Variant (dictionary item)

Model Parts, Diagrams, Dictionary Items, and Properties > Dictionary items > Variant (dictionary item)

For automation interface information about a Variant, see Variant (automation interface).

A Variant is an option that can be chosen for a Variation Point.

Create a Variant through a Modeler explorer pane or any diagram:

• In a Modeler pane, right-click a Package, point to New, point to Variability Model, and then click Variant.

• On a diagram, click the

Variant toolbar button, and then click in free space.

After creating a Variant on a diagram you can link it to artifacts, Variation Points and other Variants:

• Use Artifact Dependencies to link a Variant to model items that are related to the Variation Point. Note that you can drag a Modeler item to a Variant Diagram so that you can link it to a Variant through an Artifact Dependency.

You can expand a Variation Point or Variant in the Relationships pane to see its linked Artifacts. You can also view a Variation Point's or Variant's linked Artifacts through the Items tab of its Property Pages.

After creating a Variant, open its Property Pages, and on the Text tab, type a description of the Variant. To show the Description in the Variant Selector, select the Additional Properties button.

• Use optional or mandatory Variability Dependencies to link a Variant to the Variation Points or Alternative Choices it's a variant of.

• Use Exclude Dependencies to model that a Variant excludes other Variants or Variation Points.

• Use Requires Dependencies to model that a Variant requires or is required by other Variants and Variation Points.

You can define a Parameter for a Variant. The value of the Parameter can be used to set property values of artifacts in a Product Model, see Overview of variability parameters.

You can specify the display order for Variants, which is used when they are displayed in the Variant Selector. On the Options tab for a Variant you can assign an Index value, starting from 0, to determine the display order.

Through the Decision Set Editor or Variant Selector you can choose to include or exclude a Variant in a Decision Set. In addition, you can set the value of a Variant Parameter.

When shown on a diagram, a Variant's notation is as follows:

When a Variant has a parameter, the Default value of the parameter is shown as follows:

For information about the View Options available for this symbol, see Variant view options all diagrams.

On a diagram, you can populate a Variant's relationships: right-click the Variant, point to Populate, and then click the appropriate command:

• Artifact Dependencies to populate its Artifact Dependencies.

• Constraint Dependencies to populate its Excludes Dependencies and Requires Dependencies.

• Variability Dependencies to populate its Variability Dependencies.

In the Modeler panes, a short-cut symbol

on the Variant's icon indicates that the item is a stub.

The following sections provide information about how a Variant is used in the model.

Properties

In addition to the standard properties a Variant has these properties:

• Default (Default String through the automation interface)

• Derivation Script (Script through the automation interface)

• Derived (Script association through the automation interface)

• Editable (is Editable through the automation interface)

• Enumeration (Enum Literals through the automation interface)

• Has Default

• Has Maximum Length (Has Max String Length through the automation interface)

• Has parameter (Parameter association through the automation interface)

• Has Script (Script association through the automation interface)

• Max (Max String Length through the automation interface)

• Multiline Text

• Parameter Type

• Range Max (Range End through the automation interface)

• Range Min (Range Start through the automation interface)

• Validation Script (Script through the automation interface)

• Visibility

Owned by

Owns

Dependency — The Dependency is owned jointly by the Variant and the other associated item. The access permissions you have to a Dependency are determined by the access permissions of the dependent item.