Structure Writer

What it is and why it exists

In a DOORS Next module, the place of a requirement (which chapter it sits in, which number it has, where it comes in the document) is visible only inside the module view. As soon as artifacts are shown in a view across modules, exported, filtered, reported or sent to another tool, that context is gone. Teams coming from DOORS 9 also miss their familiar document IDs such as "SRS-1234".

Structure Writer copies the structure into attributes, so it travels with the artifact. For every artifact of a module it can write the path of its parent chapters ("1 Introduction > 1.2 Scope"), a formatted ID made of a prefix, the artifact's ID and a suffix ("SRS-001234-A"), and a number that grows in module order, for sorting. You choose which of the three values you need and into which attribute each one goes.

Problems it solves

• Exports and views across modules lose the chapter a requirement belongs to.
• Requirements cannot be sorted in document order outside the module.
• Migrated projects need IDs in document style with a prefix, and typing them by hand is slow and invites mistakes.
• Old numbering tools updated one artifact at a time and took minutes for every hundred artifacts.
• After a chapter is moved or inserted, paths and numbers kept by hand are wrong without anyone noticing.

Benefits

• Three values in one run: hierarchy path, formatted ID and sequence number, each optional and each in its own attribute.
• Flexible path: each level as section number and name, number only, name only, ID, or ID and name, with your own separator, with or without the artifact itself.
• Whole modules, fast: no limit of 200 artifacts; the structure is read once and values are saved in batches.
• Checked first: for a selection the Write tile says how many artifacts change, and the confirmation says how many paths, IDs and numbers are written; values that are already right are never saved again.
• Stays correct: run it again after restructuring and only the values that changed are updated.
• Evidence: an Excel change report with every value before and after.

How to use

1. In Rules, switch on the values you need and choose the target attribute of each: the hierarchy path (with level format and separator), the formatted ID (prefix, suffix, zero padding) and the sequence number (start and step).
2. Optionally limit the run to one artifact type, leave out headings, or fill only empty targets (Additional settings).
3. Open a module, choose Whole module and click Write: read the confirmation and click Write values. The values are written into the whole module in one pass and only values that really change are saved.
4. Or select some artifacts in the module and choose Selection: the Write tile shows how many of them change; click Write and confirm with Write values. Their paths and numbers still come from the whole module.
5. The result counts the artifacts written, already right, skipped and failed to save; Log saves the change report if you need a record.

Good to know

• Always work in a change set: existing values are overwritten by default, because the values follow the structure. Switch on "Only fill empty targets" to keep values typed by hand.
• Attribute values belong to the artifact, not to its place: an artifact used twice in the module gets the values of its first place, and an artifact also used in another module gets the values of the module you ran the widget in last.
• Artifacts at the top level have no parent chapter, so they get a path only when the artifact itself is included.
• The sequence number counts only the artifacts that are written, in the order they appear in the module.
• On very large modules you can stop a run, reload the page and continue from where it stopped, with the same settings.