Blueprint Modeler 1.5.0 makes models look and read like finished blueprints: a title block with an Artifact ID, description and date; five ways to lay a model out; and a new animation that follows data from a business capability down to the hosts it runs on. You can also link straight to any example. As always, models never leave your browser and saved files keep working unchanged.
What's new
A cleaner canvas (M37). Connection points stay hidden until you hover over or select an element, or while you draw a relationship, so unconnected sides no longer show stray squares. Arrowheads are larger and keep their size, so you can see them even on tight curves.
Model details and a title block (M38, M39). A model can now carry an optional description, an Artifact ID and a date. You edit them on the Details tab, and the date starts as the day the model was made. They appear as a title block above the diagram on the canvas, in Present mode, and in exported SVG images and GIFs. The Artifact ID gets a tag icon, and parts you leave empty are not shown. The Model menu is now a panel listing every stored model with its Artifact ID, a snippet of its description, element and relationship counts, and when it last changed. Example and new-model names use Title Case.
Better examples (M39). Every example has a one-sentence description and a numbered Artifact ID (BM-EX-001 to BM-EX-015). Every example now has a Business Capability or Business Process to anchor it. A new hint suggests adding one when your own model has neither.
Layout menu (M40). The Auto-layout button is now a Layout menu with five arrangements, all organized by CSDM layer:
- Auto-layout: works as before.
- Top to bottom: one row per layer.
- Left to right: one column per layer. Lanes become columns, and relationships run sideways between layers.
- Symmetric: every layer centered on one axis.
- Fill space: spreads the picture out to the shape of the view.
Each is a single undo step, and layer boxes and lanes follow the arrangement.
Data flow (M41). Right-click a Business Capability or Business Process, or use the Inspector, and choose Show data flow. Data travels step by step from that element through everything it relies on, in its own color, with Play, Pause and step controls. Export › Data flow animation (GIF) saves it with one frame per step.
Links to examples (M42, M43). model.mikereams.com/editor?example=checkout opens that example straight away. On a first visit it opens only the example, with no empty model beside it. Reloading the page doesn't add a second copy. An unknown name opens the editor as usual and says so. The README lists every example name.
More reliable saving (M42, M43). A save now counts only once the browser has actually written it. If storage is full, you are told, and nothing reports success that didn't happen. That covers autosave, examples and imports.
Compatibility
Still model file format 1. Files exported from 1.0.0 through 1.4.0 open as before. The description, Artifact ID and date are optional fields: a file saved by 1.5.0 still opens in 1.4.0, which ignores those three. Example names are stable now that other pages link to them. Four examples gained a Business Capability: Shared Database Platform, Remote Access VPN, Server Virtualization and Virtual Desktops (VDI). Server Virtualization also gained a Virtualization management application.
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Full milestone details: SPEC.md · Try it: model.mikereams.com