EA for generic system modeling?

[ksu-deadeye]

 Hey All:

I've tried four diffferent UML modeling tools in the past few days including Visio, Rose, EA, and SmartDraw. EA is by far my favorite as far as features and the interface are concerned. But I have a few questions.

1) UML allows for objects (class instances) to have attributes set to specific values without changing the initial value in the class diagram. Can this be done in EA?

2) Can operations be shown in object diagrams?

I'm not modeling a software architecture, but rather a more generic system relationship.

Example: If I wanted to model all cars, I would build a class diagram with classes like Car, Engine, Body, Frame, etc. Then, each time I wanted to represent a new car, I would create a new object diagram and draw instances of all those classes and show their realtionships, such as:

Camaro : Car
LS1 : Engine
FBody : Body

The problem is I need to display quite a bit of information in the object diagram and haven't been able to find the software to do it. Hope this makes some sense.

Thanks!

[thomaskilian]

Objects can not display attributes or operations. They can be found in the related class. Right click the desired object and click "classifier properties" in order to show them.

[benc]

Hi ksu-deadeye,

Regarding your first question, try setting the run state of the object (instance) like this:

1. Select the object in the diagram.
2. Right click and select "Set Run State" from the context menu.  This invokes the "Define Run State" dialogue.
3. Choose an attribute and enter it's initial value, notes etc.
4. Click apply.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all desired attributes
6. Click ok

Now the defined attributes are displayed with the Object.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ben