Automating data modeling documentation via EA

[PeterAndrewNolan]

Hi All,
Short story. We have designed and built the best data models for data warehousing. We have 850+ tables and 28,000+ fields. We manage the entire data model via excel spreadsheets and we generate objects to be sent into databases via vb.net.

Before anyone suggests maintaining them in EA let me just say we are committed to maintaining them in workbooks for a whole lot of reasons.

I bought a copy of EA to test it out...seems ok. But his piece of work has sat on our back burner.

What I am interested in getting a quick 'yes, sounds plausible' or 'you are smoking dope' answer to is this.

We can build more sheets into our workbook to provide all necessary parameter to EA. We are using a vb interface that knows all elements of the data model.

Do you guys think it is plausible to write vb.net that will provide all parameters needed to draw some pretty cool diagrams in EA so that we can use EA as one more documentation tool?

Our clients are asking for 'data model diagrams'. And also our prospects want these diagrams for 'feel good factor' in the sales process.

So we are considering extending the vb app to be able to interface to EA via a vb API.

Sound doable?

Is it worth me scouring the manual?

Thanks in advance.

Peter

[Geert Bellekens]

Peter,

That should be completely doable.
You could either import the data from you excel files (see http://community.sparxsystems.com/resources/scripts/simple-vba-excel-ea-importer) or import the tables from ODBC.
Then you'll need create the appropriate diagrams and make them look pretty.
There's a part of that that can be done using automation, but you'll probably have to finish it up by hand.

Geert

[PeterAndrewNolan]

Hi Geert,
thanks for that....rather than looking for EA to perform an import I am looking for a vb.net app to write to EA as an API.

We have a vb.net app that reads the workbook that is stored as XML and then can write to anything that vb.net writes to. I am hoping that EA has an API that can accept instructions to draw the diagrams. We can re-engineer from the database....but we can't draw the diagrams...and it is the diagram drawing that we are most interested in...

I will also go read the manuals now that someone who knows this thinks that it is doable....I shall find out more and get back to men here.

Thanks again...

Peter

[Geert Bellekens]

Peter,

EA surely has an API. You can find the full documentation in your help file.

Geert