EA14: Font sizes - random ... ?

[matthew.james]

Perhaps I am missing something here, but normally (in other applications) if I set the fonts to be the same on two different objects then they are the same - and by the same I meant same font and same size.  But in Sparx there seems to be some other factor at play.

I can have two elements with the same font and font size yet they are visibly displayed with a different size.
Further to this I can 'check' the element's fonts in different places and it tells me different things - different sizes and / or font style

I thought I was going crazy but now I'm thinking this is a bug - unless someone can point out what I'm doing wrong ... ?

(can't figure out how to post an image to this post - where can I find out how that works ... ?)

[qwerty]

Place the image on a public server to host the image and use the link. But moreover: what are the steps to create the elements?

q.

[matthew.james]

Place the image on a public server to host the image and use the link. But moreover: what are the steps to create the elements?

Ok - looking at options for that (all image upload sites are blocked from my worplace for data protection reasons)

Here is what I did:
- Added archimate Business Interface element to diagram
- Added second Busines Interface element, changed font explicitly to a larger font size then changed it explicitly back to Calibri Regular 8
- Added third Business Interface element, then removed archimate stereotype (to go back to standard Class element)
- Added 'standard' Class element

All are visibly different - different sizes, some bold or italic - but all report as being Calibri Regular (no bold or italic) 8 through the toolbar font dialog
Note - preferences has default element font as Calibri 8.5, which interestingly I can't even manually set in the dialog (error: font size must 'be a number')

There is some similar behaviour reported here also:
http://www.sparxsystems.com/forums/smf/index.php/topic,40150.0.html
See the comment from Sunshine wrt the dialog reporting 8 point font even after changing the font size

[matthew.james]

BTW Sparx EA 14 build 1422

[matthew.james]

Here is a picture illustrating the way the fonts are rendered:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5v9x0hbq0o7ofu/image001.png

[qwerty]

When you remove the stereotype the element will no longe be rendered via the shape script so normal classes look different to Archimate elements. I see the minor size difference of the top left two elements but can not reproduce it. I suspect an Windoze(/EA) issue here. Maybe the monitor resolution plays a role too. Best would be to contact Sparx support.

q.

[matthew.james]

Thanks qwerty.

The point is that EA is reporting that all four elements have the same font, style and size yet are rendering differently.  I would expect resolution issues would affect all elements consistently.
I will raise it with support and see what they say.

[Eve]

The bottom two are rendered using a bold font. There's an option to use a bold font for names in EA options. The top two won't use that option (because anything shapescripted can't.)

The bottom left one also appears to be indicating that it's abstract.

The other option is that the font can be changed in both the default appearance and the diagram local appearance. I don't know which you've used, but it's possible that there is a value from the other impacting things.

[matthew.james]

There's an option to use a bold font for names in EA options.

Ok - found that one, and it controls the bolding on the 'standard' classes. Thanks

The bottom left one also appears to be indicating that it's abstract.

Not sure how that got like that, but possible, and would explain the italicising (is this also controlled somewhere like the bold above ?)

The other option is that the font can be changed in both the default appearance and the diagram local appearance. I don't know which you've used, but it's possible that there is a value from the other impacting things.

Focusing on the two archimate elements ...  both of thes are 'reporting' as being the same font size when they clearly aren't:
- through the element toolbar font dialog, both report as being Calibri Regular 8
- same through the ribbon, Layout -> Style -> A (font)
- font style in the Default Appearance dialog, both report as being Calibri Regular 8 (note also that Reset to Defaults makes no changes to either element)
? not sure what you are referring to with 'diagramn local appearance', where  / what is this option? Although if it is diagram level it should be affecting both elements the same.

So - given that the fonts are clearly different, but everything I can see from EA says that they are the same, what is the true font size and how do I find it ... ?

[Eve]

Your email to support gave the reason for why the archimate elements are different. The default font size is actually 8.5. So the one that you changed to a different size and then selected 8 will be smaller.

ArchiMate3 Business Interface sets the abstract property on creation, so that explains the italics.

[matthew.james]

So - given that the fonts are clearly different, but everything I can see from EA says that they are the same, what is the true font size and how do I find it ... ?

Your email to support gave the reason for why the archimate elements are different. The default font size is actually 8.5. So the one that you changed to a different size and then selected 8 will be smaller.

So this is confirmed as an EA bug then? Elements reporting the incorrect fonts size, i.e. reporting as 8 when it should be 8.5 ?