External Files

Handling of input models often causes challenges in case they are incomplete or incorrect. For example, vehicle communication definitions often need to be synchronized for all network nodes and are modeled centrally, while each application team is expected to extend the model with a detailed application design. If the input model is not stored in other files than the extended parts, there is often a time-consuming and error-prone step of reapplying necessary patches and extensions each time the input model is updated.

It is thus important to store the input model in other files than the extension models, so that for example the vehicle communication model and the application design model are stored as different artifacts. This also simplifies updates of the input models since the files simply can be replaced with the new ones. If the input files are version controlled, any necessary patches can be easily distinguished when the version control system marks the file as changed and fed back to the team responsible for the input files. Alternatively, the input files can be marked as read-only to hinder unintentional changes. Depending on the strategy used, this could, however, potentially constitute a cumbersome strategy if the input files are updated often. In order to extend a model element or a package in another/new file without modifying its current file, use the context menu command Split to File…​.