EA and Eclipse connected via MDG EclipseLink - how to use proper?

[Shegit Brahm]

Hi there,

I have an EA 13.x with MDG to evaluate how to combine an EA model with Eclipse (photon), like the UML models or code stuff.

My aim is to get a vice versa connection between these two "UMLable" platforms. To add stuff here and edit it there and an update has both on same level.

My (main) question is:

• What did / do you use successfully and which way?
• What would you recommend to use / have a look at?

The build-in extension from Sparx cannot cope with declarations like "static class Swapper implements Sorter.Swapper" - EA kills "Sorter." which is not nice.  And it shows eclipse warnings as errors, at least it builds the project anyway. And if I change code, the build transfers it - it is just not offered while using "merge with eclipse".


http://www.sparxsystems.com/forums/smf/index.php/topic,37328.msg234218.html#msg234218 pointed out how to get the feature inside EA running to get a connection itself to eclipse (copy sparx jars into eclipse folders). It just did not appear inside eclipse gui - only under "installed software - plugins" are two mentioned.
The official guide http://sparxsystems.com/products/mdg/link/eclipse/ does not tell anything that or how I could use it from eclipse side. And it is from 2008.

Regarding this post http://www.sparxsystems.com/forums/smf/index.php/topic,39647.msg244365.html I tried also Luna (=4.4), but behavior was the same with photon. (mentioned above)

openArchitectureWare with EclipseLink like suggested here http://www.sparxsystems.com/forums/smf/index.php/topic,28169.msg212539.html is no option any longer since it is discontinued in 2008 with 4.3.1 and no download available - and I don't understand how the "successor" Xtext and Xpand fill the "gap" between EA and eclipse. They seem to focus on DSL building instead.

I tried to get in contact with the guys from modelbus (see http://www.sparxsystems.com/forums/smf/index.php/topic,30833.msg223984.html), but they lack time to answer. Just their descriptions sound more than wanted.
The Yakindu EA Bridge I still need to look at. As well as on "export UML to eclipse" suggestion http://blog.lieberlieber.com/2012/11/13/export-your-ea-models-for-eclipse/.

Thanks for reading and some ideas,
Shegit Brahm

[koenemann]

Hi Shegit,

we (dev team YAKINDU EA-Bridge) are currently implementing support for UML profiles from MDG technologies as well as for SysML.
This should enable you to load your profiled models in Eclipse e.g. for code generation.
This is not yet released but if you like, I could provide a pre-release within 1 or 2 weeks so that you could try it and give feedback if something does not yet work as you would expect it?

Btw, it is also possible (with several technical limitations) to modify your EA model within Eclipse.
However, we currently focus on structural models because almost all our customers do further model processing like code generation only on structural and not on behavioral UML concepts.

Please note that the YAKINDU EA-Bridge is a building block inside a toolchain that comes without any predefined code generators. So if you want to generate code from your UML models, you have to provide / write them yourself. Our choice is typically Xtend :-)

Best regards
Patrick

[Shegit Brahm]

Hi Patrick,

thanks for your offer.
In between I downloaded Yakindu EA-Bridge and checked the tutorials, worked in over 90 % of the steps.

I was not able to connect to a selfmade eap file and my focus is in the first step not a full semantic check. I thought I start low to just read EA elements, make them in Eclipse diagrams visibile and manipulate them. And vice versa.

I got the example from Sparx' automation page running and load a small eap file as Repository class into eclipse - however that is far from "import an UML model".

If I understand you correct, you say that your current work will result in something like this?
In that case I'm looking forward to your personal message in this forum to talk about how I might get hands on your new feature.

Thank you very much,
Shegit

[koenemann]

I was not able to connect to a selfmade eap file and my focus is in the first step not a full semantic check. I thought I start low to just read EA elements, make them in Eclipse diagrams visibile and manipulate them. And vice versa.

The trial version has several limitations, one of them is that eap-files cannot be modified. You need a regular license to do that.
Furthermore, it is not possible to open any diagram in Eclipse, since the YAKINDU EA-Bridge only loads the actual model elements, but no diagrams.

I got the example from Sparx' automation page running and load a small eap file as Repository class into eclipse - however that is far from "import an UML model".

I agree. The Eclipse plugin from Sparx merely provides access to the model conforming to their own proprietary meta model. Furthermore, their API is way slower than loading EA models via the EA-Bridge.

If I understand you correct, you say that your current work will result in something like this?
In that case I'm looking forward to your personal message in this forum to talk about how I might get hands on your new feature.

We are currently reviewing and testing the new features. I'll drop you a message as soon as we are done.

[koenemann]

For your information, we released an update to the YAKINDU EA-Bridge which now allows to load EA XML profiles.
Some more information: https://blogs.itemis.com/en/uml-profiles-in-enterprise-architect-models-example-code-generation

I would appreciate feedback if this does or does not work for you