How do I control the order of run state values?

[Stevebo]

I'm using EA for enterprise architecture rather than development. If I create a node and name it "Server," and then I add attributes to the node such as "Processors," "Disks," "Disk Size," etc., I can create an instance of the node where I assign values to the attributes.

The way I assign values to the attributes is by using "Set Run State" which is found when right-clicking a node and selecting Advanced->Set Run State.  The problem is this - although I can control the order of attributes and how they appear for a node when right clicking a node and choosing "Attributes," the order of the "set run state" values does not appear in the same order as the attribute list nor do I have the opportunity to control how the values appear.

This is annoying if I overlooked an attribute's value that was at the top of the attribute list (for example, server location) only to remember to assign it after already assigning all the other attributes' values. The only way I found to put the attribute values back in order was to delete the values back to where I needed to make the change, and then re-enter all of them in the order I wanted.

Does anyone know how I can re-order the run state values that appear for a node instance? Even if it's in a file somewhere and not via the user interface I'll take it.

steve

[«Midnight»]

Steve,

You can do this through an add-in, but I don't think you can do it any other way.

I agree with you. At the very least, it would be nice if we had the option to set run state to use the same order as feature display, which can be controlled with various settings. I say "option" since some users might want to have a few run state variables show up in the order they were defined, for presentation purposes.

This might be a good candidate for a feature request. Search my recent posts (past week or two) for a best practice we use for such things.

David

[Stevebo]

Which add-in do you suggest? Thanks for the info by the way.

stevebo

[thomaskilian]

You need to write one for yourself. The only way for ordering is to delete everything and enter it in the desired order from scratch. It might be possible to tweak the database but I don't know the table name(should not be too hard to find out).

[Stevebo]

By the way, I am currently using EA in a standalone mode with no database since there is just me for the time being. Any other info on how I could make the changes given that I'm not using an external database?

steve

[Paolo F Cantoni]

By the way, I am currently using EA in a standalone mode with no database since there is just me for the time being. Any other info on how I could make the changes given that I'm not using an external database?

steve

You are running a database - it's Microsoft Access!  .EAP files are just renamed .MDB files.   Add the ability to "Open with..."  MS Access and "the world is your oyster!"

HTH,
Paolo

[Stevebo]

I did not know that. Thanks for the tip.

steve