What's IDEF0-SVG

Produces IDEF0 (aka ICOM) process diagrams as SVG from a simple Domain-Specific Language.

The code itself is a few shell scripts in bin wrapped around some Ruby code in lib providing DSL parsing, SVG generation, and an ad-hoc informally-specified bug-ridden slow implementation of half a constraint solver.

The DSL

The DSL is a list of statements of the form: Function predicate Concept.

Function names are space-separated and camel-cased, and identify an activity, process, or transformation to perform.

Concept names are space-separated and camel-cased, and identify an instance of one of the following:

• Function - an activity, process, or transformation
• Input - the data or objects acted on by a Function
• Control - (aka Guidance) the policies that govern the behaviour of a Function
• Output - the result of performing a Function
• Mechanism - (aka Enabler) the means by which a Function is performed

predicate defines the nature of Concept relative to Function, and must be one of:

• receives - an Input
• respects - a Control
• produces - an Output
• requires - a Mechanism
• is composed of - a sub-Function

For example, a DSL representation of IDEF0 might look like:

Function receives Input
Function respects Control
Function produces Output
Function requires Mechanism
Function is composed of Function

You can then render it to a diagram:

There are some more samples in ... wait for it ... samples.

Usage

To generate a complete schematic of a system described in the DSL:

$ bin/schematic <samples/cook-pizza.idef0

This will output the SVG to the screen (which is not very useful):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
...
</svg>

Instead, redirect it to a file:

$ bin/schematic <samples/cook-pizza.idef0 >output.svg

You can then open the output.svg file in your web browser or other SVG viewer/editor:

Because IDEF0 diagrams can be nested, the DSL supports decomposition of functions into sub-functions via the is composed of predicate. The full schematic of such a model might be too large to comprehend on a single page, so the following commands can be used to make larger models easier to understand.

To render only the top level functions of a system:

$ bin/decompose <"samples/operate bens burgers.idef0" >output.svg

Compare the output from the above command with the much harder to comprehend:

$ bin/schematic <"samples/operate bens burgers.idef0" >output.svg

To see a "table of contents" view of an IDEF0 model, use the toc command:

$ bin/toc <"samples/operate bens burgers.idef0"
Operate Ben's Burgers
  Oversee Business Operations
  Expand The Business
  Manage Local Restaurant
    Manage Restaurant Staff
    Order Supplies
      Evaluate Suppliers
      Select Supplier For Order
      Generate Order Form
      Submit Order
      Track Orders
    Increase Local Business
    Keep Accounts
    Report To Management
  Provide Supplies
  Serve Customers

You can then take the name of one of the sub-functions and generate a diagram for it:

$ bin/decompose "Order Supplies" <"samples/operate bens burgers.idef0" >output.svg

Finally, to focus on a single function and just show all of its inputs, outputs, controls and mechanisms, use the focus command:

$ bin/focus "Order Supplies" <"samples/operate bens burgers.idef0" >output.svg

Some things to do

• All the # TODOs in the code
• Some tests wouldn't go astray
• Revisit the building blocks and see what else we need to implement
• Sharing external concepts (they appear twice currently)
• Resizing of boxes based on text length (abstraction text vs label)

License

This software is released under the MIT License.