Model Discussions

Ribbon

Start > Collaborate > Discuss > Discuss

Context Menu

Browser window > Right-click on object > Collaborate > Discuss

On diagram > Right-click on element > Collaborate > Discuss

Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl+9 > Discuss

Create a Discussion

At the top of the tab, the message Create New Discussion displays. You have two options, direct entry or indirect entry.

In direct entry (better for short messages), either double-click on the message or right-click on the window and select the 'Create new Discussion' menu option. Type or paste your posting as continuous text (no carriage returns). The text automatically wraps at the border of the Discuss & Review window. As you type, you can right-click on the text and perform the usual Notes text operations such as formatting and setting translation flags.

If you need to break your text into paragraphs, press Ctrl+Enter at the point at which to break the text. When you have finished typing, click off the text or press the Enter key.

In indirect entry, press Ctrl+Spacebar to display a simple text window and type or paste your discussion text there. When you have finished your message, press the Esc key to transfer the text to the 'Discuss' tab. Then press the Enter key. The advantage of the indirect method is that you can edit and format the text - especially in long messages containing several paragraphs - without risk of accidentally submitting it incomplete as a Discussion item.

When you press the Enter key:

• An open expansion arrow and a icon display to the left of your text
• Your user ID and the time of posting display just underneath your text, followed by the text 0 recent
• The message Create New Discussion displays above your text

All new discussions are added to the top of the 'Discuss' tab.

If user security is enabled and you have selected to show avatars, the discussion icon is replaced by an image representing the user who contributed that item. If a user does not have an avatar image, a default 'head and shoulders' silhouette displays as the avatar.

Note that your text might contain words that are automatically underlined. These are terms for which a Glossary definition has been created, and positioning the cursor over one of these words will display the definition in a pop-up message box. If you do not want to indicate glossary terms, right-click on the message and click on the 'Highlight Glossary Terms' menu option. This will clear the automatic underlines across the system. Do this again if you want to restore the underlines.

Monitor Discussion

Once a discussion has been started on an element, you can set a flag to notify you whenever a response is posted to the thread. To set the flag, right-click on the element name in the Browser window or in a diagram and select the 'Collaborate > Monitor Discussions' option. The flag then operates for your user ID.

When a response is posted in a monitored discussion, the notification is a Msg button that displays at the right hand end of the application title bar. 

1. Click on the drop-down arrow; a list of the monitored elements that have unopened responses is displayed.
2. Click on the element to investigate; the  Discuss & Review window displays, showing the 'Discuss' tab and the response to the discussion thread.

If you want to remove a discussion flag - or all discussion flags you have set - on the 'Discuss' tab of the  Discuss & Review window click on the icon and select the 'Manage Monitored Discussions' option. The 'Manage Monitored Discussions' dialog displays, showing the monitored element names and their type, author and last-modified date.

• Click on a specific element, or Ctrl-click on multiple names, and click on the Delete button to stop monitoring the discussions on those elements, or
• Click on the Select All button and on the Delete button to clear all elements from your monitored discussion list
• If you have selected elements but do not want to remove all of them, click on the Clear All button and make a different selection

If you are spending time working in diagrams, there is also a convenient facility to monitor and access Discussions on elements within the diagram. See the Collaboration Support in Diagrams Help topic.

Add a Response

You enter a reply to a post in very much the same way as you create a Discussion. Either:

• Double-click on the 'Post Reply' message or right-click on the item and select the 'Post Reply' option, type your response as continuous text, then click off the text or press the Enter key, or
• Click on the Discussion item, press Ctrl+Spacebar, type in your text and press the Esc key and then the Enter key

When you press the Enter key:

• A icon, your user ID and the date and time of posting display above your text
• The message Post Reply displays above your response
• The Replies count is incremented underneath the original posting

All new replies are added underneath the Discussion thread they are in response to, with the most recent reply at the end.

Edit Postings

Whilst you are typing a message, the editor automatically checks the spelling and underlines possible spelling errors in red. You can backspace or move the cursor to the errors to correct them. You can also move the cursor anywhere in the message body and add or delete text (press the Delete key).

Once you have pressed the Enter key to post a message, you can delete the whole message but you cannot edit it.

Copy Discussion Text

If you want to re-use some or all of the text of a saved Discussion item, you can open the text in a (read only) pop-up dialog, by pressing Ctrl+Space.  You can then select the text you want and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard.  Alternatively, you can right-click a Discussion item and choose "Copy to Clipboard", to copy all of the text from that item.

The copied text can then be pasted into a new Discussion item or into another document in Enterprise Architect.

Set Discussion Status

The icon against a new Discussion indicates that the Discussion has the status of 'Open'. To change the status, right-click on the Discussion item and select either:

• Alert
• Error
• Accept
• Reject
• Closed

If the Discussion already has one of these statuses, you can also select the 'Open' option to return the Discussion to 'Open' status.

When you review the Discussions in the Discuss & Review window, you might want to include Discussions that have the status of 'Closed', or you might prefer to hide them. To toggle the inclusion of closed Discussions, right-click on the body of the window and click on the 'Show Closed Topics' option.

Set Discussion Priority

As part of the Discussion, you might want to identify the priority of a point being raised. It might be very important to act on the point, or it might be agreed that the point discusses a 'nice to have' feature that could be addressed at a later date. To set the priority, right-click on the Discussion topic and select one of the options:

• 'Priority | High' ()
• 'Priority | Medium' (), or
• 'Priority | Low' ()

Alternatively, if you decide that an item does not need to be prioritized, select the 'Priority | <none>' option. This leaves the item icon as .

Delete a Discussion or Reply

Right-click on the Discussion or a reply, and select the 'Delete Selected' menu option. A prompt displays to confirm the deletion. Click on the Yes button.

If you delete a Discussion, all replies associated with that Discussion will be deleted as well.

Review Discussion History

Either:

• Click on the object name bar at the top of the window, or
• Right-click within the body of the window, or
• Select the 'Start > Collaborate > Discuss' ribbon option

In each case, select the 'Discussion History' option.

The Discuss & Review History window displays at the 'Discussions' tab, listing all existing discussion items on elements. You can right-click on the:

• Column header band and select options to display the 'Field Chooser' and add to or reduce the number of columns, or to display the Filter bar to filter the list for Discussions having a specific property such as the user who posted the Discussion items, or the person who created the elements (element Author)
• Body of the window and select to open a preview pane on the right or at the bottom of the window, to instantly see each Discussion thread as you click on it in the list; you can also hide the preview pane if you do not need it
• Body of the window and on the 'Visible Timeframe' option, selecting to show Discussions posted today, or during the 3, 7, 30 or 90 days prior to today; the 'Today +' option also enables you to show postings from today and the 20 most recent postings prior to today
• Body of the window and select to refresh the list to include any Discussions that have been posted since you opened the Discussion History
• Selected element and select to:
       -  Find the discussed element in the Browser window or diagrams
       -  Display the 'Properties' dialog for the discussed element
       -  Review and edit the Discussion in the Discuss & Review window, opening the window if it is
          not currently available