Child Diagrams

In this tutorial, you’ll create a child diagram that provides a detailed view of one element from a parent diagram, learn how drill-down indicators work, and navigate between parent and child views.

Prerequisites: You’ve completed Editing Diagrams and have a diagram with several elements.

What you’ll build: An overview diagram of Farquind’s digital systems with a child diagram drilling into the detail of one system.

1. What is a Child Diagram?

A child diagram is a diagram that belongs to a specific element. It provides a detail view — a way to “zoom in” on one element and show its internal structure or a more detailed perspective.

On the parent diagram, elements that have child diagrams show a drill-down indicator — a small visual cue that tells you “there’s more detail inside this element.”

This is how you build layered views: a high-level overview at the top, with the ability to drill into any element for more detail.

2. Create a Child Diagram

On the Canvas or in the Explorer, right-click on an element — try FQ Vessels
Select New Child Diagram
Name it FQ Vessels — Internal View
Press Enter

The child diagram opens on the Canvas. It’s a blank diagram owned by the FQ Vessels element.

3. Notice the Drill-Down Indicator

Go back to your parent diagram (click its tab or double-click it in the Explorer). Look at the FQ Vessels element — you’ll see a small drill-down indicator showing that this element has a child diagram.

4. Populate the Child Diagram

Switch to the FQ Vessels — Internal View diagram and add some elements that represent the internal structure of the telemetry platform. For example:

Drag Application Component elements from the Palette for:
- Telemetry Ingestion
- Fleet Dashboard
- Alert Engine
- Diagnostic API
Draw relationships between them to show data flow
Arrange the layout and save (Ctrl+S / Cmd+S)

5. Navigate Between Diagrams

Drill down (parent to child)

On the parent diagram, double-click the element with the drill-down indicator (FQ Vessels). A chooser appears if the element has multiple child diagrams — select the one you want to open.

If the element has only one child diagram, it opens directly.

Navigate back

Use the Explorer to navigate back to the parent diagram — double-click it in the tree. The diagram tabs at the top also let you switch between open diagrams.

6. Multiple Child Diagrams

An element can have more than one child diagram — each showing a different perspective. For example, FQ Vessels could have:

An internal component diagram (what you just created)
A deployment diagram showing where the components run
A data flow diagram showing telemetry data paths

When you double-click an element with multiple child diagrams, a chooser lets you pick which one to open.

7. Child Diagram Ownership in the Explorer

In the Explorer, child diagrams appear as children of the element they belong to, not as children of the package. This reflects the ownership — the diagram is “inside” the element.

M1 Farquind Applications
├── Customer Systems
│   └── FQ Orders
├── Manufacturing Systems
│   └── FQ Vessels
│       └── FQ Vessels — Internal View (diagram)
└── Application Cooperation (diagram)

What You’ve Learned

What child diagrams are and when to use them
How to create a child diagram from an element’s context menu
How drill-down indicators appear on parent diagrams
How to navigate between parent and child diagrams by double-clicking
That elements can have multiple child diagrams
Where child diagrams appear in the Explorer tree

Next Steps

Creating a Metamodel — Build your own M2 metamodel: define element types, relationship types, notation, and constraints
How to create a child diagram — Quick reference for the child diagram workflow