CAST Architecture Checker - Working with block elements

When a Layer or Set is displayed in the Main window (Model tab) with one basic All objects (with sub-objects) matching text box like this (this can be achieved by right clicking the layer or set and selecting Add selection criteria):

You can then right click the purple text box and use the available options to create more complex selection criteria:

Each option is explained below:

Add property block

Will display the Properties dialog box:

This is dialog box enables you to add a selection criterion based on any of the items in the Types and Properties window and using a value.

Property options available for the Identification category

Architecture Model
Quality Rule Model

Like option and wildcards

When entering search strings using the LIKE option, a simple LIKE comparison is executed to find the matching objects. As such, you can use the following characters as wildcards:

% (percent) - this wildcard will match any string of characters, even empty characters
_ (underscore) - this wildcard will match any single character The wildcard characters % and _ cannot be escaped, therefore you cannot search explicitly for objects that contain these characters in their name. As such, you may find that when using the above wildcards, objects are matched which you do not require. If this is the case, please instead use the MATCH option with a Regular Expression to achieve what you need.

Regular Expressions

You can use Regular Expressions in the Values list when working with the Match option only . Please see Using Regular Expressions for more information.

Add member-of block

Enables you to add a selection criterion to the current layer or set based on the criteria defined in other layers or sets. I.e. you can define criteria for Layer X and include them in one action in the current selection criteria in the current layer (or set).

A dialog box will be displayed prompting you to choose the layer or set you require.

The result will be:

Add excluded-from block

Enables you to add a selection criterion to the current layer or set based on the criteria defined in other layers or sets. I.e. you can define criteria for Layer X and exclude them in one action in the current selection criteria in the current layer (or set).

A dialog box will be displayed prompting you to choose the layer or set you require.

The result will be:

Add caller-of block

Enables you to add a selection criterion based on objects that are callers of objects defined in a further sub-criterion (or criteria):

Define the link depth (enter manually). Depth indicates how many links back you want to fetch.
Then choose either:
- Membership > Belongs To - these links represent interactions between parent and child object
- Specific link type > You can choose any combination of specific link types - in this case, any matching link that is found will be included.

Once created, you can then add further blocks as required by right clicking and selecting the appropriate block type. This will be represented as follows when multiple links are selected:

It is not possible to mix Membership link types with Specific Link Types: it is one or the other.
Only one call depth (i.e the one chosen) will apply to all link types.

Add callee-of block

Enables you to add a selection criterion based on objects that are callees of objects defined in a further sub-criterion (or criteria). The process is identical to that described above for the caller-of block:

Add OR-combination block

Enables you to add a selection criterion based on OR conditions - i.e. you can enter any number of sub-criteria, but only one has to match for the object to be assigned to the current Layer:

Once the initial OR criterion is defined, click the criterion to add further sub-criteria.

If you are working with block elements, the CAST Architecture Checker will notify you when a layer or set is not fully defined by using a red warning: