Include a table/matrix in diagram

[Sorno]

I would like to present certain relationships in a diagram as a table/matrix, either inside the same diagram or dedicated diagram or as some kind of listview. Is this possible in EA?

A table like this:

Information      |  Sender         |   Target            |  ....
Incident report         Servicedesk     Serviceboard  

I'm aware how to access the information through script, but not how to generate a table like this inside an EA diagram.

The "list view" is close but don't show the information I need.

Any thoughts?

Thank you for the help!

[qwerty]

Either you create a matrix swimlane and place the info manually inside the grid. Or you create an image of it externally and place the image inside EA.

q.

[Sorno]

The matrix idea could work. Is it possible to create those through scripts?

Can only find Swimlane as part of a diagram object.

Is there any documentation of the EA objects accessable by the script engine? The sample scripts aren't really enough here ...

[qwerty]

I haven't really used it, but there is a SwimlaneDef attribute for diagrams. I guess you need to define horizontal and vertical swimlanes (the GUI offers a matrix, but i guess this is mapped to h/v swimlanes).

q.

[Sorno]

I managed to access swimlanes, but it seems the matrices are hidden somewhere else. They don't show up as a swimlane class and I can't find anything in the object model which hints where the matrices are.

Have emailed Sparx for information about this.

[qwerty]

The swimlanes in diagrams are no model elements, but diagram attributes. If you need model elements choose Partitions.

q.

[Sorno]

Thank you for the input. Tho, I got another idea, perhaps much simpler.

Is it possible to create Notes or Text elements by scripts? I could live with using those.

I have found how to read and write to Note-elements. But what attribute makes a note-element to a note? It has no stereotype for example..

[qwerty]

Use Package.Elements.AddNew ("", "Note");

You may supply a name as first parameter, but it's almost never used by anybody.

You should place the note directly in a diagram (via DiagramObject) since you get a zombie element else.

q.

[Sorno]

Great! Thank you!

I feel kinda silly when it was that simple. I could have sworn that I tried that.

I guess I was fooled by thinking the second parameter to AddNew had to be a stereotype, and when I checked the stereotype of a Note it returned an empty string.

Thank you again.

[qwerty]

A look into my Scripting book would have helped in that case :-)

q.

[Sorno]

I finally did manage something.

Is there anyway to generate tables in notes? I noticed that it parsed some richtext tags like <b>, why I tried, to no avail, a html table.

For the moment I solved it by calculating the width of the longest string for each column and then add the right amount if blankspace to every other string to get even columns. It feels like an ugly way to do it, but at least it looks like a table.

But this "solution" requires the usage of a monospace font like courier... so my followup question is: Is it possible to set the font of an element by script? In the reference it seems that it's only possible to change color and borders.

[qwerty]

Look at Repository.GetFieldFromFormat and GetFormatFromField.

However, EA does not support formatted tables in notes. Except you like ASCII art.

q.

[Sorno]

Regarding creation of a matrix, Sparx have responded:

"The Swimlane matrix is unrelated to the swimlanes (despite being in the same dialog). So the automation support is only for the swimlanes not the matrix.

I will submit this internally as a feature request. "

[qwerty]

Thanks for the update. Seems you will have to find some work around...

q.