Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

Model Shortcuts

Enterprise Architect enables you to create a desktop shortcut (or Proxy file) to your model or (for a .EAP file) a direct copy of your model. You cannot create a copy of a DBMS model.

If you are using a database repository other than MS Access 97, 2000 or 2003, you can configure the shortcut to encrypt the password used to set up the connection between Enterprise Architect and the repository. The Enterprise Architect user does not have the real password, thereby preventing them from accessing the repository using other tools such as Query Analyzer or SQLPlus.

Each shortcut is a file containing the connection string for the model. However, the shortcut also defines views that Enterprise Architect should open as it opens the model, such as:

  • The Model Search with a specific text string and search type

Notes:
  • For searches operating on the current tree selection, a diagram in the target package must be opened first.
  • If you use a custom SQL search, the SQL must include ea_guid AS CLASSGUID and the object type.

You can define more than one diagram to open (but not more than one search, Team Review or Relationship Matrix profile). Enterprise Architect opens the appropriate windows in the sequence in which you list the options, displaying the last view in the list. For example, you might create your shortcut to open, in sequence:

  • A Development module
  • The Model Search for a simple search on the term Issue
  • The module Issues diagram
  • The module Changes diagram.

The project would then open with the Enterprise Architect work area showing the two diagram tabs and the Model Search tab, and with the Changes diagram displayed in the Diagram View.

Notes:
  • These options are not valid for a copy of the model.
  • If specified, the shortcut views override any default diagram defined for the model or current user.
  • A shortcut does not affect the original Enterprise Architect .exe file or icon, or any other shortcut you might have defined. You can use all of these independently.
  • When you use a shortcut to access a project that you have recently opened in Enterprise Architect, the Recent list on the Enterprise Architect Start Page has two entries for the project - one created when you opened the project in Enterprise Architect and one created when you used the desktop shortcut.

To create a copy of your model or a shortcut to your model, you have two options: