Setting Defaults & Security

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

After many months of thinking and doing the odd bit of poking at EA, I am finally trying to do something resembling a from scratch project and I am having trouble finding a few things.

One issue is that the default paper size seems to be A4 ... sensible for most of the world, but not useful in the USA.  I have been able to override it on individual diagrams, although the bounding box is only printing partially, but shouldn't there be a global default?

Also, in using the RTF documentation for use cases, that seems wired resolutely to A4.  I suppose I might have to edit the template, but when I click on the Manage Templates, none are shown even though there are a bunch selectable in the drop down and I can select different options and they work, albeit in A4.  I did find in the help that if one has the corporate edition, which I do, (version 7.0) then if security is enabled, one has to have permission to configure resources.  I see where I could enable security, but unless I need to do that in order to give myself permission, I would be inclined to not enable it since I am working on my own.

[«Midnight»]

Try editing EABase.EAP in the default directory. Also look carefully at the RTF templates, which you will likely have to edit and import into EABase. The default paper sizes seemed to be in some templates (I only looked at a few) quite some time ago, and might still be set there.

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

What does one use to edit EABase.EAP?

I don't see any rtf documents under the install directory.  There is a directory called doctemplates, but it contains XML and doesn't include the use case templates I was starting to work with.  

[«Midnight»]

What does one use to edit EABase.EAP?

First, create a copy of the file to work on, and save (i.e. rename) the original to someplace safe.

Note that EABase is used as the 'seed' for a new project. EA copies some or all of the file (depending on your choices at the time you create a project) into a new file, which becomes the 'spine' of your new project. Some settings and initial content are inherited from EABase at this time. This includes things like default code language, etc. [The actual list does not seem to be spelled out anywhere.]

The copy is an EAP file (as is the original) which can be 'edited' with EA. Make the changes you need, then save the results as EABase.EAP. Since you saved the original this file name is available.

Now you should get the defaults you require.

HTH, David

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

I'm obviously missing something here.

I take it that the "editing tool" is EA itself.  OK, that's fine in principle, but I am having trouble seeing how to apply the knowledge.

First, from your description, it sounds like any changes I make to EABase will only apply when I start a new project since that is when the new EAP is created.  Is that correct?  I.e., that one can't make these adjustments in a project after it is created?

E.g., how does one create multiple projects with different default languages?

Second, having made a copy and opened EABase, in the Resources panel I see a node for RTF templates, but there is nothing underneath it and no left or right clicking brings up any options to list or edit.

[«Midnight»]

You edit EABase to change (some of) the default settings for a new project. Some settings are remembered when you set them in Tools | Options (or elsewhere) so changing EABase is not necessary.

You can generally - perhaps always - change settings after creating a new project. However, remembering to do this, or to change some settings for each new package, can be a real pain. This is particularly true if the EABase settings don't match your most common preferences.

You need to make a copy of a base template - one that is wired into EA itself - before anything shows up in the resources tree. You'll find procedures for this in the help file. At the time you make the copy you will be asked to name your copy. That is the name that will show up in the Resources tree.

You can edit your new template using the editor built into EA, or you can actually save the file and edit the RTF code directly. [This is not for the faint of heart, but with your background you may well have picked this up along the way.]

Once you have a custom template it will be scoped to your project. It can be moved to another project via the Export/Import Reference Data functions. You can even import it into your custom EABase project, to have it show up by default in all new projects!

David

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

OK, that makes sense, i.e., modify EABase as desired to get standard defaults (once one figures out what they should be) but also modify the individual project to suit.  I gather that, for example, if I create a custom template in my current project and decide I want that to be standard, I then have to go to EABase and create it there too and then do something like copy my altered template over the top.

So, I have progressed to making a copy, but wanting initially to try editing it via Word, I used Save As, but it didn't ask me for a folder location and I can't find a copy anywhere ... off to experiment ... aha!  So, Export, Edit, Import, and Save As under desired name and clean up.  So, I now have successfully made some basic modifications to one template and used it.  Thanks!

One thing I find odd is that when I view the generated documentation, the viewer is only about 1/4 the size of the diagram panel and it won't resize.  Makes it not very useful.  Is this a bug?

Now, the only other immediate issue, I think, is that when I print a diagram, e.g., domain model, the page border is very light on top and left and missing on bottom and right, even when I have convinced it that it is printing to letter paper.  I suspect this is because it is right on the edge of or over the edge of the printable margin, but there didn't seem to be an option to adjust the margin in the printer dialog.

[«Midnight»]

There are three places where printer select seems to affect how EA sets up a page. Unfortunately these always seem to reset to either your default printer, or whatever Sparx decided back in the time before time.

You'll find these in the Tools | Options | Diagram dialog, the diagram properties dialog, and the Print dialog. I'd modify them in this order. I don't know if any of them are set in EABase, but doing the setup there couldn't hurt.

BTW, I suspect from tweaking the legacy RTF templates (back in EA 4.x days) that the default page setting may be embedded in the base RTF code (the actual RTF commands). This might be the origin of the errant side margin - it is likely just outside of the printable margins of an A4 page, which is slightly thinner than letter size. I do not know how difficult this would be to repair.

As to viewing, I agree this is a pain. Submit a feature request - or even a bug report - to Sparx. Also, check the build notes for recent builds if you are not using 7.0, perhaps this has improved. I don't use the RTF generator much so I've not had occasion to look at the viewer for some time. My current output is to a large-bed plotter, so I don't want to do anything that might affect my page settings.

HTH, David

[Thomas Mercer-Hursh]

I have been to all the Printer options you indicate.  If I include headers and footers, the the top line is still very faint, i.e., 1 pixel on a 1200dpi printer, but the header prints above it.  The bottom line now appears, but only half the footer.  The right line is still missing.

So, I'm not seeing templates for Diagrams, so I don't know where I would adjust this.  Other than this, the diagram is correctly sized ... enough so that it wouldn't be if it was stuck doing A4 ... cause I experienced what that looked like.

Oh, and I am getting the attempt at a box even with the border attribute not checked.