Linking Use Case pathways to Activity Diagrams

[NC0866]

Hi,

I have created a Use Case using EA that has one happy path and three alternate paths.  I would like to link each path to a different Activity Diagram.  How can I do that in EA?

Thank you.

[Farfetch]

I'm not sure if this is what you're after, but assuming I understand what you are asking (and it may not be ), the way I link external diagrams to a new diagram is to click/drag/drop the image I want from the file browser onto the new diagram. Then I link it using a flow arrow (or similar). This will add an element to the diagram with the pages location (e.g. 'Business Process Model: diagram x' with a little picture of a page hierarchy by the side).

This may be what you're after, I don't know :-/

[jaimeglz]

Hi, NC.

I hope that what Farfetch is recommending is what you are looking for. But let me ask you: Is a "happy path" a sequence of events that is always executed, or that always takes place in a use case? Are "alternate paths" sequences of events that sometimes take place, and sometimes not?

Jaime Gonzalez

[NC0866]

Thank you for both the responses.  However, I am not exactly sure what farfetch recommended is what I want .  

Jamie, a "happy path" is what is also called a Basic Course of Events (BCOE), and is the most travelled pathway through a use case.  An "alternate" path, on the other hand is a perfectly fine course of events (also a candidate for happy path), but is not the most travelled one.  There is another type of pathways, an "exception", which is basically an error condition that the system must respond to.

I have these pathways defined in a Use Case.  I know how I can link the whole Use Case to an Activity Diagram (that I also created in EA), however an Activity Diagram only needs to be linked to one of the pathways through the Use Case.  I hope I am making some sense here.

Again, thank you for your responses.

-NC

[CJ]

G'day folks,

I'm a real newbie to EA and UML, so let me first ask: you've got multiple scenarios setup under the properties of a use case, right?  If so, then...

How about linking a note to the use case, "Link this note  to an element feature...", link the note to the specific scenario you're interested in, and then put the the activity diagram link directly on the note?

You'll have the use case shape linked to a note containing the scenario, and on the note the link to the activity diagram for the scenario (and even links to other diagrams too?).

Maybe another alternative would be to diagram the different scenarios with other uses cases that extend the basic use case?

[NC0866]

Jason,

Thank you for your input.  Your solution actually sounds like something I can work with.  I am not sure, however, how "Link this note  to an element feature..." work.  Is it a context menu off of somewhere?  The only note element I can find is one on the toolbar, and its context menu does not have this option.

Thanks again, and I look forward to your response.

-NC.

[jaimeglz]

OK, NC: now I understand what you are looking for.

Forgive all the detail in what follows, but I just want to be sure we have a good conceptual "handshake".  

When I use the phone, my most general usage is as follows: I pick up the speaker, wait for the dial tone, dial, receive a "calling" tone, receive the answer from the other end, talk, and finish by hanging up. This is the most general usage (nice way of putting it: "happy path"), albeit the fact that in practice there are innumerable variations.

The particular executions or possibilities of a use case are formally called a "scenarios" in UML (no pedantry intended here); these are instances of use cases.

If you double click on your use case in an EA diagram, you can go to the Scenarios tab. This is where you can document the basic and alternate paths. (Since you are going to detail this Scenario in another diagram, you don't need to put much detail here; just give a name to this sequence of events, and choose Basic Path in the Type field).

You can do the same for your other scenarios (your alternate paths, that is), except that you will select Alternate in the Type field.

If you have exceptions, they should be documented in another use case, that should be linked by an <<extend>> relationship to your most general use case.

All of the above is important, because it will help you with your question, and it will also explain what the other forum members are trying to explain.

Now: once you have defined your scenarios, insert a note in your diagram (third icon from left in your tools menu, just underneath the little diskette icon). Link this note to your use case with a note link (I'm correcting Farfetch as well as a previous posting by myself on this one...), which you can obtain in the first item (the one with the arrow) in your tools menu.

Right click in the note link and choose "Link this note to element feature" (as Jason suggests). In Feature type choose Scenario, and click on the first scenario. The name and text associated with the scenario will automatically appear in your note.

From the Worspace (your project tree) now drag the icon diagram that corresponds to the scenario into the note. Voila!

You can now create notes and associate diagrams for your other scenarios.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Jaime Gonzalez

[Farfetch]

I've now been using EA for 5 days so I think I have much to learn.  

I'm going to try your solution to experiment with more of EA's features. Sounds interesting, even if I don't fully understand it yet.

Just a further question - what version are you using? I am currently using 2.5 Desktop (not upgrading to the latest until we have trialed MS Visio 2002 as well) and I don't have the right click option ("Link this note to element feature") on the note link that you mentioned.

Is this a more recent addition?

