Rich Text Documenting not well organized?

[sheikspa]

Hi, I'm a newbie at Enterprise Architect, but I've been trying to create a template for RTF documentation 'cause the included templates seem to generate a difficult to read document structure, at least for diagrams.

OK, this is my problem:
When you document, for example, the use case model and choose "basic template" or "use case template", EA generates a document that has the following structure (I "converted" it to xml just for this explanation):

<package>
   {Pkg.Name}
<diagram>
   {Diagram.Name}
   {Diagram.DiagramImg}
   Figure:{Diagram.Figure}: {Diagram.Name}
</diagram>
<element>
   {Element.Name}
   {Element.Notes}
   <scenario>
       Flow of Events
       {ElemScenario.Type}
       {ElemScenario.Scenario}
       {ElemScenario.Notes}
   </scenario>
   <constraint>
       {ElemConstraint.Type}
       {ElemConstraint.Name}
       Status: {ElemConstraint.Status}
       {ElemConstraint.Notes}
   </constraint>
</element>
<child packages>
</child packages>
</package>

As a result, you get all the diagrams al the begining, and after all the diagrams EA outputs the elements of ALL THE DIAGRAMS together, making it an unreadable and completely usless documentation :-(

What I want to get is to see after each diagram its corresponding elements, and just then, the following diagram with its elements, and so on...
I tried to put the <element> tag inside the <diagram> using the template editor, but it fires an error saying that "some elements are locked" (I've got the 786 build of EA)

But as I am "so smart" i tried exporting the template as rtf, changed the rtf template my way, an then imported it back to EA with the template editor... Surprise, surprise, when I generated the documentation using this modified template, the <element> tag WAS written after each diagram indeed... but only as text, I mean, it apeared the tag itself, not the actual contents (documentation) of the element... :-(

Does anyone know how to do what I want to do?

Thanks in advance.

             Adrián

[sheikspa]

Please, can anybody tell me at least if this is possible (read below)?

Hi, I'm a newbie at Enterprise Architect, but I've been trying to create a template for RTF documentation 'cause the included templates seem to generate a difficult to read document structure, at least for diagrams.

OK, this is my problem:
When you document, for example, the use case model and choose "basic template" or "use case template", EA generates a document that has the following structure (I "converted" it to xml just for this explanation):

<package>
    {Pkg.Name}
<diagram>
    {Diagram.Name}
    {Diagram.DiagramImg}
    Figure:{Diagram.Figure}: {Diagram.Name}
</diagram>
<element>
    {Element.Name}
    {Element.Notes}
    <scenario>
        Flow of Events
        {ElemScenario.Type}
        {ElemScenario.Scenario}
        {ElemScenario.Notes}
    </scenario>
    <constraint>
        {ElemConstraint.Type}
        {ElemConstraint.Name}
        Status: {ElemConstraint.Status}
        {ElemConstraint.Notes}
    </constraint>
</element>
<child packages>
</child packages>
</package>

As a result, you get all the diagrams al the begining, and after all the diagrams EA outputs the elements of ALL THE DIAGRAMS together, making it an unreadable and completely usless documentation :-(

What I want to get is to see after each diagram its corresponding elements, and just then, the following diagram with its elements, and so on...
I tried to put the <element> tag inside the <diagram> using the template editor, but it fires an error saying that "some elements are locked" (I've got the 786 build of EA)

But as I am "so smart" i tried exporting the template as rtf, changed the rtf template my way, an then imported it back to EA with the template editor... Surprise, surprise, when I generated the documentation using this modified template, the <element> tag WAS written after each diagram indeed... but only as text, I mean, it apeared the tag itself, not the actual contents (documentation) of the element... :-(

Does anyone know how to do what I want to do?

Thanks in advance.

              Adrián

[StefanPears]

Hi Adrián,

the RTF-generator only creates documents for packages, unfortunately not for diagrams, which would be useful either. This is the reason you get all elements listed, even those with no occurance at all. See more below...
Next, pls note that it's not useful to edit the template outside of EA. Just create a new template based on <basic> and edit it with the build in template editor (via <edit current...>). Don't try to change something that's yellow. Use the tree on the left instead.
Now check if the element check box under diagram is switched on and you have a yellow element> tag and a yellow <element tag before the <diagram tag with nothing between them except a newline.
hth
Stefan

[sheikspa]

Thaks Stefan (or is it StevePears?) for your reply. I was afraid that THAT would be the answer  

Don't you know if there is any documentation plug-in that may achieve what I'm trying to do?

Hi Adrián,

the RTF-generator only creates documents for packages, unfortunately not for diagrams, which would be useful either. This is the reason you get all elements listed, even those with no occurance at all. See more below...
Next, pls note that it's not useful to edit the template outside of EA. Just create a new template based on <basic> and edit it with the build in template editor (via <edit current...>). Don't try to change something that's yellow. Use the tree on the left instead.
Now check if the element check box under diagram is switched on and you have a yellow element> tag and a yellow <element tag before the <diagram tag with nothing between them except a newline.
hth
Stefan

[StefanPears]

You'll find a lot of stuff here: http://sparxsystems.com.au/resources/, e.g. the rtf-documentation tutorial. But sorry, I 'm not sure if this fits to your problem.
Have a nice weekend....
Stefan