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International Noodle Day 2017

Whatever you Carbohydrate Requirement – There’s a Noodle for You!

On International Noodle Day 2017, we celebrate this humble food universally eaten worldwide.  There, are of course, variants, rice, wheat, eggs in various proportions, wholemeal noodles with a higher fibre content and noodles made from courgettes for people who want the convenience of a noodle without the carbs.

Now trying to put a product slant on Noodle Day may appear tricky. We’ve opted for pointing out that Cradle comes in many variants too! From Single user Requirements Management to Multi User Enterprise Product Lifecycle design and control.

So whether today you choose to have them from a pot with boiling water as a lunch time snack or coated in sesame oil and chilli with chicken and shredded pak-choi for your evening meal. Enjoy a Noodle today! #InternationalNoodleDay

Different Views

Now whether you see a Noodle as a type of Pasta or Pasta as a type of Noodle is a topic for debate. World Pasta Day celebrates the multi variants of this card dish. These opinions can be seen as different  viewpoints on the same data (the flour / egg / oil in the recipe). Unlike the traditional classic functional modelling, where the diagram is king, in SysML data is prime. SysML diagrams allow you to show different views on the same data, unlike classic models they don’t need to tell the whole story or balance in the same way.  Different user groups may choose to focus on different aspects of the same project and have the same underlying stereotypes, but offer a different top level perspective in their diagram.

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Teaching Requirements Management and Systems Engineering to Tomorrow’s Engineers

Academic Discount – 3SL Supporting UK Engineering

Get Students – ‘Industry Ready’ Designers

3SL are the Proud Suppliers of Cradle, and recognise the importance to good engineering. We also recognise that when students move into industry it is important that they have the skills necessary to make an impact and hit the ground running.  This is why we are offering copies of our Requirements Management and Systems Engineering tool at a vastly reduced cost under a special academic discount.

Laptop, pencil, paper, notes
System Design

We would like to give your students the ability to use industry leading MBSE (Model Based Systems Engineering) tools in Functional Analysis and Design such as Yourdon, or  SysML  (Systems Modelling Language). These link together with the  requirements, constraints, risks and test-cases to produce a fully holistic design. This process is understood by engineers worldwide. Cradle is a fully tailorable cradle-to-grave design management tool.

Cradle Enterprise a Full Multi-user Multi-discipline Design Tool

Whilst you can purchase copies of Cradle that support many aspects of the engineering lifecycle for as little as £249 per seat,  these are not multi user and have some restrictions. In order to collaborate and teach and make use of all the features users would generally install an Enterprise system. They would then licence each of the features they use for their business. Whilst these licences are fully floating, the users share some resources reducing their costs.

Massive Discount –  Save Over £20,000

five pound notes
Discount

We would like to offer any academic department who wish to teach Requirements Management or Systems Engineering techniques to their students ten FREE sets of licences for EVERY module in Cradle. This discount for 10 academic licences gives you a product normally costing approximately £22,200 pounds* All we ask is you pay an annual maintenance cost of £1K.

Demonstration

You can download a trial version of Cradle here. This will give you a 14 day trial. You can request further details about Cradle by contacting salesdetails@threesl.com You can book a Webinar through our website here.

Terms And Conditions

Continue reading “Teaching Requirements Management and Systems Engineering to Tomorrow’s Engineers”

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Multiple Data Cells – Document View

Heading Styles in Document View

New Cradle 7.3.1 Feature (Multiple Data Cells – Document View)

We’ve updated Document View in Cradle to allow triggering by content of Multiple Data Cells.

Document View is a style that gives a quick output from a query in a style akin to a document with heading levels being shown in different styles. These are triggered when the hierarchical attribute is present in the first cell.

Multiple Data Cells allow the combination of data values within one View Cell. If your Multiple Data Cell includes the hierarchical element, its Document Style behaviour will now be the same as if it were the element itself.

In the screen-shot below the Key is shown in the top view and then as part of a Multiple Data Cell in the lower part.

 

Showing the dialogs and results to use multiple data cell in document view
Multiple Cell in Document Style

Output to Hard Copy

When there is no need to create a full formal document through Document Publisher, it is possible to publish the view to HTML or RTF quite easily. Simply ‘right click’ on the text in the view and select  Publish Table…. and then ensure that the option Use document-style fonts is selected.

Dialog and result of publishing table with document style fonts
Publish Table – Document Style Fonts

As can be seen in the screen-shot the multiple data cells – Document View Fonts  are preserved in the output. Now you can use whichever printer is attached to your system to produce the hard copy from the text in your browser or the RTF file, or save a tree and email the resultant file where appropriate.

Views

Cradle Views are a simple yet flexible way to arrange your tabular query output. To learn more see the help section on Views.

Related Articles

It is possible to copy the text from a multiple cell to your clipboard for use elsewhere.

 

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Opportunities at 3SL

Opportunities / Jobs with 3SL, producers of Cradle

As an SME 3SL are interested in multi-disciplined individuals to join our team. We value team players who are able to lend a hand to many areas of the business in addition to their core activity. As such, rather than provide a specific job role, we would like to outline the areas that are of most interest to us. For the right individual we will consider creating a suitable role. For more about the opportunities working with 3SL, visit threesl.com/opportunities

Logo and Opportunities strap
Opportunities with 3SL, producers of Cradle
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Can I create an item in Cradle remotely?

