Description
Read this article in case you want to import a spreadsheet that within its scope contains information that needs to be mapped onto a hyperrelation.
The typical information structure of a hyperrelation is as shown below:
For this article we use the a commonly used hyperrelation between a requirement node and an object node (marked red) and an outgoing create relation from the hypernode (marked orange).
Please watch the below instruction video for a walkthrough on how to prepare and run an import that contains inforation mapped onto a hyperrelation construction.
After the video there is a step by step description provided in text.
Video Description
This instruction video contains a walkthrough of how one can import information that is part of a hyperrelation construction. The three main steps handled are:
1. Setting up the Excel
2. Setting up the import mapping
3. Importing the data.
This is done for 2 cases:
Case 1 (Easy): Importing a start node, the hyperrelation and the end node. Case 2 (Less easy ;) ): Importing a start node, the hypernode, the end node and the information additionally related to the hypernode. As a running case the common usecase of importing Requirements, the objects that they are posed upon and the verification information related to the combination of the requirement and the object.
Content
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Import file for Case 1
1:50 Column mapping Case 1
2:47 Relation mapping Case 1
3:10 Behavior and identification Case 1
4:40 Validation and import Case 1
6:50 Import file Case 2 8:49 Column mapping Case 2
9:45 Relation mapping Case 2
10:35 Behavior and identification Case 2
11:10 Validation and import Case 2
12:50 Summary
Step-by-step explanation
Decide on what information you would like to import and structure your Excel sheet. First time? Read this article first on how to setup an import mapping.
When structuring your spreadsheet, one of the following cases can arise:
Your excel does not contain any columns that need to be mapped on a field of the hypernode or related to the hypernode.
Your excel contains information that needs to be imported on a field within the hypernode.
Your excel contains information that needs to be related to the hypernode (e.g. verification information). In this case your excel needs to contain at least one column. IMPORTANT: When no columns for the hypernode are available, make sure to construct one. This is a dummy column that has a column header, but can be left empty.
General notes to take into account:
The order of the columns needs to be such that the starting node of the hyperrelation (where the relation departs) is imported first, meaning that columns mapped onto fields of the starting node are more to the left than the columns mapped on fields of the end node.
In the above example the excel should have columns mapped on requirement fields more to the left relatively to columns to be mapped on the hypernode and/or the object.
For any create relation that needs to be imported, the starting node should be in a column more to the left than the end node.
In the above example the excel should have fields ordered such that the columns mapped onto fields of the hypernode Req_Obj are more to the left relative to the columns mapped onto fields within the node Verification.
A general best practice is to set up your imports such that the order of the columns of an import follow the relation direction of the semantic model in the above example: Requirement -> Req_Obj -> Object -> Verification -> Document -> ... .
When mapping the relationships, select the appropriate relationships such that the hypernode structure can be imported. The import feature recognizes that you would like to potentially import a hyperrelation and provides it as one of the mapping options.
Note that, in Case B, when also importing data related to a hypernode, be sure to select split up mapping of the hyperrelation into 2 parts (Orange marking) facilitating you to map the information related to the hypernode (Blue marking):
When setting identification and import behaviour, the identification of the hyperrelation is done automatically. The behaviour is set to create when not found and block when multiple found:
The final step Validate & Run is exactly the same as when importing information that is not mapped onto a hyperrelation construction.