Sketch Pad

6 min

Usage

Available in v6.20, the Sketchpad Tab allows you to draw and map out your architecture diagrams. Just drag and drop shapes into the tool to begin mapping. When drawing, lines will appear to help you align the centre of shapes if desired. This tab is added as an editor component using the Editor Builder. It allows you to draw, for example, architecture diagrams such as reference models, network component diagrams, integration and cloud architecture diagram etc

Please note, this is only for drawing your mappings and will not actually map out any instances in the repository. The repository must also have been updated to v6.20 to use this functionality.

Adding The Tab

Before adding the tab to your editors, you will need to add the slot using the Class Editor from the backend (accessed via Configure). For any class that you want to add sketch to, you need to go to the class editor and click on the layout tab. Locate the ea_diagrams slot and drag it to any other position using the three dots grab handle on the left. After refreshing the browser tab for the Editor Builder, the EA Diagrams slot will then be available to add to an Editor in the Editor Builder.

Navigate to the Editor Builder in the Viewer. If you haven’t used this before we recommend reading the Editor Builder documentation first. Once you have opened the Editor Builder, select the editor you want to add the sketchpad to.

Adding a tab or slot using the editor builder

Make sure the main Editor component is selected, then select Add Component and ‘Add Slot…’. Search for the Sketchpad component with “EA Diagrams” and add it to the Editor. This is a preconfigured tab and cannot be customised further than renaming the Tab.

Adding the Sketchpad Tab to an Editor

Once added, it will appear as a tab in the Editor.

Sketchpad tab added in editor builder

Drawing

The default sketch pad that has not been drawn on.

To draw a mapping, just drag and drop shapes from the options on the left onto the ‘paper’.

Sketch pad, Add Shapes or elements to your drawing

The display options for each shape are shown below. Once you have added a shape these will appear automatically. To define what it is you are mapping, select the shape and name the instance.

Shape Settings

You can use the window contained within the drawing page to zoom or adjust the way the drawing is being viewed. A mapped diagram might look like this:

Sketch Pad Tool tab in the Application Editor

Canvas settings allows you to set the paper colour, choose whether snaplines, infinite paper and dot grid are enabled on the sketch, and define the grid size. This changes how the paper will look in your drawings and is just dependent on your preference.

Canvas Settings for the sketch pad

Export/import as JSON

Use the undo/redo buttons if you make any mistakes, you also have different layout options. Once you have finished drawing, you can import/export the lists as JSON. Click the share button to export the drawing as a PNG, SVG, or to Print it. Currently you can only import JSON files that have been exported from the sketchpad itself, e.g. if you are importing a drawing from one repository to another. We are looking at supporting other formats in the future.

 

Updated 8 October 2024

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