Possible to connect to locked element?

[Mats Gejnevall]

Hi
Is it a feature or a bug that your can create a connector from an unlocked element to a locked element, but not the other way? In both cases the locked element is updated in some way!

Cheers
Mats

[Geert Bellekens]

I'm pretty sure it a deliberate feature, and I agree with the way it works.

If I create a relation to a locked element this locked element is not really changed is it?

Geert

[Uffe]

If I create a relation to a locked element this locked element is not really changed is it?

Depends on the type of relationship, and the direction.

A generalization is a change to the specialized element, but not to the generalized one. Aggregations, well... I'm too tired.

But I'm pretty sure EA actually takes this into account, and only permits those connectors to be drawn which do not constitute a redefinition of the locked element.

Or did I dream it?


/Uffe

[Mats Gejnevall]

An informationFlow would affect both elements? It becomes a propery of both elements.

[qwerty]

It also depends on the reading of "locked". Most likely it means: you can not change the properties of the element. Another reading might be: you may not use it anywhere else than where it's currently being used. The latter would forbid to create any connetor referencing the locked element. Likewise you should not be allowed to type attributes with the locked element. Strange. But in the common sense is likely that you can make references to the element at wish.

InformationFlow is no different (see p. 667 of UML 2.5). It is a DirectedRelationship and therefor you should be able point it to the locked element with no issue.

q.

[Mats Gejnevall]

But if the reason that the elements are locked is that someone check them out and are changing them offline. I might then add an information flow to something that has a very unclear status and it might disappear when then the package is check in again. Off course you need to talk to all involved but in a large model and organization that might be hard.

[Eve]

If you have version control enabled EA will not allow you to create any relationship from a locked package. It maintains the relationship when updating the target package even if the target didn't have the relationship when it was checked in.

[Geert Bellekens]

If you have version control enabled EA will not allow you to create any relationship from a locked package. It maintains the relationship when updating the target package even if the target didn't have the relationship when it was checked in.

I can confirm this from real-world experience.

Although you still have to be careful when using version control.
We've had a few incidents where we lost information because of the version control check-in/check-out

One instance was when the getLatest process for a bunch of packages failed, and all relations to those packages had been rerouted to some kind of temporary dummy element.

Another was the refGUID tagged values on connectors (such as messageRef on BPMN Messageflows). I haven't check if it was solved in v15, but our workaround for this one was to add a trigger to the database that restricted deleting the value of a tagged value in case it contained a GUID before. 
A most ugly hack, but effective

Geert