DE4SDV Model Viewer — how to use it

The DE4SDV model viewer is a read-only HTML viewer for the DE4SDV SysML v2 systems model. It follows the project-browser pattern of desktop modeling tools: the model tree on the left, packages and their members with documentation on the right, and every declared view with the diagram that SysIDE renders from it.

It is a viewer, not a modeler. Nothing on these pages edits the model. Diagrams are the committed syside viz artifacts gathered in each first-level model area's diagrams/ folder, so what you see is exactly what the privileged validation workflow rendered — never a re-render.

Diagram provenance

Every diagram in this viewer is a committed artifact, not a live render: it was produced with SysIDE (syside viz) by the privileged validation workflow and committed to the repository beside the model sources in each area's diagrams/ folder. The viewer embeds exactly those files — it never re-renders or invents a diagram.

To render or refresh diagrams yourself, install the SysIDE Editor extension for VS Code — setup and the visualization commands are in the official SysIDE documentation — open the package that declares the view, run the visualization command on it, and contribute the updated SVG through a pull request.

The live website

The public reader experience is viewer.de4sdv.org. It serves one reviewed current revision and its bounded Ask-model capability. Right-click a model element and choose Ask the model to ask a question grounded in the deployed model. The answer is generated, not model authority: follow its element/source links and verify important conclusions against the model.

The prebuilt branch and pull-request viewer remains available at the native GitHub Pages URL as a browse-only engineering mirror. It does not execute Ask-model requests.

Repository diagram collections

Each first-level model area that declares concrete views has a generated VIEWS.md landing page. It lists every view, explains the reviewer question in one sentence, records the source/viewpoint/concern/exposure metadata, and embeds the committed SVG when the render passed publication QA:

• architecture
• AEBS
• middleware
• DE4SDV method
• product models

The landing page keeps a visible status entry when a diagram is withheld. Empty view frames, exposure-only renders, and empty table/matrix frames are not published as if they were usable diagrams. Dense or degraded-but-informative renders stay available with a presentation note and should be opened at full size.

Run it locally (your own work)

Localhost serves your own working tree and unmerged branches — use it for your own work and direct feedback before anything is published:

python -m tools.sysml_html_viewer.serve --repo . --port 8787
# open http://127.0.0.1:8787/

Server mode includes auto-refresh and on-demand builds of any branch or pull request you select.

Static build (no server, works from file://):

python -m tools.sysml_html_viewer.generate --repo . --out build/model-viewer

Features

Hover tooltips on elements

Rest the pointer on any model label — tree entry or diagram element. A tooltip shows the element kind, its documentation, the source file and line, and a link that jumps to the declaration in the highlighted source. Hovering a compartment row (for example attributes or doc …) shows the tooltip of the element whose compartment it renders.

Hover tooltips on connections

In a diagram, hover the connection line itself (the polyline between two ports). The tooltip names the connection or flow that the line renders, with its kind, source location, and a link to the declaration. The label lying on the connection wins over the endpoint labels, so you always learn what the wire is, not just where it ends. This works for connection, flow, and bind relationships.

Go to definition

Click any tooltip link to jump to the declaration line in the highlighted source view of the model file. In the source view, identifiers that resolve to model elements are clickable links — hover them for a tooltip, click to jump. Self-links on the declaration itself are omitted so the source stays quiet.

Tree search and filters

The search box filters the model tree live by names, kinds, and documentation text — type and the tree narrows to matching members, with matches highlighted. The filter row beside the search narrows by kind (part, port, requirement, view, … — only kinds actually used in the model are listed), SAF domain, and SAF aspect. The ✕ button clears search and filters.

Revision picker (branches and pull requests)

Every page header has a Revision picker. It lists the working tree, main, and any branches or open pull requests that were built. In server mode, unbuilt revisions are built on demand when you select them (a progress overlay shows while building). The picker is disabled (with the reason shown) for revisions that were not built; published sites list all open PR heads.

Fullscreen diagrams

Every diagram frame has a ⛶ button that expands the diagram to fill the window. Press Esc or click ⛶ again to exit. Tooltips keep working in fullscreen.

Auto-refresh (server mode)

In server mode, editing a .sysml file (or the viewer's own code) and refreshing the page shows the change immediately — the server rebuilds when it detects newer files.

Community chat

The Chat link in the header points to the DE4SDV Mattermost community (<https://chat.de4sdv.org>).

DE4SDV Guide (repository assistant)

The Guide button at the bottom-right of every page opens the DE4SDV Guide, a chat assistant for the repository: documentation, architecture material, architecture decision records, tooling, the contribution workflow, and product-line assets. It is minimized by default; "New chat" clears the conversation, and the conversation stays available while you navigate the viewer (stored in your browser only).

DE4SDV Guide is a generated answer source grounded in the deployed Git checkout — it is not an engineering or model authority and it never queries the Systems Modeling API. When the repository material does not answer a question, it says so instead of guessing. Answers carry source references that open on GitHub at the exact deployed revision.

For questions about a specific model element, use Ask the model instead: right-click the element in the viewer. Ask the model is the element-grounded model capability and is separate from DE4SDV Guide — the two never substitute for each other.

Static vs. server mode

A page served from a static build (including the native Pages mirror) shows a note when a revision is listed but not built: "served statically — run python -m tools.sysml_html_viewer.serve …". Server mode is the only mode that builds revisions on demand and watches for model changes. The public interactive service is intentionally pinned to one reviewed application revision and one validated model revision; it does not expose arbitrary branch or pull-request builds.