Assign Iterations to Elements (Use Cases)

[PatrickS]

Hi!
Before switching to EA I have created a tool backing up my Use Case Analysis process. There I had a specific table to assign development iterations to use cases (when does this use case have to be implemented?). I attributed specific colors (something like styles in EA) to the iterations table and use cases were displayed in the referent color (similar to the way EA does with Status).

Unfortunately in EA there is only a text field for "phase" in which anything can be written. I tried to implement it with a Enum Tagged Value, that works more or less, but of course I cannot connect to the iterations listed in the enum a color value or something similar. I also would not know how to explain EA to set the color according to something else but either the status or manually by a style.

does anybody have a good suggestion? Would be very welcomed...

[qwerty]

You might use shape scripts to evaluate the tag and set the colour accordingly.

q.

[Geert Bellekens]

Patrick,

AFAIK the only fields that you can use to automatically change the appearance of an element are the Status and the stereotype.
In your case Status seems like the better choice.

Geert

[SomersetGraham]

You and use MDG technology to achieve this

[PatrickS]

@Geerd - I saw in your blog that you are creating add-ons and teaching there about it. Is it possible to extend the EA datastructure with an own table ("iterations"; actually in case it is possible there are also other things I definitely would like to do so) and link them to the standard ea tables including creating an interface to edit those tables or the connection to the standard one...? Or do I have to find my completely own datastore (as I did with my old tool talking the the Com interface of Visual UML, which was more nasty).

@Graham MDG technologies. Thanks for the hint - How would I do this? and how could it solve my problem?

Thanks for all helps

[Geert Bellekens]

Patrick,

Although you can add your own tables to the ea database, I would not recommend it.

I think it better to create your own datastore. It will make your life easier in case of upgrades or model transfers.

Geert

[PatrickS]

Hi Geert - thans a lot for the prompt reply. I understand. I just hoped that in case I introduce my table into the same db, it would be more closely connected to my model. Would functions as baseline and xmi export be able to include my table or is this impossible?

Other question, if I have my own data store, is it easily possible to retrieve kind of a Primary key of the own EA entities (such as elements) through COM interop?

Last questiomn: How is it possible to create a simple User interface element that would be displayed within EA?

[Geert Bellekens]

Patrick:

- I'm not sure, but I suspect that baseline and xmi export processes will just ignore your extra tables and/or columns.
- Yes, almost any item in the API/Database has a regular ID (int) and a GUID. Both (ID + type of item or just the GUID) can be used to uniquely identify an EA item.
- See https://github.com/GeertBellekens/Enterprise-Architect-Add-in-Framework (MyAddin) for a working (simple) example of how to add a window to EA. A more complicated example can be found here: https://github.com/GeertBellekens/Enterprise-Architect-Toolpack (EANavigator)

I think either someone form LieberLieber or SparxSystems Europe has written an article about the AddWindow feature, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

Geert

[PatrickS]

Great! Thanks for all your hints... (Will probably come back to you)