Scenarios

Scenarios let you explore possible changes to an ownership diagram without changing the base diagram. You can create a scenario, add steps, adjust the structure and layout, and return later without losing the scenario's own working state.

Key Idea

A scenario starts from the base diagram, but it does not stay tied to the base diagram's layout forever.

• The base diagram seeds the scenario when the scenario is first created.
• Each new scenario step starts from the previous scenario step.
• Existing scenario steps keep their own geometry, settings, and scenario changes.
• The base diagram's entity filter still controls which base entities are in scope.

Creating a Scenario

When you create a new scenario from a base diagram, StructureGram creates the first scenario step.

At that moment, the first step receives a snapshot of the base diagram's current canvas state, including:

• Entity positions
• Link vertices and routing
• Manual layout state
• Flex routing state, if flex routing is active
• Diagram presentation and view settings

This copy happens once. After the scenario is created, edits to the base diagram's layout do not overwrite the scenario's first step.

Revisiting an Existing Scenario

When you reopen an existing scenario or scenario step, StructureGram loads that step's own saved state.

This means the step keeps its own:

• Scenario entity and relationship changes
• Entity positions
• Link vertices
• Layout mode and routing settings
• View and presentation settings

Revisiting a scenario does not take a fresh layout copy from the base diagram.

Creating a New Step

When you create a new step inside an existing scenario chain, the new step starts from the scenario step you are currently working from.

The new step carries forward the prior step's scenario-local canvas state, including:

• Manual entity positions
• Manual or flex link vertices
• Layout engine and routing settings
• View and presentation settings

After the new step is created, it has its own life. Later changes to the previous step do not automatically rewrite the new step.

Revisiting an Existing Step

Existing steps are not rebuilt from base or from earlier steps each time you open them.

When you open a step, StructureGram resolves the scenario changes up to that step and then applies the step's own saved canvas state. This keeps earlier planning work stable while still letting you move between steps.

How Entity Filters Affect Scenarios

Entity filters behave differently from layout and geometry.

The base diagram's active entity filter controls the base scope used by the scenario. If you change the entity filter on the base diagram, that scope change is reflected when scenarios are resolved.

This means:

• If a base entity is removed from the active entity filter, it may disappear from the scenario view.
• If a base entity is added to the active entity filter, it may become available in the scenario view.
• Scenario-specific changes still apply on top of the filtered base data.
• Scenario step layout is not reset just because the entity filter changes.

Think of the entity filter as the current base data boundary. Think of scenario steps as their own planning layers inside that boundary.

If you create a new entity after the base diagram was created, add it to the base diagram's entity filter before expecting it to appear in scenarios based on that diagram.

Auto Layout, Manual Layout, and Flex Routing

Scenarios preserve the layout state they are created with.

If the base diagram is in manual layout, the first scenario step starts with the same manual geometry. If the base diagram uses flex routing, the first scenario step starts with the same flex routing settings and carried-forward vertices.

For later steps, the same rule applies from step to step: the new step starts from the current scenario step's layout and routing state.

Practical Example

1. You open a base ownership diagram with 10 entities in its entity filter.
2. You arrange the diagram manually and use flex routing.
3. You create a scenario.
4. Step 1 starts with the same entity positions, flex routing settings, and link vertices.
5. You move entities and change relationships inside Step 1.
6. You create Step 2.
7. Step 2 starts from Step 1's current scenario state.
8. You later change the base diagram's entity filter from 10 entities to 9.
9. The scenario resolves against the new 9-entity base scope, but each existing step keeps its own saved layout state as far as possible.

Summary