Design Hierarchy

	Overview

Blocks, and their highway connections are used to represent an overview of multiple inter-related systems. Unlike tangible objects such as devices, connectors, wires and multicores, blocks exist for documentation and navigational purposes and to show connectivity (shared signals) that traverse logical designs. The block design and its hierarchical designs must exist within the same active build list for navigation to occur.

Adding blocks to Capital Systems Modeler designs enables you to create a hierarchical representation of how designs are interconnected. This is achieved by associating designs to blocks, which are connected together using highways. This further enhances the bottom-up and top-down design flow enabling connectivity engineers to utilize detail from the child design and visualize it in the top level system view.

Design rule checks identify any connections between blocks that do not have a valid highway. Additional checks identify where a block is not associated with a design or the design is not part of an active build list. The integrity of the connectivity is also automatically subject to design rule checks, see Design Rule Check Descriptions for Capital Systems Modeler.

It is possible to navigate from a block to its associated design, and back again. While reporting on the highway lists all the shared connectivity between the connected blocks and designs, see Viewing Another Instance of an Object.

Figure 14: Example Blocks and Highway Hierarchy

Figure 14 shows a design comprising three blocks, connected via two highways, referencing three designs. You can use the “View Related Items” functionality to view the design that the block is associated with (see Viewing Another Instance of an Object).

A block appears both graphically in a diagram and also under a Blocks node in the Design Browser Window. Any highways that connect with the block are also listed under the same node.

Blocks on diagrams can be sliced, simplifying diagram modifications and making diagrams easier to understand. See Slice Objects.

Copy and pasting a block creates a new block. Using the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + V creates a new instance of the block. This method results in the copies of the block retaining the same name as the original block. See “Copying and Pasting an Object in a Diagram” in the Capital Design Tools - Common Functions User Guide.

Reporting on highways lists all the shared connectivity between the connected blocks and designs. For further information see Reports.

The appearance of blocks can be styled. See the Diagram Styling User Guide for more information about style sets and how to edit them. There are two default attributes for block styling:

• Name The name of the block.

• Associated Design

The design which the block has been associated with. Note From 2013.1 the defaultStyle.xml includes new shape parameters to support hierarchical blocks in Capital Systems Modeler. If you copy your pre-v2013.1 defaultStyle.xml file to the new installation, you must manually add the sections needed to represent blocks in your designs to ensure that blocks are styled correctly.

• Adding a Block

• Associating a Block with a Design

• Removing an Association Between a Block and a Design

• Creating New Instances of a Block

• Viewing Items Related to the Block

• Adding Connectivity

• Viewing the Connectivity that Terminates at Blocks

• Merging Block Instances

• Edit Properties: Blocks Dialog Box

• Block Signals Usages Dialog Box

Parent Topic:

Design Hierarchy

Capital Systems Modeler User Guide, 2512.2606

Unpublished work. © 2026 Siemens