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Model Packages
A Package is a grouping element that acts as a container for other modeling elements (including other Packages) and diagrams; Packages are represented in the Browser window as a familiar folder icon. Using the Package element, you can construct hierarchical models, allowing complex systems to be decomposed and categorized. Packages and their contents can be moved around freely in the Browser window, so that you can easily refactor the repository. Packages can be copied and pasted between model branches, renamed or viewed as a list.
Packages are important in Enterprise Architect because a number of functions can be applied at Package level, such as Baselining, Version Control, Transformation and more. Formally, the Package is a Namespace for the members it contains, and a model element can be a member of one and only one Package. In software engineering and other formal modeling disciplines a Package can be set as a Namespace Root, which acts as the starting point of a given namespace.
Notes
- In the Corporate, Unified and Ultimate Editions of Enterprise Architect, if security is enabled you must have 'Update Element' permission to update or delete a Package
Annotation
An Annotation Package is a specialized form of Package that is automatically created when a parent Package has one or more diagrams that contain diagrammatic elements - non-model elements that have no purpose outside a diagram. Such elements include Notes, Text, Boundary elements and Navigation Cells. The Package does not have any properties (including not having a name), and is simply a container for those diagrammatic elements, allowing them to be listed in the Browser window and - if necessary - re-used in multiple diagrams. This also protects the elements from being deleted if the diagram that contains them is deleted. The Annotation Package is represented in the Browser Window by a blue Package icon followed by brackets.
