder
4. Rename syndeiaTutorial_Rh.mappings as syndeia.mappings
5. When you have completed the mapping tutorial exercises, you may want to reverse this process to restore the original mappings file.

• A mappings profile, SyndeiaTutorialMapping.sbs, which is loaded into a TutorialMappingProfile folder in the profiles folder of Syndeia installation:
  C:\Users\<account>\<Rhapsody installation> \Share\Profiles\Syndeia\profiles\.

Any Syndeia user can use or view the mapping specifications, but Syndeia requires a special license in addition to the regular Syndeia license in order to create, modify or delete mapping information. It is good practice to confine this duty to a very limited number of experienced users or system administrators, who will provide mappings for the general users. Some mappings require a special SysML stereotype to correctly transform attributes to or from a SysML element, so each mappings file should be paired with a SysML profile that holds the required stereotypes, as we have done here.

Many organizations customize their JIRA installation, creating new artifact and relationship types for their purposes. This tutorial exercise uses common artifact types in a standard JIRA installation, but you may need to adapt the instructions if these artifact types are not available to you. Prior to your doing this exercise, a user with the mapping license described above would need to register the new artifact types for mapping (as described in Exercise 8.6) and create mappings using them (as described in Exercise 8.5).

Caution: Rhapsody has, by default, restrictions on the naming of SysML elements, which can create problems when Syndeia tries to create Rhapsody model elements that violate these restriction, e.g. beginning a SysML block name with a number.  We recommend modifying any Rhapsody models you create to relax these restrictions. Modify the properties of the top-level package of the model under General::Model::NamesRegExp with the following string and save.

^(([a-zA-Z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9_ ():-]*)|(operator.+))$

Exercise

1. Open the SysML project Syndeia_JIRA_Mapping_Tutorial.rpy, right-click the JIRA package and launch the Syndeia dashboard.
2. Go to the Settings tab (Figure 1) and check Use mapping under the General heading, if not already checked. Click Apply.
   
   
   
   
3. Go to the Mappings tab. The contents of the main area on the right will depend on the element selected on the left. Expand Mapping Groups and select SysML-JIRA on the left to see the existing mappings in this area (Figure 2).
   
   
   
   
4. The first task is to drag a SysML block into JIRA to create a JIRA issue.
   1. Go to the Connection Manager tab. In the right column, select the JIRA repository connection and expand Projects to show the project in which you want to create a new JIRA issue (The project is Syndeia Demo Box in our examples).
   2. Choose Data Map in the central column.
   3. Drag-and-drop the System A block on the left onto the Syndeia Demo Box project on the right.
   4. A small pull-down menu will appear on the Syndeia dashboard, as in Figure 3, showing the possible mappings available for a block dragged into JIRA.
      
      
      
      
   5. Select Block – Task (no attributes) and click OK.
   6. Expand the Syndeia Demo Box Project and Reported by me folder (Figure 4). A new JIRA issue (SDB-1291 in this example) has been created with default attribute values assigned by JIRA.
      
      
      
      

5.  In our second task, we will use a different mapping to drag a hierarchy of SysML blocks into JIRA to create multiple JIRA issues and to link the attributes of the connected SysML and JIRA elements

   1. Return to the Mappings tab in the Syndeia dashboard and select the mapping Block – Task (attributes) in the left column (Figure 5). At the bottom right, we see that this mapping is associated with a new SysML stereotype, <<JIRA_Issue>>, which contains a set of tag values corresponding to some of the attributes of an Issue in JIRA. On the right side under Attribute Definition Mappings, there is a table showing the desired mappings between the SysML (Source) element tag values and the JIRA (Target) attributes. In the next exercise, we will learn how to create such a mapping.
      
      

      Caution: Not all attribute values can be written from SysML to JIRA by Syndeia.  Some, such as Status, Resolution, or Reporter are read-only. Other attribute values are only written if their values are valid, e.g. Assignee must be from the list of user profiles maintained by JIRA.
      
      

   2. Return to the Connection Manager tab and set Connection Type to Model Transform in the central column
   3. Drag the System B block onto the target JIRA project
   4. Select Block-Task (attributes) and click OK (Figure 6).
      
      
      
      
6. To see the new issues created in JIRA, right-click on System B in the Syndeia dashboard and select Open Connected Artifacts (see Figure 7). System B is connected to Task SDB-1294. At the bottom, two additional issues, SDB-1292 and 1293, are shown as linked to 1294. These were created in the same Model Transform process, the part property relationship in SysML between System B and System B1/B2 reflected as a “blocks” relationship in JIRA. This parts property-blocks relationship mapping is fixed in Syndeia 3.2, but will be subject to user-customization in future releases.
   
   JIRA has assigned the new issue created as Type:Task, because the mapping was Block – Task. JIRA has also assigned default values to some of the issue fields on creation of the issue, e.g. Priority = Major, Status = Open.
7. The model transform just completed has also affected the original SysML blocks.
   1. Display the SysML blocks System B, System B1 and System B2, with their part property relationships and tag value compartments. It should appear similar to Figure 8.
      
      
      
      
   2. Each of the blocks has been assigned the additional stereotype <<JIRA_Issue>>, as defined in the mapping shown in Figure 5.
   3. Each of the blocks now holds the tag values associated with the <<JIRA_Issue>> stereotype, e.g assignee, status, etc.
   4. Where the mapping “Block – Task (Attributes)” has mapped attributes between the JIRA and SysML elements, Syndeia has back-populated the SysML tag values with the default values assigned to each issue by JIRA.
8. In the final part of the exercise, we will demonstrate the Compare & Sync feature for the user-defined SysML – JIRA mapping.
   1. In the JIRA web interface, as shown in Figure 7, click the Start Progress button for System B, changing its status to “In Progress”.
      
      
      
      
   2. In the SysML model, delete part property a2:System B2 (do not delete the System B2 block itself).
   3. On the Syndeia Dashboard, Connection Browser tab, find the connection between the System B elements in Rhapsody and JIRA.
   4. Right-click this connection and select Compare Source and Target.
   5. The Comparison Result tab on the Syndeia dashboard will show two differences, similar to Figure 9, in the status values and the System B2 relationship to System B.
      
      
      
      
   6. Back in the Connection Browser tag, select Sync Target to Source and check that the differences have been resolved.