Rhapsody Tech Blog

Wir feiern Modellierung, Austausch
und neue Ideen!

22.–23. Mai 2025 | Infineon Campeon, München

2025 ist ein besonderes Jahr: MESCONF wird 10!
Zehn Jahre inspirierender Austausch rund um modellbasiertes Systems Engineering (MBSE), Tools, Prozesse – und die Menschen, die diese Themen gestalten. Vom Prototyp zur festen Institution: Die MESCONF ist inzwischen DER Treffpunkt für alle, die Modellierung ernst nehmen.

Ob du Systems Engineer, Architekt:in, Tool-Expert:in oder einfach nur MBSE-interessiert bist – auf der MESCONF triffst du Menschen mit echtem Praxiswissen, ehrlichen Erfahrungen und spannenden Ideen.

Was erwartet dich?

Die MESCONF lebt vom Mix aus klassischen Fachvorträgen und offenen Diskussionsformaten.
Besonders beliebt: unser Open Space – ein Raum, in dem du die Agenda bestimmst. Ohne PowerPoint. Ohne vorher festgelegte Sprecher:innen. Dafür mit Themen, die dir unter den Nägeln brennen.

Hier gilt:
Du hast ein Thema? Du bringst es ein.
Andere interessiert es? Ihr diskutiert.
Keine Hierarchien, keine Moderation – nur Austausch auf Augenhöhe.

Die Open Space-Sessions waren in den letzten Jahren das Herzstück der Konferenz. Ob zu SysMLv2, Traceability, Simulation, Werkzeugintegration oder – ja, ganz aktuell – Künstlicher Intelligenz in der Modellierung: Die besten Gespräche entstehen, wenn Menschen einfach loslegen.

Mein Thema dieses Jahr:

Ich werde eine Open Space-Session vorschlagen, in der es um den Einsatz von AI in der Modellierung geht.

(Ja, AI – nicht “KI”. Ich sag immer: KI ist doch eher eine Methode, um Kühe schwanger zu machen – ganz ohne romantische Absichten! )

Ernsthaft:
Wo hilft AI wirklich in MBSE? Wo ist es noch Spielerei? Und wie integrieren wir intelligente Assistenz sinnvoll in unsere Modellierungs-Workflows, ohne das Modell aus der Hand zu geben?

Wenn du Lust auf eine lebendige Diskussion hast – komm vorbei, bring deine Perspektive mit. Ich freue mich drauf!

Warum lohnt sich die Teilnahme?

Weil Modellierung der Schlüssel zur Beherrschung komplexer Systeme ist – und wir das gemeinsam besser machen.

Weil MBSE kein Elfenbeinturm sein muss, sondern konkret, hilfreich und lebendig.

Und weil es kaum eine andere Konferenz gibt, auf der du so direkt, offen und praxisnah mit anderen ins Gespräch kommst.

Jetzt anmelden – die Plätze sind limitiert:
https://mesconf.de

10 Jahre MESCONF – sei dabei, wenn wir das nächste Kapitel schreiben.

Wir sehen uns in München!

have fun Modeling with Rhapsody or another tool!
Walter van der Heiden ( walter@sodiuswillert.com )

Introduction

For our US Automotive Day I flew to Detroit again! I really like Detroit, it’s way better than its reputation!
We organized a day after the German Automotive Day example. Our Marketing Guru, Tom Hollowell, discovered a racing track. It offered a great conference place and a race track where we were driven around.
No we were not allowed to take the wheel, unfortunately, but we were chauffeured by 2 professional racing drivers.
It was pretty awesome. We had just enough rides for everybody. Luckily, not everybody had enough nerves to go in a fast car around the track.
So I went twice… Loved it…

Rhapsody Units

There are still people asking what “Units” are in Rhapsody. And it is easy: it is the smallest “Unit” you can store in CM separately. Default units are:

• Model
• Package
• Component

Units are easily ( if you have good eyes, that is… ) recognizable by the small icon decorator in the lower left corner. The decorator is either Grey (saved) or Red ( not saved). This indicates that Rhapsody will store that “unit” in a separate file. It allows it to be stored separately in a CM (That is mostly file-based). By right-clicking on a “non-Unit” element in Rhapsody, you can select “Create Unit.” This will give you the opportunity to store a Unit in its own file. The property General::Model::DiagramIsSavedUnit causes all diagrams to be saved in a separate file. In the same Subject::Metaclass, you can also find properties like BlockIsSavedUnit, ClassIsSavedUnit, and ComponentFileIsSavedUnit. There are also properties like ComponentIsSavedUnit (Default on), FileIsSavedUnit, and FolderIsSavedUnit. You will find ObjectIsSavedUnit and PackageIsSavedUnit (Default on) too. With these, you can control what is a Unit and what not.

