Checks
Validation checks
The tool automatically performs the following validation checks on the input YAML.
Validations can be performed on individual input files.
| ID | Meaning |
|---|---|
| V01 | All IDs must either start with a known prefix or a node_type must explicitly set. |
| V02 | All Goals and Strategies must be either marked with undeveloped: true or have supporting Goals, Strategies or Solutions. |
| V03 | Goals and Strategies marked as undeveloped, must have no supporting arguments. |
| V04 | All elements listed under supportedBy and inContextOf must be known elements types and semantically sensible (e.g. a Justification cannot be listed under supportedBy). |
| V05 | All referenced elements in supportedBy and inContextOf must be unique i.e., no duplicates in the list. |
| V06 | All referenced elements in supportedBy and inContextOf must not refer to the element itself. |
| V07 | All elements listed as extending other elements must be known elements of the current module and semantically sensible (see V04). |
| V08 | The ID's start contradicts the type of the element set with node_type. Note: only reported with --extended-check option. |
| V09 | Element has an assurance claim point that references another element, that this is neither its own ID nor any of the connected elements. |
| V10 | An element is marked as defeated, but has no other elements challenging it. |
| V11 | A CounterGoal or CounterSolution is used in input files. Note: only reported with --warn-dialectic option. |
| V12 | Element that is not a CounterGoal nor a CounterSolution challenges another element or relation. |
| V13 | Element marks relation to an element as defeated, but the element has no relation to that element. |
The following checks apply to the complete set of input files.
| ID | Meaning |
|---|---|
| C01 | There should be only one but must be at least one top-level element (G,S,C,J,A,Sn) unreferenced. |
| C02 | The top-level element must be a Goal. A top-level element is an element that is not referenced by any other element. |
| C03 | All referenced elements in supportedBy, inContextOf, challenges must exist. |
| C04 | There must be no circular supportedBy references. |
| C06 | All module names must be unique. |
| C07 | All IDs must be unique across all modules. |
| C08 | All elements must be reachable from the root elements. This message can e.g. happen if there are multiple independent graphs where one contains circular references only. |
| C09 | All extended modules must exist. |
| C10 | All extended elements must exist in the named module and must be undeveloped. |
| C11 | The reference that is not found (see C03), could actually be a list, but a YAML string was used. Use [] around your comma separated references. |
| C12 | Element challenges a relation, but an element of the relation does not exist. |
| C13 | Element challenges itself. |
| C14 | Element challenges an element, but that element does not exist. |
| C15 | Element challenges a relation, but both end are pointing to the same element. |
| C16 | Element challenges a relation, but the referenced elements do not have a relation. |
Uniqueness of keys (i.e. element IDs) is automatically enforced by the YAML format.
If called with option -c or --check the input file is only checked for validity, but the resulting graph is not written.
The checks for references (Cxx) can be skipped for individual files by using the -x option.
Format of messages
Error messages and warnings are printed to stderr.
The following format is used:
(Warning|Error): \((?<module>.+)\) \((?<num>[CV][0-9][0-9])\): (?<msg>.+)