The Architect 3.10-CTP contains extensive work on the UI & UX.
Highlights:
- Upgraded and reorganised the Ribbon to improve discoverability and usability.
- New icon set using modern SVG-based icons (Fluent UI) for a more consistent visual language.
- Improved docking experience with a new docking framework.
- Updated font applied throughout the interface.
- The Architect now operates on Java 21.
The Architect 3.10-CTP can be added in your Architect starter. Before you start this Architect version, please check if you are on the latest Architect starter version 1.3.2. This version number can be seen at the bottom of the started application.
If not, please update via the general settings of the Architect starter.
We have taken great care to only make changes to the UI & UX and not to the underlying component model, so this means you are allowed to save production components with the 3.10-CTP version. It is also possible to switch back and save a component again with the stable 3.9 version if desired.
The Composer and QA scanner also handle 3.10-CTP saved components correctly.
The Architect 3.10-CTP is not available in deployment to use since there are only UI & UX changes; for your deployment orders you can just use Platform version 3.9.
Please report any bugs, usability problems and visual glitches by submitting SRs. See the Known Issues part for things already known.
In these notes a quick overview of the new features are given, a complete guide to the new ribbon and docking manager can be found on the community here.
Changes Ribbon
New Ribbon (3.10)
- Fewer, clearer tasks
- Home focuses on modelling
- View focuses on layout and modes
- Favorites and Trash moved to dockables
Notable command changes
| Old location (≤ 3.9) | Feature / Band | New location (3.10) | Remarks (3.10) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home → Default / Function | Expressions | Home → Expression | Split out in three options |
| View → User page | Moved to General model page | This is the page shown when you select the model node in the tree, User page settings is now just above the Model settings link | |
| Review → Trace | Trace component | Home → Trace | Only visible for integrated components |
| Review → Mode | Compare | View → Compare | |
| Review → Mode / Translate | Translate | View → Translate | |
| Review → Work items (Add/Link/View & Edit/Remove) | Work items | View → Work item | Consolidated into one Work item button |
| Insert → Favorites | Favorites | Favorites dockable | Moved to its own dockable |
| Insert → Trash | Trash | Trash dockable | Moved to its own dockable |
| Help → About / Show version | About / Version information | File menu → About | About moved into File menu |
Contextual bands
These bands are shown in the Home task when a certain type of element is selected.
| Contextual band | Visible when… | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Trace | An integrated model is opened | Navigate and inspect integrated components |
| Grid settings | A grid is selected | Configure visible rows & details page |
| Function settings | A function is selected | Configure function parameters & caching |
| Process option | A process is selected | Open the selected process component |
| Layout options | The process or expression editor is active | Set automatic and manual layout behavior |
| Panel tab settings | A panel tab is selected | Configure default behavior for panel tabs |
Modern Docking
The Architect 3.10 introduces Modern Docking, replacing the legacy docking system.
Compared to the old docking system the greatest visual improvement are the docking hints shown while dragging a dockable.
When dragging a dockable, you can drop it in the following supported locations:
- Left / Right / Bottom – dock the panel to that side of the window
- Center – dock the panel as a tab within another dockable group
The interface shows a live preview of the resulting layout before you release the mouse button.
Known Issues
The following visual issues are known and we are working on fixing them for the RC version.
- Modern docking: When having three columns in the Architect and resizing the right column also influences the size of the left column. An upstream fix by the library maintainer is being made.
- Modern docking & MacOS: When dragging a dockable the live preview only shows a white image with docking hints, the Architect dockables themselves are not visible. It is possible to drop and dock. An upstream fix by the library maintainer is being made.
- Some ribbon buttons have the title 3 pixels higher, this is the case when a ribbon button can be clicked or has a dropdown menu but not both. We will get in contact with the library maintainer about this issue.
- Outline of labels on the Model settings page are a bit off
- Sometimes wide mode in the expression editor overflows with the text a bit
- MacOS: In rare cases it is possible to resize the Architect window beyond the visible screen area. When this happens, the Architect must be closed in full screen mode and restarted.
- MacOS visual glitches:
- Explanation text in some dialogs need a bit more padding
- Inconsistent bold text in the expression nodes
- Too large text in node placeholder
- Input field in expression node does not always fit the expression node
- “Account is already in use” dialog opens behind the main login screen
- In Ribbon: Details page button text is cut off