The file extensions are: (add an “x” for the post 8.3 file format)

Ann Arbor

After the event I was invited by Tom and Carol to a dinner in Ann Arbor. A beautiful place, we drove around after dinner. (Thanks again! It was great!) Tom always posts sunsets on FaceBook… unbeatable.

Have fun modeling with Rhapsody

Walter van der Heiden ( walter@sodiuswillert.com )

Introduction

Yes. Sorry. But I do hate it. Noisy, Energy wasting, overpriced. I know there are few places in the world where you can organize big congresses like IBM Think, etc.
But really? Does it have to be in a place that forces you to walk through a flipping casino to get to where you have your congress?
Do you know how much energy that costs for a poor guy with Asperger’s? Thank god for Apple Airpods with noise canceling, Shades, and a Cap that prevents the lights from overflowing.
And then the prices. Not a single bottle of red wine under $100,-? Seriously?

But OK. We were there for the IBM TechXChange. I had a slot of an hour together with Ed Mayer from IBM. This went very well ( Though I would have liked more customers… )

How to start Rhapsody?

There are multiple ways to start Rhapsody.

Open a Model

Just double-click on a Rhapsody File, a .rpyx (Or an old .rpy file). But what will be started now??

• The latest version of Rhapsody that you have installed. (Unless you have edited the registry)
• The Rhapsody Version described in the rhapsody.ini file that belongs to the started version. So if DefaultVersion is “Developer” then that’s the one you get. That is: when you have a license!

This will also open the model that you have chosen. And the language of that model. Even if your defualt is e.g. C++ and the model is C, the latter is the one that is opened.

Create a shortcut

I like to have shortcuts for all the versions of Rhapsody so I can decide what I start. IN the shortcut you can:

• Put a command line parameter to start the correct version _-dev_ed, etc -lang=c++
• Change the directory where you start RHP. So you can store multiple rhapsody.ini files!

Use the Windows Menu

Just go to “Start”. Then you can choose the version you want. 8.x, 9.x, C/C++, Developer, Architect. (If you have installed “Developer”.

Use the Context Menu

You first need to edit some registry stuff to add the versions to the Windows Context Menu.

1. Delete or rename HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\rpyxFile and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\rpyFile
2. Create file rpy_reg.reg for old model versions or rpyx_reg.reg for new model versions
3. Change the paths and versions to match your version

rpy_reg.reg old fileformat

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\02_84C]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\02_84C\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.4\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=c"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\01_84C++]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\01_84C++\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.4\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=cpp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\04_831C]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\04_831C\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.3.1\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=c"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\03_831C++]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\03_831C++\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.3.1\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=cpp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\06_815C]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\06_815C\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.1.5\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=c"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\05_815C++]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpy\shell\05_815C++\command]
@="C:\\Dev Tools\\IBM\\Rational\\Rhapsody\\8.1.5\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=cpp"\

rpyx_reg.reg new fileformat

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\rpyxFile]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\rpyxFile\ShellNew]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\01_902C++]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\01_902C++\command]
@="C:\\IBM\\Rhapsody\\9.0.2\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=cpp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\02_902C]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\02_902C\command]
@="C:\\IBM\\Rhapsody\\9.0.2\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=c"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\03_901C++]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\03_901C++\command]
@="C:\\IBM\\Rhapsody\\9.0.1\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=cpp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\04_901C]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rpyx\shell\04_901C\command]
@="C:\\IBM\\Rhapsody\\9.0.1\\rhapsody.exe  %1  -dev_ed -lang=c"

Now create the registry entries with double click on rpyx_reg.reg or rpy_reg.reg. 

Thanks to Dennis Koelbel!

Have fun modeling with Rhapsody!

Walter van der Heiden ( walter@sodiuswillert.com )

Introduction

OK. I will write the rest of this post in German. MESCONF is a German conference and people speak German there. You are always welcome to join, but I think it’s less useful if you don’t understand German.

Was ist MESCONF!?

Eine Deutsche Konferenz die es seit 2015 gibt. MESCONF steht für “Modeling für/for Embedded Systems Conference”. Es gibt ein link auf der Website wo alle infos stehen.

Was hat Qualität mit Architektur zu tun?

