Very Confusing Workflow

[Hugo]

I have not seen any answer to my earlier question about inconsistency.

I am right now trying hard to make sense of the tool's handling of elements, so please follow along:

Create a new deafult project and include only Use Cases when prompted for the kinds of things you want in the model.

Now fully exapnd the tree view.

Double click the actor symbol named Use Case Model, near top of tree.

You will see a diagram open with two pink packages: Actors and Primary Use Cases.

Now back to the tree view, right click the yellow "folder" node (named "Actors") then select Add and add a new element of type actor.

Note how the actor appears BOTH in the tree view AND in the package named Actors that is still visible in the diagram on the left.

Now dbl-click that Actors package in the diagram and a new diagram opens.

However this diagram DOES NOT CONTAIN the newly added actor EVEN THOUGH it appears in the tree view AND in the package in the previous diagram.

So why confuse the user like this?

By showing the actor in the tree view and in the package symbol it clearly suggests to the user that they have added a new Actor to the "Actors" diagram, but they havent !

So now that we have the Actors use case diagram open, how DOES one add the actor to the diagram? I mean the actor that has been added to the tree view already, how do I actually tell EA that I want this actor to be added to the diagram?

This is actually very bewildering and is certainly going to be raised if I get a team of expericnced BA's to start using this tool.

How SHOULD I add an actor, should I add it to the tree view or the diagram?

Thx

[thomaskilian]

Welcome to the wonderful UI (unique interface) of EA

Element on diagrams appear when you either drag an element from the Project View onto the current open and showing diagram. Or you create new elements inside the diagram (from toolbox or via ctrl-click) which in turn creates elements appearing in the project view.

You might need to get used to it...

[Eve]

How SHOULD I add an actor, should I add it to the tree view or the diagram?

I hope I've answered most of your questions in the other thread.  It doesn't really matter how you create your elements.  If you want an actor added to a particular diagram in put in the same package as that diagram, adding it to the diagram will work well.  If you want it created in a different package you'll either need to add it from the tree or move it afterwards.  Note that adding things in the tree gives you the option of adding to the current diagram.  (Which may or may not be in the same package as you're adding the element.)

Finally, if you have something in the tree you can always drag it onto a diagram to add it.

[sargasso]

Hugo,

I'd just like to add to Simon's excellent comments here.  

You are looking at the use of the tool from the pov of creating diagrams only.  A diagram is NOT a model.  It is a representation of some aspect of the model.

As the sophistication of the design of the system being modelled continues, whether it be a developmental or support project, model elements can and do often move between both physical (e.g. component) and logical (e.g. class or interface) containers.

EA IMO is at the top of the food tree in terms of tools that support this fact of life.  EA allows the model to live and grow.  Others seem to be tools to make pretty pictures of the finished design.

So to get back to how you SHOULD add an actor, IMO it doesn't matter.  When I am creating the inital UC diagrams I tend to just plonk the actors into the diagram as they appear.  Very shortly, they start taking on commonality and "want" to appear in more than one diagram.  At that point I move the actor - in the project tree - into my "System Actors" package ( and often start describing the significant features of the actor ).  Back in the UC diagrams  every time that actor appears I can now drag him from his "proper home" in the project tree into the diagram.

Sometimes we may end up with an actor (or other element) that appears in very few diagrams.  EA has tools that make locating these fellows a breeze.  aving found them they can be analyzed for significance etc...

bruce