Info View - decoration - what's the point?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

This is a v12.1 related issue, - for which I submitted a formal report, but the response from Sparx was such that I felt I should open it up now in the hope of getting something more rational and useful in the final version.

NOTE: you don't need to install v12.1, just go to: http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/12.1/building_models/infoview_style.html

Here's my original report:

I presume the icon at top right of InfoView will be set to the actual icon of the object. In the Beta it's still just a (blank) square for most items.

This begs the question of what appears in that square. I would have thought it would be a reduced version of the shapescript output.

It seems as though the output is arbitrary - even for Sparx supplied objects. For example for Tables and Artifacts, you get a rendering, for DB functions you get a blank square.

I think it might be best to take the shapescript and reduce it by the required amount to fit the square.

Sparx's response was:

The help describes the icon as "a small image of the element's native shape".
 
The icon shown when using Info View mode is a simple representation of the native object shape.  It is not intended to handle stereotypes or shapescripts.
 
The Table element is an exception to this rule.  Although it is an extended type, it is built-in with EA and is very commonly used.  Additional changes may be made in the future to also handle other EA extended types such as Functions in the Data Modelling technology, but it's not likely that we will ever have it render other shapescripted elements.
 
These icons are not intended to convey any additional information beyond the most basic style of drawing for that object type.

To which I have replied:

Does that mean that ALL ArchiMate objects will be rendered as empty, for example?  Frankly, I don't see the point.

If I understand you correctly, the vast majority of the newer metatypes would be empty shapes - with or without rounded corners.

If, at least, you took the ICON property from the MDG, it would make some sort of sense.  You can match the icon in the info View with the icon on the browser.  

From a "User Experience' point of view; when everything looks more or less the same - you need "markers" to differentiate.

What do others think?

Paolo