How let a report template change appearance in diagrams?

[Mikael S]

Use-case reports are intended to give the whole picture, but usually developers and testers feel confused when the report contains requirements and flows which will be implemented in a later release.

I'm trying to figure out a way to gather the requirements in one model, no matter the release, but let a release tag control which ones are included in the use case report. The real trouble are the diagrams. The excluded requirements need to remain as elements in the diagram elements but with a different appearance, for example a dotted contour, to set them apart.

Is the appearance of diagram elements something a report template can affect dynamically?

[qwerty]

I have not much of an idea about EA's documentation features. But changing the appearance depending on tagged values is something you can achieve with shape scripts rather easily.

q.

[Sunshine]

I've used phase to indicate which phase the requirements should be implemented in. You can then add a filter in the doc gen template to only include requirements, usecases etc for a particular phase. Now the trick is to use the "one of..." option on the element filter so that for phase 2 you include phase 1 as well 2. For example  "1.0,2.0" - can't remember if that is the correction format comma separated values or whether its semi-colons or something else but I think you get the idea.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I've used phase to indicate which phase the requirements should be implemented in. You can then add a filter in the doc gen template to only include requirements, usecases etc for a particular phase. Now the trick is to use the "one of..." option on the element filter so that for phase 2 you include phase 1 as well 2. For example  "1.0,2.0" - can't remember if that is the correction format comma separated values or whether its semi-colons or something else but I think you get the idea.

As I discovered, you need to separate the values by the appropriate quote character for your DB, this for SQL Server it would be: '1.0','2.0'

Paolo

[Mikael S]

I've used phase to indicate which phase the requirements should be implemented in. You can then add a filter in the doc gen template to only include requirements, usecases etc for a particular phase. Now the trick is to use the "one of..." option on the element filter so that for phase 2 you include phase 1 as well 2. For example  "1.0,2.0" - can't remember if that is the correction format comma separated values or whether its semi-colons or something else but I think you get the idea.

That's not all there's to it. All steps in for exampel a sequence diagram need to be included, or the diagram will be messed up. But I only want the ones implemented up to the specified release to be displayed with a solid contour, the future ones should have a dotted contour.

Mikael

[Mikael S]

I have not much of an idea about EA's documentation features. But changing the appearance depending on tagged values is something you can achieve with shape scripts rather easily.

q.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Marc Vanstraelen]

You could consider adding a Diagram Legend to your diagrams, with the option "apply auto colour". This allows to automatically change the appearance of elements based on a property, e.g. the Phase or Status. You can change the fill colour as well as the appearance of the borders.

This of course impacts your diagrams directly, not only the generated documentation.

There are also diagram filters that can gray out or hide elements based on selection criteria, but I have no idea if these can be made to be applied during document generation...

[Sunshine]

...
There are also diagram filters that can gray out or hide elements based on selection criteria, but I have no idea if these can be made to be applied during document generation...

Enable the filter then generate the doc

[Marc Vanstraelen]

Just tried this and it works... Almost too simple to be true 

[cjcrystal]

Just tried this and it works... Almost too simple to be true 

 may i ask where you mapped your release tag  to the filter you wanted to set?

was it in the EXCLUDE Filter , ELEMENT, or OTHER

[Sunshine]

I use the phase field and the filter to include one or more filters. So I might have a number of elements with phase 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 etc then create filters that include phase = '1.0', '2.0', '3.0' and enable one or more filters.
Now there are two patterns I've observed using this
a) Phased approach to implementing some system so that when the last phase is reached everything is included and all the filters enabled.
b) A phased approach to adding some components and retiring others. This requires a slightly different approach where in the phase I include the phases in which the component exists. For example if component A already exists and component B is being add lets say in phase 2 to replace it I might have 3 phases.
Phase 1.0 - component A only
Phase 2.0 - component A and B exist
Phase 3.0 - component B exists and component B has been retired.

Component A phase field = '1.0, 2.0'
Component B phase field = '2.0, 3.0'

I would use a filter that says contains rather than equals a phase value like '3.0'
Hope that helps.
 

[cjcrystal]

  its helpful, thanks @ Sunshine

[Sunshine]

its helpful, thanks @ Sunshine

karma points welcome 

[Geert Bellekens]

its helpful, thanks @ Sunshine

karma points welcome 

You can only give/take karma from a certain number of posts.
I don't remember how much exactly; I think 20 or 25 or something like that.

Geert