I also don't seem to be able to access the following thing you mentioned:

In Feature type choose Scenario, and click on the first scenario. The name and text associated with the scenario will automatically appear in your note.

Finally, when I tried to "drag the icon diagram that corresponds to the scenario into the note." nothing happened, the icon diagram just added to the diagram and wouldn't appear in the note. Is this because the above features I mentioned don't exist in my version?

[CJ]

G'day folks,

Back to "Link this note  to an element feature..."

Lookup in EA help "Linking Notes" and "How to Link a Note to an Element".

When you right-click on the context menu for the link between a note and an element, you get a menu item "Link this Note to an Element Feature" which brings up a dialog that lets you pick the type of feature (example: attribute, requirement, constraint, scenario) and the specific feature you want to appear on the note (in the example of scenarios, pick from the list which scenario you want to see on the note).

I'm using EA version 3.10 build 503.

Best regards.

[mbc]

Farfetch - in my opinion EA is a tool that evolves so rapidly that in order to do a serious evaluation, you do not only need the latest version, but also the latest build (today it is 504).

Besides, the prices is so low that I see no reason at all for a professional software developer not to go for the full version of EA.
-
Mikkel

[jaimeglz]

Hi, everybody!

I'm using EA 3.10 build 403 in this laptop. (I've just downloaded build 404 into the home desktop, where I am testsing it. I tell you this because I want to remind everybody that EA's license permits you to use the software in your home machine as well as on your laptop, which is ideal for some of us.)

Now to the point. Some weeks ago, mbc started a thread on "Linking notes to elements not on same diagram":

http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=general&action=display&num=1029235186

I think many of us were delighted with mbc's final solution (on which I have borrowed for what I have just recommended in this thread). Before mbc's solution, I had been been using a non-UML representation to link use cases and sequence diagrams (no big deal, but who knows if some rigoristic zealot might pick on your later for this; Iv'e had lots of trouble with rigorists, specially on big projects). And not only that, but mbc's solution to use the notes simplifies a lot of work, as Kelly eloquently explains in his Aug 16 post.

Basically, we have found a UML-compliant way of downing several stones with a single bird:

1. With the note, you are making visible in your diagram a scenario that is "inside" (so to speak) your use case.
2. If you make changes to your scenarios, they are automatically reflected in your note (except if you change the name of the scenario, in which case it disappears from your note!)
3. We can link the use case's basic path (or other scenarios) to diagrams. For instance, I have an "Account grouping" use case, for corporate reporting, and I have an "Account groping" sequence diagram that details the basic path. All I have to do to go from the use case to the sequence is to double click on the sequence diagram icon in my use case diagram. (In the sequence diagram I have the use case's diagram icon, so I can also go back).

No big methodological issue here; just something very practical for our work with EA.

Jaime Gonzalez

[NC0866]

Thank you everybody for your responses.  Jaime, I tried your step-by-step instructions and now I am all set.  Thanks again for your help.

On a separate note, I have so far used Visio, Rose (some of it anyway), and EA (for a few days now).  I have to say that EA is the best one available for its features, ease-of-use, and most definitely the price.  Once in a while a small software company comes along with the right skills, determination, and ability to produce outstanding products that leave the competition in dust.  Sparx definitely seems like one such company.  The last one I came across was DataDynamics with their ActiveReports product.

Keep up the good work Sparx -- this is what a software company should be!

-NC

[Farfetch]

I'll have to explain a little

I'm on a placement year as the 3rd year of my degree (in Systems Analysis and Design) working as a Software Systems Analyst for a software design company.

My job is to help design and plan the projects they work on before they embark on all the coding so they know how to proceed and how the overal system will work.

We got EA as a free 'full' program on a magazine cover disk and are evaluating it and will be considering Visio et al before deciding which is best for what we need and purchasing a full license for that software.

Visio looks nice, and its links in with other MS products are obvious plus points but it may have some things missing that EA has. This will all be taken into account.

Take note also, this is only my 2nd week here, and I've only really scratched the surface of EA. For instance, I'd like to know how to print out all the listed requirements for an entity (as in, any shape) on the diagram, as well as several other things, but that will hopefully be found through experimentation.

[mbc]

Farfetch, Have you noticed that you can download a fully functional 30-day evaluation version of EA for free from this site?
In my opinion, Visio is still just a drawing program, although it has UML stencils. EA is a CASE tool. And I still think that evaluating version 2.5 is not really an evaluation at all.

[Farfetch]

As a member of the bottom rung of the ladder, I don't get to choose the programs, only advise

I'm happy using a full copy of EA2.5 for the moment until I have had time to fully evaluate it, which is the aim of getting the Visio trial software from MS.

I don't pay for the software, I leave that to the bosses