Bei der MESCONF 2023 stehen die praktischen Anwendungen und Erfahrungen im Vordergrund, die Anwender beim Einsatz von Modellierung für Architekturdesign und Softwareentwicklung gemacht haben. Es erwartet Sie eine ausgewogene Kombination aus Vorträgen und Raum für Diskussionen über Erfahrungen und Erwartungen.

Zum 7. Mal tagt diese jährlich stattfindende Konferenz und diesmal wird Sie folgendes erwarten:

Innovative Formate für innovativen Wissensaustausch

Vorträge

1.  MBSE Reverse Engineering of the OPS-SAT Satellite – Peter Gersing / GPP
2.  10 Jahre Modellierung mit UML im Serieneinsatz – Dr. Andreas Wagener / Faulhaber
3.  The way to AI building machines – Jan Seyler / Festo 
4.  Die Logik einer logischen Architektur – Andreas Willert / SodiusWillert
5.  Lassen sich Architekturen unterschiedlicher Engineering Disziplinen kongruent halten?
    Jan Richter / Siemens
6.  AUTOSAR Adaptive mit Rhapsody – Vom System zu Implementierung und Test
    Hartmut Wittke / BTC

Open Space

Neben den Fachvorträgen bietet die Konferenz in Form von Open Space viel Raum für den direkten Erfahrungsaustausch zwischen Anwendern und Experten (angefangen von Methoden-Experten bis hin zu Werkzeug-Herstellern). 

Wir verlosen Frei-Karten: 

swillert@sodiuswillert.com anschreiben. Die ersten 10 E-Mails erhalten eine Freikarte!

Mehr Informationen zur MESCONF…

Back in Florida!!!

Introduction

This month I finally had the chance to fly to Florida again. Long time no see! The IBM Think was in Orlando, and I needed to be there.
So I booked the flight, and on a Friday, I took off to fly to Orlando via Boston.
The plane took off late but would still arrive early, so I could leave the airport in Boston and meet with an old I-Logix friend who still works for IBM.
For a few months, I have had a fantastic feature called “Global Entry.” That means you are allowed to enter the USA with just your passport. There is a separate entry with Electronic Passport Reading Machines.
And… it works like a charm. I’m in within seconds. No more standing in line… OK, OK… also, no more stamps. But I can live with that.

This awesome feature comes with another real cool option: TSA Pre-Check. That means: no more unpacking laptop, no more shoes and belt off.
So.. I’m happy. This meant I was out of Boston no more than 5 minutes after the plane landed. Very cool.

We went to a place called “Legal Seafood”. Well chosen name, all was legal Very good food!

After 3 hours, it was time to go back and catch the plane to Orlando. As always, I am surprised by how big the USA is…

Another 2.5-hour flight brought me to sunny Orlando. It was not so sunny anymore; it was late. So I picked up my rental and went to my hotel to catch some sleep.
Luckily I had already slept on the airplane. Otherwise, it would’ve been a long, long day. I’m not used to that anymore…

Support

I received a question that I’d like to share with my readers. It was from another old I-Logix friend who now works for another company but is still using Rhapsody.

The question was

The Rhapsody C, C++ and Java code generators allowed you to add Requirements comments to generated code

E.g.

Is there anyway to change the way the requirement comment gets formatted? 

We have some functionality in Polarion whereby if you checkin source code to your SCM system, we have a way of linking parts of that source code to Polarion work-items. 

The problem is, our source code parser requires a certain format for the comment … hence my question if its possible to customize the way Rhapsody produces the requirements comment. 

So far it just seems to do a // Realizes requirement NAME

Answer

Of course, you can! Rhapsody wouldn’t be Rhapsody if there wasn’t an intelligent way of doing this.

It’s called: Writer Templates. They are properties that tell the code generator what it needs to generate.

So I made a very small model, 1 Requirement, 1 Class with a “trace” dependency to that requirement and 2 configurations. One without changes and one wit han adapted Writer Template.

This is how the code looks with and without:

You can download it here:

Back to work…

After the Think, I had a few days left to go to Fort Myers and enjoy Florida. 35º and sun, sun, sun…. Of course also seafood, unsweetened ice tea, and beach. And destruction. Yes. The last hurricane really left a lot of damage. Terrible to see.

When you read this, I’m already back. Flew back from Fort Myers via Atlanta to Schiphol. Everybody keeps telling me that it’s not cold… But I think different.

Have fun working with Rhapsody and I hope spring finally turns up in Europe…

Walter van der Heiden walter@sodiuswillert.com