Diagram objects and connections

The visual layer of a model is captured in three collections: diagramObjects, diagramConnections and notes.

Diagram objects

An ArchiDiagramObject is a visual node within a view: an Archi DiagramObject (the visual representation of an ArchiElement) or any other non-Note visual container Archi may place in a diagram — for example a Group, which has no underlying semantic element. Any such node is preserved generically.

interface ArchiDiagramObject {
  viewId: string;
  parentId: string | null;              // null when directly owned by the view
  archimateElementId: string | null;    // the semantic element, or null (e.g. Group)
  referencedModelId: string | null;     // DiagramModelReference only
  childrenIds: string[];                // diagram objects nested directly inside
  connectionIds: string[];              // connections whose source is this object
}

Elements vs. containers

xsiType, not archimateElementId, is the correct discriminator between an element-backed object and a pure visual container: both a DiagramObject backed by an element and a Group may relate to ids — but only a Group/reference has archimateElementId === null. And only a DiagramModelReference (Archi’s “insert view as reference” object) has a referencedModelId, which may point at any IDiagramModel — including Sketch/Canvas views, not only other ArchiViews.

Connections

An ArchiDiagramConnection is a visual connection between two diagram objects (an Archi sourceConnection), typically representing an underlying ArchiMate relationship.

interface ArchiDiagramConnection {
  sourceId: string;                 // a VISUAL id — an ArchiDiagramObject id
  targetId: string;                 // a VISUAL id — an ArchiDiagramObject id
  archimateRelationshipId: string | null; // the semantic relationship, if any
  bendpoints: ArchiBendpoint[];
}

Important: sourceId/targetId reference diagram objects, not semantic elements — resolve them against model.diagramObjects first, then follow archimateElementId if you need the underlying elements.

archimateRelationshipId is legitimately null for a plain visual link with no semantic meaning (e.g. a Note-to-Note connector).

Notes

An ArchiNote is a free-text diagram note:

interface ArchiNote {
  viewId: string;
  parentId: string | null;
  content: string | null;
  bounds: ArchiBounds | null;
  style: ArchiStyle | null;
  features: ArchiFeature[];
}

Nested geometry

Diagram objects can contain diagram objects (groups, nested containers). Bounds on a nested object are relative to its own parent’s origin — see Geometry and nested coordinates for how to compute absolute coordinates.

Example

// Every element shown in a view, resolved from its diagram objects
const view = model.views.find((v) => v.id === 'view-overview');
const elementIndex = new Map(model.elements.map((e) => [e.id, e]));

const shown = view
  ? view.diagramObjectIds
      .map((id) => model.diagramObjects.find((o) => o.id === id))
      .flatMap((o) => (o?.archimateElementId ? [elementIndex.get(o.archimateElementId)] : []))
      .filter(Boolean)
  : [];