How to configure notation

Notation defines how an element type appears on diagrams and in the Explorer. Configure it on the M2 element type.

Set basic notation

Select the M2 element type in the Explorer
In the Properties panel, find the Notation section
Configure:

Field	Options
Shape	rectangle, rounded, note, boundary, text
Colour	Hex colour value or colour picker
Icon	SVG markup (paste from Lucide or other sources)
Default width	Initial width in pixels (e.g., 160)
Default height	Initial height in pixels (e.g., 80)
Stereotype	Type label text (usually auto-derived from the element type name)

Configure compartments

Compartments are sections within the diagram node. Add them in the Compartments section of the notation:

Name compartment

Content type: name
Style: typically fontWeight: bold

Properties compartment

Content type: properties
Shows M1 property values inside the node

Subordinate compartment

Content type: subordinates
Subordinate type ID: references the subordinate type definition
Label: heading text (e.g., “Attributes”)
Show label: whether to display the heading

Configure auto-size

Enable Auto-size compartment to make the node automatically resize based on its content (owned elements, property values). This is especially useful for entity-style nodes with variable numbers of attributes.

Relationship notation

For relationship types, configure:

Field	Options
Line style	solid, dashed, dotted
Source marker	none, arrow, hollowArrow
Target marker	none, arrow, hollowArrow
Colour	Hex colour value
Source-to-target verb	Forward direction label
Target-to-source verb	Reverse direction label
Show multiplicities	Display source/target multiplicity labels
Show role names	Display role name labels

Tips

Use a consistent colour palette across your metamodel so types are visually scannable
Keep icons at 24x24 viewBox for consistency with built-in metamodels
Test notation by creating M1 instances and viewing them on a diagram — adjust sizes and compartments as needed