Exercise 21.1 - Confluence Integration

Objectives

The new learning objectives of this exercise are to create a repository connection to a
Confluence repository on the Syndeia Rhapsody Plugin, view the repository including
search, and create a reference connection.

Preparation

This exercise assumes the student has

• Rhapsody 8.2 or higher installed correctly on his or her machine with a valid license for use, and
• Syndeia 3.4 installed as a plugin for Rhapsody with a valid license for use
• Syndeia Confluence interface, correctly installed with a valid license for use
• Syndeia Cloud 3.4 installed with a valid user account,
• A valid user account to a Confluence repository, and

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.

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 view of this information in the Syndeia dashboard Repository Manager 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).

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 Syndeia help menu.

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Figure 1 Repository Manager view of Confluence repository 

Exercise

1. Launch the Syndeia Dashboard (see Video 1.1) and open the Repository Manager tab (Figure 2).
   
   

   Open

   

   Figure 2 Syndeia Dashboard, Repository Manager tab 
   
   

2. If no repository connection to Confluence is available, right-click on Confluence in the left column and select Add... Complete the form and click OK (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, right-click on the repository in the left column and select Update…. Complete username and password and click Update (Figure 4). 
   
   

   Figure 4 Updating Confluence repository info
   
   

4. In the left column, select a Confluence repository connection (Confluence @ Intercax). Your repository should appear at the top of the right side. Expand it to show Spaces and Pages, as in Figure 5. See Background section for discussion of Confluence artifact types. It may be necessary to right-click the repository and select Refresh before it can be expanded.
   
   

   Figure 5 Viewing Confluence repository contents on Repository Manager tab
   
   

5. On the right border, click the button labeled Search Repository. In the Search Repository window under New Search, select Space or Page. 
   
   

   1. If Space is selected, fill in 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 Select space pull-down menu (refresh menu items if necessary), fill in the Title Contains field and click Search. In our example, we entered Intercax Knowledge Base for Space and MAC for Title contains. The result(s) of the search are shown on the right, as in Figure 6.
      
      

   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 outside the Search window to close it.
      
      

      Figure 6  Syndeia dashboard, Repository Manager tab, Search feature (search result highlighted in red)
      
      

6. To create a reference connection between a Confluence item and an element in another repository, go to the Connection Manager tab, select and expand the Confluence repository in one column and the second repository in the other. In our example in Figure 7, we have opened the Rhapsody model on the left and Confluence on the right.
   
   

   1. Select Reference as the Connection Type in the center column.
      
      

   2. Create a reference connection by dragging an element in one column on top of an element in the other. Confirm that you want to create a reference connection. In our example, we dragged the Flight Landing activity in SysML onto the Syndeia-Vision page in Confluence.
      
      Note: In Syndeia release 3.4, it is not possible to create Model Transform inter-model connections to Confluence. Some use cases of this type may be added in future releases.
      
      

      Figure 7  Syndeia dashboard, Connection Manager tab, creating reference connection
      
      

7. Having created the reference link, it can be used from the SysML modeling tool to access the Confluence page by right-clicking on the linked SysML element in either the Containment browser or a diagram and selecting Syndeia/Open Connected Artifacts, as in Figure 8. The linked Confluence page will appear in the user’s browser.
   
   

   Figure 8  Rhapsody interface, launching connection to Confluence page from linked SysML element
   
   

8. The reference link can be used to detect changes in the Confluence page from the Syndeia dashboard. 
   
   

   1. Edit the Confluence page opened in the previous step. Change some part of the page and publish a new version.
      
      

   2. In the Connection Search tab of the Syndeia dashboard, click Get All to ensure that all connections are showing. Right-click the reference connection just created and select Compare Source and Target, as in Figure 9.
      
      

      Figure 9  Syndeia dashboard, Connection Search tab, comparing across reference connection
      
      

9. The result of the compare operation is displayed as red (Figure 10) in a difference table. The Comment field states “Source artifact of this connection is non-versioned. There is nothing to compare. Target artifact of this connection is Syndeia - Vision (version 2) but a newer version Syndeia - Vision (version 3) is available.”
   
   

   Figure 10  Syndeia dashboard, Comparison Result tab
   
   

10. The reference connection can be updated to point to the latest version of the Confluence page by right-clicking on the connection in the Connection Search tab (Figure 9), the Comparison Result tab (Figure 10) or the Connection Browser tab (Figure 11) and selecting either Sync Source -> Target or Sync Target  -> Source. The result is the same for reference connections.
    
    

    Figure 11  Syndeia dashboard, Connection Browser tab, syncing across reference connection