Objectives

The new learning objectives of this exercise are to create a repository connection to a Confluence repository on the Syndeia Web Dashboard (SWD), view the repository including properties, relations and search, and create a reference connection.

Preparation

This exercise assumes the student has

·         Syndeia Cloud 3.4 installed with a valid user account,

·         A valid user account to a Confluence repository, and

·         A valid user account to a at least one other on-line repository, e.g. JIRA.

The user can use any Confluence repository they have available.  Because the content of your Confluence repository will be different, the specific examples in the following exercise instructions are only a guide and example for your actions. It is generally advisable to carry out these exercises in a non-production repository, a “sandbox”, set up for training and practice purposes.

See Video 1.9 for an introduction to the Syndeia Web Dashboard.

Background – Confluence

As envisioned by Intercax, the Digital Thread is composed of inter-model connections between models in different repositories, which Syndeia creates and manages, and intra-model connections between elements in the same repository, which the individual tool creates and manages. As of Syndeia release 3.4, the Syndeia Web Dashboard can extract and display some model information from the Confluence repository. Figure 1 shows a tree view of this information, with labels identifying the Confluence element types. Note the different icons. The label color coding indicates how the Confluence element type is mapped to the Syndeia Cloud element types: Repository (green), Container (red), and Artifact (blue).

In the case of the Syndeia Confluence integration, the Relations table (Step 7) and the Digital Thread Explorer (Step 9 onwards) can display one intra-model connection type, Contains, between Pages, as well as inter-model connections. The intra-model connections are not permanently part of the Syndeia Cloud graph; they are extracted and displayed as needed.

This information is important in formulating and interpreting Syndeia graph queries. A more complete diagram of the Confluence data model as it is understood by Syndeia is available through the web dashboard help menu on the left.

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Figure 1 Tree view of Confluence repository

Exercise

1. Log on to the Syndeia Cloud Web Dashboard (see Video 1.9) and click on the Repositories icon on the left border (Figure 2).
   
   

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   Figure 2 SWD Repositories page (initial) – Repositories icon outlined in red
   
   

2. If no repository connection to Confluence is available, select Confluence in the left column, then click the + icon at the top of the column. Complete the form and click Create (Figure 3).
   
   

   Figure 3 Adding a Confluence repository connection
   
   

3. If a Confluence repository connection already appears under Confluence, but you need to add your own access credential, select the Confluence repository and click the Gear icon at the top of the column. Complete username and password and click Update (Figure 4).
   
   

   Figure 4 Updating Confluence repository info
   
   

4. Your repository should load. Expand it to show Spaces and Pages, as in Figure 5. See Background section for discussion of Confluence artifact types.
   
   

   Figure 5 Viewing Confluence repository contents on Repositories page
   
   

5. On the right border, there are three icons, labeled Details, Relations and Search. Select a Confluence element in the Tree View column (Intercax Knowledge Base (1) in our example) and click on the Details icon. A Detail list appears to the right as in Figure 6. Scroll down and review the attributes of the Confluence element that are available to Syndeia 3.4, including name and external, which is the unique Page Number in the Confluence repository. The property list can be re-ordered using the Alphabetical sort/Default sort icons above the list. Click the Details icon again to close the list.
   
   

   Figure 6  SWD Repositories page, Details list (Details icon highlighted in red)
   
   

6. Click the Search icon on the right.
   
   

   1. In the Search window, select Space or Page. If Space is selected, fill int the Title Contains field and click Search.
      
      

   2. If Page is selected, select Simple or Advanced. Under Simple, select the Confluence Space to be searched from the Space pull-down menu,  fill in the Title Contains field and click Search. In our example, we entered SHD-Intercax Knowledge Base (1) for Space and Intercax for Title Contains. The result(s) of the search are shown on the right, as in Figure 7.
      
      

   3. If you select the Advanced option before searching, you may enter a query in CQL (Confluence Query Language) for the search.  See Confluence documentation for a discussion of CQL.
      
      

   4. Click the Search icon again to close the Search window.
      
      

      Figure 7  SWD Repositories page, Search feature (Search icon and search result highlighted in red)
      
      

7. Select a Confluence element in the Tree View column (Intercax Knowledge Base (1)) in our example) and click on the Relations icon on the right.
   
   

   1. In the Relations window (Figure 8), you will see a list of Inter-model relations, from the selected Confluence item to other non-Confluence models, and a list of Intra-model relations, from the selected Confluence element to other Confluence elements in the same Confluence repository. In this example, there is one Inter-model relation, to an Aras item, and multiple intra-model relations to other Confluence pages.
      
      

      Figure 8  SWD Repositories page, Relations lists (Relations and Add icons highlighted in red)
      
      

8. To create a reference connection between the selected Confluence item and an element in another repository, click on the + (Add) icon highlighted in Figure 8. A Create Reference Relationships window will appear as in Figure 9.
   
   

   1. At the top, either select an existing Syndeia project to save the connection within (DZSB11 in our example) or create a new project. See Video 1.5 on creating Syndeia projects for further discussion.
      
      

   2. Under Select target artifact, choose the other repository to which the new connection will be made. In our example this is JIRA @ Intercax.
      
      

   3. If you have valid access to this repository, its contents will appear at the bottom of the window. Scroll down to the element that will be the target of the new connection and click the checkbox beside it. This is JIRA issue SDB-2132 in our example.
      
      

   4. Each Syndeia connection has a directionality. The Select direction pull down menu higher up in the window allows the directionality to be set as desired before the connection is made.
      
      

   5. Click on the Create Reference Connection button at the bottom. The new connection should appear in the Inter-model list after the Reload icon is clicked.
      
      

   6. Click the Relations icon again to close the Relations window.
      
      Note: In Syndeia release 3.4, it is not possible to create Model Transform inter-model connections or intra-model connections through the SWD. Some of those use cases will be added in future releases.
      
      

      Figure 9  SWD Create Reference Relationship window
      
      

9. The Digital Thread Explorer or DTE (Figure 10 - Figure 12) provides interactive visualization of inter-model and intra-model connections in a graph format. To launch DTE, right-click an item in the Tree View and choose Graph View. In our example, this is a Confluence Page, Intercax Knowledge Base (1). Initially, it appears as a single node in the Graph View, as in Figure 10.
   
   

   Figure 10  DTE, stage 1
   
   

10. Click on the node (it will show a black border when selected), right-click on it and choose expand. If this element has any connections, they should appear as in Figure 11. In our example, the initial element had five intra-model connections to other Confluence items (green circles) and two inter-model connections, to a JIRA issue (brown) and an Aras item (tan).
    
    

    Figure 11  DTE, stage 2
    
    

11. If I right-click on one of the new nodes (Aras item Syndeia Test Product 1) and expand it, additional edges and nodes are displayed (Figure 12), including inter-model connections to a Jama requirement (dark blue), DOORS requirement (red), Bitbucket file (red-orange) and a text file on my local file system (forest green). This process can continue until all connections are displayed.
    
    

    Figure 12  DTE, stage 3
    
    

12. Confluence spaces and pages in either the Graph View or the Tree View offer direct access to that element in the Confluence repository. If I right-click on Intercax Knowledge Base (1) in the diagram in Figure 12 and choose More Details, my browser will open to the same element in Confluence as in Figure 13 (I may be required to log-in to Confluence first).
    
    

Figure 13  Confluence browser interface launched from Syndeia Web Dashboard