Creating an MDG - Why does my toolbox not work?

[Remco74]

Hi,

I'm creating an MDG, with a profile, toolboxes and diagrams. i keep getting stuck on the toolbox. IT doesn't work like it should.

When i select the toolbox (after importing), it displays a stereotype like icon (<< >>), and when i drag item from the toolbox onto a diagram, nothing happens.

It seems that EA can't determine what type the toolbox item is.

How do i debug this issue? Can i send the technology file here?  

[g.makulik]

Hi,

Debugging MDG profiles is hard   ...
Did you specify the namespace (profile name) of the stereotypes in the toolbox profile correctly? This or typos in the stereotypes are the most common error, check this thoroughly.
There are several threads about this topic in the forum. Posting the whole MDG file will be a bit much I think, at least the profiles and the toolbox xml should be enough (these are even large enough). But first check for namespace or naming errors.
The EA help topics and samples are usually comprehensive enough.

HTH
Günther

[Remco74]

Gotten a bit further with diagnosing my problem, i found out i used a single colon ':' instead of a double '::' when referring to UML types (so '(UML:Component)' instead of '(UML::Component)'.


I'v gotten a bit further now (and gained a whole lot of insight into the profile xml files  )

[Remco74]

All right, i've made my mdg as small as possible, it still won't work. I have two problems with it:

• Every time i open EA, the technology is deactivated (Settings, MDG Technologies -> the checkbox is not checked.
• The diagram and toolbox appear, but when i want to create a Team item (via Package -> Add element), or by dropping it from the toolbox, nothing happens (the item is not created, and EA doesn't provide an error).

This is the technology code:

Code: [Select]

<MDG.Technology version="1.0">
      <Documentation id="1" name="Organigram" version="1.0" notes="Organigram"/>
      <UMLProfiles>
            <UMLProfile profiletype="uml2">
                  <Documentation id="2DFA6A4A-A" name="Organigram" version="1.0" alias="Organigram"/>
                  <Content>
                        <Stereotypes>
                              <Stereotype name="Team" metatype="Team">
                                    <AppliesTo>
                                          <Apply type="Component"/>
                                    </AppliesTo>
                              </Stereotype>
                        </Stereotypes>
                        <TaggedValueTypes/>
                  </Content>
            </UMLProfile>
      </UMLProfiles>
      <DiagramProfile>
            <UMLProfile profiletype="uml2">
                  <Documentation id="E7F6A6A0-7" name="Organigram" version="1.0" alias="Organigram"/>
                  <Content>
                        <Stereotypes>
                              <Stereotype name="Organigram">
                                    <AppliesTo>
                                          <Apply type="Diagram_Component">
                                                <Property name="diagramID" value="organigram"/>
                                                <Property name="toolbox" value="Organigram"/>
                                                <Property name="alias" value="Organigram"/>
                                          </Apply>
                                    </AppliesTo>
                              </Stereotype>
                        </Stereotypes>
                        <TaggedValueTypes/>
                  </Content>
            </UMLProfile>
      </DiagramProfile>
      <UIToolboxes>
            <UMLProfile profiletype="uml2">
                  <Documentation id="B298F37D-A" name="Organigram" version="1.0" alias="Organigram"/>
                  <Content>
                        <Stereotypes>
                              <Stereotype name="Organisatie onderdelen" alias="Organisatie onderdelen" notes="Organisatie onderdelen&#xA;">
                                    <AppliesTo>
                                          <Apply type="ToolboxPage"/>
                                    </AppliesTo>
                                    <TaggedValues>
                                          <Tag name="Organigram::Team(UML::Component)" type="" description="" unit="" values="" default="Team"/>
                                    </TaggedValues>
                              </Stereotype>
                        </Stereotypes>
                        <TaggedValueTypes/>
                  </Content>
            </UMLProfile>
      </UIToolboxes>
</MDG.Technology>
I don't know what i'm doing wrong here. Can anyone here help me spot my error?

[Remco74]

Update:

I'm starting to think there is something wrong with my installation of EA. I get the same trouble when using the archimate or web moddeling technology.

I'm using version 7.5.850 (Professional).

Remco

[Remco74]

Another update:

I just tried another installation of EA (9.2.921), and i have the same problem there. But not only with my technology, but also with archimate (and with an entity relationship diagram). The basis UML types (class, use case, ...) still work as usual.

The problem seems to occur when my MDG is loaded. When it is not loaded, the other extensions (archimate, erd) work again...

Can anyone help me with this problem?

[qwerty]

Interference is possible. I had some issues when working with "similar" MDG releases. The namespaces seem to be all on top level and not prefixed with your MDG name. Try using a unique MDG identifier.

I once published a short article about MDG creation: http://community.sparxsystems.com/tutorials/extensibility/intro-creating-mdg-file You are probably beyond that but who knows...

q.

[KP]

There's nothing wrong with your technology - it works perfectly well on my installation. Maybe time to get in touch with Sparx Support, see if they've come across any similar problems.

[Remco74]

The two last posts together made the answer. It seems that the technology name "Organigram" may already be used by one of my installed techs. Changed it to MyOrganigram and now everything works fine.

It's i pity that EA doesn't give any feedback when this occurs.

Thanks for the replies!  

[qwerty]

Yep. Sadly EA is very silent when it comes to error analysis. Be it profiles or add-ins.

q.