Attribute Length / Precision & Scale in the GUI

[Uffe]

Hey hey hey,


Defining your own language and primitive datatypes allows you to specify size properties, either Length or Precision & Scale.
But they're absent from the attribute properties dialog, and they're not shown in diagrams. Unless you're dealing with a database table / columns.

However, plenty of languages include a decimal type, and fixed-length strings, well fuggeddaboudit.

So how's about adding Length / Precision & Scale to the element properties dialog (Detail page, there's space) and show them in the diagrams as well?

They should only be enabled / shown when the datatype has the corresponding size property, of course.

Cheers,


/Uffe

[skiwi]

Note sure if these will help

http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/10/extending_uml_models/predefinedtaggedvaluetypes.html

Somewhere (a white paper?, I can't track it down) I saw a reference to using a tag (named "Length"?) to specify the length of an attribute

[Uffe]

I can achieve the same thing with tags, but it's not really what I'm after.

There are in fact Length, Precision and Scale columns in the t_attribute table, but they're only used if the containing element is a database table.

Since you can specify length / precision & scale in your own attribute type definitions, you should be able to see them in the dialog is what I'm saying.

[qwerty]

I would not like to see such things hard wired in the properties. From my point of view they are candidates for TVs. Probably even for tables. Likely the whole database engineering thingy in EA was a bad move. Back in the beginning of the millennium when EA grew up it might have looked like a good idea. But probably a MDG solution would be better.

q.

[Uffe]

This argument essentially boils down to "if database engineering had been designed differently, tagged values would have been better." Well, fine - except the implementation is what it is.

Length and precision/scale are implemented as columns in the database. They are also available for specification in code engineering / database datatypes, it's just that for code engineering types, they're broken.

The reasonable expectation for someone who designs a set of code engineering datatypes, some of which include length or precision, is for these properties to be visible in the attribute dialog.

It shouldn't be an unreasonably hard fix either, seeing as this is how it already works for database types.

[Eve]

it's just that for code engineering types, they're broken.

Personally I wouldn't put it like that, and I would wager there are many more users who would get frustrated at the extra fields cluttering the dialog than those who wish they had them available.

[Uffe]

Quite possibly. I only speak for myself, of course.

Does this mean they will be removed from the Programming Language Datatypes dialog as well then?

[skiwi]

Personally I wouldn't put it like that, and I would wager there are many more users who would get frustrated at the extra fields cluttering the dialog than those who wish they had them available.

But not me, EA is a complex tool, and this is the first time I have heard the excuse that a feature has been left off because it is hard to use, or it makes it simpler.
I too would like to see Uffe's suggestion adopted.