Editor

The editor in the Sketch panel suggests what can come next, underlines what is wrong, and moves you around a long sketch. This page describes what the editor does in each place. For the language itself, refer to Syntax.

Autocomplete

Key	Action
Ctrl+Space	Open the menu
↑ ↓	Choose a suggestion
Tab	Accept the chosen suggestion, or the first one if none is chosen
Enter	Accept the chosen suggestion. With none chosen, Enter starts a new line
Esc	Close the menu

The menu opens as you type. The menu also opens by itself where a choice comes next:

• on a new line in a UseCase, Flow or Statechart
• after each component and each arrow of a call
• in the type slot of an Identifier or Value
• on an empty line between blocks, on the second Enter after the }

The menu stays closed when you move the caret with the arrow keys or the mouse. Your recent picks come first.

A block suggestion inserts a template with the block name selected. Type the name, then Tab goes to the next placeholder.

Suggestions

The menu offers only what fits where the caret is.

Between blocks

StaticAspect, UseCase, Activity, Flow, Statechart, DTO, DTO : Base, Doc, Identifier, Value, External, External : Facet, External:e and Section. Typing narrows the list, so Us leaves UseCase.

StaticAspect

After a name, the component types. A capital letter narrows the list, so OrderM offers Manager. For a resource, Resource, Resource:a, Resource:f and Resource:n.

UseCase

Caret	Suggestions
Start of an empty use case	Clients and utilities
After a component	->, then the components. After a manager, also -:q>
After an arrow	The components that the caller may call
Between - and >	The facets of the target, and :a (async) and :q (queued). With no facet yet, ITarget and Operation()
After a facet	The operations of the facet, or Operation()

The components after an arrow follow the layer rules. A component that is not offered would break one.

Caller	May call
Client	Manager, Utility
Manager	Engine, Access, Utility. Another Manager only through -:a> or -:q>
Engine	Access, Utility
Access	Resource
Utility	Manager, Engine, Access, Utility

DTO

Caret	Suggestions
After DTO	The request and response types that your calls use and that nothing declares yet
Start of a property line	Primitives, your Identifier, Value, DTO and External types, Uri, DateTime and object. Add [] or <…> yourself
After : in the header	Your DTOs and External types, types whose name ends in Base, and the base the generator makes when one operation takes several DTOs: {Operation}RequestBase or {Operation}ResponseBase

Identifier and Value

After the name, the primitive types: bool, byte, sbyte, char, decimal, double, float, int, uint, long, ulong, short, ushort, string, Guid.

External

Each slot of an External line offers your facets and type names. Types that you use and have not declared come first, marked not declared. External:e offers event facets only.

Flow

Until the flow has a lane, only lanes: @participant and the lanes of your other flows. After @, lane names.

On a new line, the steps: task, (Start), (End), send >>, receive <<, timer <T and <decision>. After a name, each kind of step with that name.

Statechart

After Statechart, the services that can own a chart: managers, engines, accesses and utilities.

On a new line in the body: a state, a state with a body, a final state, a transition, a transition with a guard, ->, a state with a call, -!>, >> and ^. A manager chart also gets a timeout, and Session at the top of the chart.

Caret	Suggestions
After > of a transition	The chart's states
Between - and >	The events of the chart
After / on a state	The calls of the chart
Inside [	The guards of the chart
After -<T	The timeouts of the chart
After >>	The actions of the chart, then your DTOs
After ^	The events of the chart
After : on a state	:p, :f, :h, :h*
After Session	Your DTOs, then a DTO's properties after .

Messages

The editor underlines a problem as you type. Hover over the underline to read the message. Ctrl+Shift+M lists all messages below the editor, and the Issues panel lists the messages with the tags.

Message	Cause	Fix
Syntax Error (red)	The parser cannot read the line and drops everything after the line	Fix the first syntax error first
Component '…' has not been defined	A use case names a component that no StaticAspect declares	Declare the component, or correct the spelling
A manager cannot call a resource directly	Only an access calls a resource. The call is not in the diagram	Send the call through an access
This call detail is ignored	An access reads or writes a resource with no operation	Remove the detail from that call
A synchronous manager-to-manager call isn't represented	A manager calls a manager only async or queued	Use -:a> or -:q>
… conflicting request parameters across use cases	One operation has a different number or order of parameters in two use cases	Write the parameters the same way in each use case
… mixes value and reference types	Refer to Mixed value and reference types
DTO '…' is used polymorphically by …	The DTO is one of many types in two operations of the same component, and each operation makes a separate base class	Use a different type, or declare a common base
'…Base' is generated for … but DTO '…' declares base …	The DTO declares a base, so the DTO cannot also get the base that the operation makes	Declare a common base
Used directly in a call, abstract will be suppressed.	An abstract DTO is the request or response of a call, so the generator makes the DTO as a normal class	Remove :a, or call with a DTO that inherits from the abstract DTO

Mixed value and reference types

Every call to one operation must pass all value types (a primitive, Identifier or Value) or all reference types (a DTO). The same is true for the responses of the operation.

A type that nothing declares counts as a reference type. So the usual cause is a misspelt name or a missing Identifier. Below, WidgetId is declared and GadgetId is not.

Permissive and Strict

The Issues panel starts on Permissive. Strict also reports each DTO property, request type and response type that has no definition. The generator makes those as empty classes.

Tags

A tag is a word of two or more capital letters and a colon, for example TODO: or REVIEW:, in a comment or in Markdown. The Issues panel gives each tag a tab.

Keys

All navigation keys start with Ctrl+K. On macOS Cmd works too.

Bookmarks

Keys	Action
Ctrl+K Ctrl+K	Add or remove a bookmark on the current line
Ctrl+K Ctrl+N	Next bookmark
Ctrl+K Ctrl+P	Previous bookmark
Ctrl+K Ctrl+L	Clear all bookmarks

Sections and blocks

The second key needs no Ctrl.

Keys	Action
Ctrl+K ]	Next section
Ctrl+K [	Previous section
Ctrl+K .	Next block (UseCase, DTO, …) in the section
Ctrl+K ,	Previous block in the section

Blocks outside any section count as one group, before the first section.

Colours

The syntax colours are set in Editor Settings.