ReSharper 2021.1 Help

Architecture View

ReSharper | Architecture | Show Project Dependency Diagram

The Architecture view allows exploring project dependency diagram and comparing previously taken dependency snapshots to the current state of the solution.

The view consists of solution items, diagram area, and the toolbar.

Architecture View window

Solution Items

Solution items shown in the left include all projects of the solution as well as grouping items. Depending on the Group by selector, the projects are shown as a plain list if there is no grouping or have the hierarchy according to the grouping option. Check boxes next to each item define whether to display the item in the diagram.

Diagram area

The diagram area displays all projects with selected check boxes. If any grouping is enabled, the grouping items are shown as well. You can change layout, expand and collapse grouping nodes, and perform other actions with the diagram. For more information, see Explore Project Dependency Diagram.

Toolbar Controls

ControlNameDescription
Group by

Use this list to select criteria for grouping To-do items. Several options are provided:

  • None- all projects are displayed without grouping.

  • Solution Folders- projects are grouped by solution folders.

  • File Structure- projects and solution folders are grouped by the file system structure.

Themed icon undo screen grayUndoReverses changes made in the diagram (shown/hidden projects) step by step.
Themed icon redo screen grayRedoReverses the last Undo operation.
Themed icon metric display screen grayTurn Coupling Analysis On/OffThis toggle button allows enable or disable the coupling analysis, which is performed in the background. By default, this button is on and the analysis is started as soon as you open a new diagram. The coupling analysis is a resource-intensive process and may affect performance on large solutions. If you experience any lags when working with the diagram, you can use this button to disable the coupling analysis, adjust the diagram as needed, and then enable the analysis again. The analysis algorithm first calculates the coupling of the displayed projects and then processes projects hidden from the view.
Themed icon transitive edges screen grayHide/Show Transitive ReferencesThis toggle button allows you to show the transitive references between projects, which are hidden by default to simplify the diagram without losing its architectural structure. For instance, if you have project references A > B > C and A > C, using this button hides the A > C reference.
Themed icon save graph screen graySave Architecture GraphSaves the dependency snapshot to a file. For more information, see Explore Project Dependency Diagram.
Themed icon graph diff screen grayShow DiffThis button is only enabled when the snapshot displayed in the view differs from the current solution. Click the button to compare the state of the solution in the snapshot with the current state.
Themed icon collapse graph screen grayCollapse GraphCollapses all elements in the diagram.
Themed icon expand graph screen grayExpand GraphExpands all elements in the diagram.
Themed icon possible paths screen grayShow possible pathsWhen the button is on, you can see whether two specific projects have a path between them consisting of other referenced projects that are currently hidden from the view. These paths are shown in green dotted lines. The button is only enabled if there are hidden intermediary projects that would link any two of the currently displayed projects. For more information, see Detecting possible architecture problems.
Themed icon export screen grayExport to PNGClick this button to save the visible part of the diagram as a PNG image file.
Last modified: 08 March 2021