Structurizr AutoConfigure with Spring Boot

The purpose of this small utility on top of the Structurizr Client for Java and its Export Library is to provide a bit more structure especially for bigger workspaces.

If you follow the instructions of the default library, you easily end up with classes with 100s of lines of code without any structure. We use Spring Boot here in order to

• cluster your C4 components to chunks of reasonable size
• separate model and view-generation from each other and ensure that views are only created after the model is fully initialized
• provide helper-code which allows to export your workspace either to Structurizr Web or to PlantUML files using C4-PlantUML.

The Structurizr Workspace

This will give you a step-by-step tutorial how to embed this library:

Embed the library

First thing you need to do is to add this library to your project. With Gradle this is as easy as adding that to your build.gradle:

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation("io.cloudflight.structurizr:structurizr-autoconfigure:1.0.1")
}

Configure the application:

In your folder src/main/resources create a file called application.yml.

structurizr:
  workspace:
    name: My project name
    description: My project description

Create the main class

We recommend to use Kotlin to create those architecture models.

Last step is to create your main class, it's as easy as that, simply start the Spring Boot application.

package io.cloudflight.architecture

import io.cloudflight.architecture.structurizr.SpringStructurizr
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication

@SpringBootApplication
class Architecture

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    SpringStructurizr.run(Architecture::class.java)
}

Fill your model

Then you can create Spring Components to populate your model. The Structurizr classes Workspace and Model are available in the ApplicationContext, thus can be injected. Inside your src-folder, create a file called Personas.kt:

@Component
class Personas(model: Model) {
    val customer = model.addPerson("Customer", "Wants to buy articles");
    val admin = model.addPerson("Admin", "Maintains the system");
}

You might then inject those components into other components:

@Component
class WebShop(model: Model, personas: Personas) {

    val webShop = model.addSoftwareSystem("WebShop", "") {
        usedBy(personas.admin, "maintains the articles")
        usedBy(personas.customer, "buys articles", Technology.Browser)
    }
}

You might noticed that we connected personas already with our webshop software system. Populate your model as described in the official library.

Create Views

Implement the interface ViewProvider to create views as soon as your model has been created.

@Component
class WebShop(model: Model, personas: Personas) {

    val webShop = model.addSoftwareSystem("WebShop", "") {
        usedBy(personas.admin, "maintains the articles")
        usedBy(personas.customer, "buys articles", Technology.Browser)
    }

    override fun createViews(viewSet: ViewSet) {
        viewSet.createContainerView(webShop, "webshop", "WebSatalog Containers").addAllContainersAndInfluencers()
    }
}

Configure the Export

Now that we have the model and the view, we should export and/or render it. There are two built-in options here, but you are free to define your own io.cloudflight.architecture.structurizr.WorkspaceExportService.

1. Export to Structurizr
2. Export as PlantUML files

Export to Structurizr

If you want to send your workspace to a Structurizr Web Server, then configure your app in the application.yaml:

structurizr:
   workspace:
      name: My project name
      description: My project description
   export:
      structurizr:
         enabled: true
         id: xxx
         key: "any"
         secret: "any"

This will configure a StructurizrClient as described in the docs. Take the id, key and secret from Structurizr.

Then run your application, your workspace will be synced to Structurizr. No need to create and configure a StructurizrClient on your own.

Export as PlantUML files

If you don't want to use the Structurizr Web Server, you can also export your workspace as PlantML files using Structurizr Export for C4PlantUML. All you need to do is to enable the export in your application.yaml:

structurizr:
   workspace:
      name: My project name
      description: My project description
   export:
     c4-plant-uml:
       enabled: true

This will create one .puml-file per view into your folder build/c4PlantUml with help of the C4-PlantUML. Use PlantUML to transform those files into images.