link a element to a diagram

[Yang]

hihi there,

I am quite a newbie using EA, and I am now wondering is there possiblily that I link a element to a diagram. In my case, I wanna link a Use Case Element inside the Use Case Diagram to a Analysis Diagram.

thx a head

Yang

[«Midnight»]

Hi Yang,

Right-click your 'parent' element, and from the context menu choose Add. You should see some diagram types at the bottom of the resulting sub-menu.

You can also right-click the parent and choose Advanced | Composite Element from the context menu. This is more restrictive in some ways, but provides a visual cue to the 'child' diagram in many cases.

If you do not see the diagram type you want - or if the default type used for a composite element is not what you need - then create one of the diagrams offered - or use the composite element default - and open the diagram. From the main (not context) EA menu choose Diagram | Change Type. You can set the 'child' diagram to what you need.

This stuff is in the EA help, but you have to know what to look for. Now you should be all set.

David

[Yang]

"You can also right-click the parent and choose Advanced | Composite Element from the context menu. This is more restrictive in some ways, but provides a visual cue to the 'child' diagram in many cases."

that is exactly what I need, thx a LOT!

Yang

[Trick]

You can also right-click the parent and choose Advanced | Composite Element from the context menu. This is more restrictive in some ways, but provides a visual cue to the 'child' diagram in many cases.

Hello,

I'm facing a similar problem.
I've successfully created a child to my activity element with the "Composite Element" action.
Now this child will also be linked elsewhere in the diagram (in fact it will be also in another diagram).

I'm wondering how I can point to this child from an other activity element?

If I use the "Composite Element" again, it will create a new element and I don't see anything from there to point to my previous child.

Thank you!
Patrick

[«Midnight»]

Hi Patrick,

I think you can do something like this. If I remember, you can create a composite element, then move the 'child' diagram elsewhere in the model. There was once a thread with a procedure for doing this without getting into trouble. I think some posts in the thread dealt with possible pitfalls.

You will have to search the forum for this information. I don't remember when I saw it, except that it was quite a while ago, so go back a few years.

Meanwhile, I do not believe that a diagram can be a child of two parent elements. My assumption - and it is only that - is based on my understanding of how this is handled in the EA schema.

What you can do though is create a hyperlink to a diagram. This would allow you to create a glyph (or something) on the diagram with the 'foreign' activity, which would take you to the child diagram. You can also make hyperlinks transparent, and remove their text. This allows you to position them over an element, turning the element into a sort of navigation button.

There are some risks to the above process. Transparent hyperlinks can get lost when you manipulate them. If they have no text they become completely invisible when they are not selected; in ill-timed click elsewhere on the diagram can do this. Last time I looked (at least a year ago) they did not show up on the Project Browser, so they became very difficult to find if you lost them.

Finally, if you need to change the type of child diagram that a composite element provides you, no problem. Navigate to the child diagram, then from the main menu - this option is not available on context menus - choose Diagram | Change Type.

HTH, David

[Trick]

David,

Thank you for your answer.
Indeed I didn't search that far back in time.
This thread helped me out :
http://www.sparxsystems.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1119005986/0#0

Patrick

[«Midnight»]

But Patrick,

"Help" is all very well, but the question still remains: did it solve your problem (or at least get you unstuck)?

[Trick]

Sorry I missed the important part.
Yes it did the trick.

Patrick

[«Midnight»]

Thanks Patrick,

Now we have a recent reference to the problem and the solution, all in one place. That's much better than relying on my memory...

David