Web Access can be used from around the Globe.

Provided you have set access to the web server, if you can connect a browser you can certainly create an item in Cradle remotely.

This video shows how simple it is.

  1. click the New Item icon
  2. fill in the details
  3. add additional information in the item opened in a form
  4. see the item in the database query.

Many tasks can be performed through Cradle’s Web Access.

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Cradle-7.3.1 Released

New Cradle Release

We are pleased to announce the release of  Cradle-7.3.1, with some useful new features and some fixes. We’ll be sending announcement e-mails to all customers with active maintenance, and e-mails to the customers whose enhancements have been added, and whose reported bugs have been fixed.

Cradle-7.3.1
Cradle 7.3.1

Some of the new features in this release are:

  • Excel Capture Utility, allow auto numbered items to be created when a column is mapped to the Identity attribute and the identity is blank.
  • Update Windows builds to support Microsoft .NET Framework v4.7.
  • Performance improvement in Doc Viewer control.
  • Web Access, for a parametric query using category picklists, display the picklist in the parametric UI.
  • Allow multi-value view cell containing ID, Key etc., to trigger heading behaviour in Document View
  • Improve Schema Report – Coloursets.

Upgrading

If you upgrade to Cradle-7.3.1 anywhere, you must upgrade everywhere, the server and all clients. Visit the download area.

If you are upgrading from a version prior to Cradle-7.3 you will require a Security Code. Contact our Support Department to get your new Security Code.

Customers who purchased a single-user Cradle-7.3 product can also apply this new release.

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Storing Project Databases in NAS

We are sometimes asked about storing project databases in NAS (network attached storage), is it possible, is it a good idea, and how to do it.

NAS

Network attached storage is a type of storage device that attaches directly to a network. It is typically a RAID array of disks with one or more interfaces and some management software. It provides network storage without a need to manage a server with attached storage.

A NAS storage device
A Typical NAS Device

Storing Project Databases in NAS

Each Cradle project database is a directory of files and subdirectories. It can be stored anywhere. So, yes, you can store a Cradle database on a NAS device.

Since the NAS device is not a server in the normal sense, it will not be running any part of Cradle and, in particular, will therefore not be running the Cradle Database Server (CDS).

Therefore storing Cradle database(s) on a NAS device means that you are storing them remote form the CDS.

Storing Project Databases in Server Storage

For the same reason, you can store a Cradle project database on a server that is separate from the computer that runs the CDS.

Therefore storing Cradle database(s) on a separate server means that you are storing them remote form the CDS.

Advantages and Disadvantages

If you don’t have a server in your network, then a NAS device is a cost-effective means to add centralised storage.

NAS devices are often used to collate data for backup. Storing Cradle databases on a NAS device eliminates the need to copy the databases onto the NAS device for backup.

Not storing Cradle databases on the machine that runs the CDS adds considerable latency between the CDS and the disk(s) that store the databases. Increasing latency worsens the performance of the CDS.

How to Store Cradle Databases on NAS

  1. Specify the location of the database’s directory using a UNC pathname, of the form: \\hostname\path
  2. Ensure that the access rights of the database’s NAS directory are accessible RW by the Windows ‘System’ user of the computer that runs the CDS or, for Linux, either root or whatever user your CDS runs as on its local machine

Recommendations

In general, we do not recommend storing project databases in NAS or indeed in any network-based resource.

If possible, only store your Cradle databases on the machine that runs the CDS and backup your databases regularly!

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World Tourism Day 27th September 2017

Package Up

One of the most popular vacations is the package holiday. A Package Diagram is a popular SysML grouping of system components. It shows components and sub systems in a hierarchical manner. In the same way as our Package Holiday would contain flights, accommodation and possible a day out or two. Your system may comprise of housings,  machinery and software or packages. It may contain, tablets and microbial formula or road networks, service stations and petrol pumps.

Package diagram for world tourism day
Package Diagram

Whatever your system and subsystems or comprise, breaking down the model into its components makes managing development and change easier. The Package diagram in SysML does not have to show all components, but it can usefully draw to mind those that are dependent or interrelated in some way.

Go on Holiday, be a Tourist!

If your business is well organised and you have confidence in your systems, enjoying a break should not be a worry. Feel free on World Tourism Day, which promotes sustainable holidaying, to plan your next vacation, or purchase a package from 3SL.

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How to Delete Source/Formal Documents

Deleting Source Document Versions

Source document versions can be deleted from the Project sidebar, the same way as regular items. When you delete a source document version, all cross references (source statements) to the captured items are also deleted. Previous versions of the source document and their cross references (source statements) are NOT removed.

Dialog shown when deleting source document versions
Delete Items Dialog

WorkBench only shows the most recent version of a source document. So for example, if you were to delete version 4 of a source document, then version 3 will now be the latest version and will be shown in the Project sidebar.

If you delete version 1 of a source document, then the source document is unregistered and deleted from the PDB altogether.

For further information on how to delete source document versions please click here.

Deleting Formal Documents

Deleting formal documents is similar to deleting standard Cradle items.

When a version of a formal document is deleted, Cradle will:

  • Delete the Word document stored inside the formal document
  • Remove the formal document
  • Delete the records that associate specific item instances with that version of that formal document

For further information on how to delete formal documents read the Cradle help.