Stereotype Icon: how to get it with Shapescript? (again!)

[Giu Platania]

Hello all,
after 2 years I'm back to the same question: How can we deactivate the decorator using shape script?
In each diagram property you have:
- Show Element Stereotype (react to 

Code: [Select]

if(hasproperty("stereotypehidden","false"))

- Use Stereotype Icon
is undocumented.
However, the following technologies are using it:
- Data modeling
- Documentation
- Business Modeling

so we know that is possible and it's not "rectanglenotation".
SO I suspect it's a non documented property.
Has anyone a clue about that???

 

[Geert Bellekens]

Is that not one of those user selected settings?

See https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/15.2/modeling/query_methods.html in the middle.

Geert

[Giu Platania]

No this is a standard property of any element with a shapescript. As the diagram menu for element shows.

[qwerty]

You add an empty decorator shape. That's just it. In order to control it add a diagram property you can tic. Then in your shape script use the HasProperty to query it. We do that for quite a number of shapes.

q.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Giu,
Your problem is that (with apologies to George Orwell) "all icons are equal, but some are more equal than others".  What you see at the top right of your shape may look like icons, but they're not.  As qwerty says, they are decorations.  The setting DOES indeed suppress icons, but ONLY real icons rendered on very few (typically, the earliest) shapes.  It does not suppress decorations (it can't really because Sparx has no mechanism to identify the decoration as an icon - a design flaw).

HTH,
Paolo

BTW: is Giu short for Giuliano?  (That was my father's name)

[Giu Platania]

Guys,
Even if I do not post a lot here I'm not exactly a newbie, in the past 15 years I wrote a variety of MDG and I know exactly what a decorator is.

e.g. this decorator Qwerty refears, it creates a 'dot' that
1. is activated when the custom property 'ActivateFlags' is true
2. Changes color when a tagged value is set

Code: [Select]

decoration Botton_left
{
orientation= "SW";
if (HasProperty("ActivateFlags","1"))
      {
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Retain"))
{
//blue
SetPenColor(107,203,236);
SetFillColor(107,203,236);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Rehost"))
{
//Green
SetPenColor(155,187,89);
SetFillColor(155,187,89);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Replatform"))
{
//dark blue
SetPenColor(79,129,189);
SetFillColor(79,129,189);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Refactor"))
{
//Orange
SetPenColor(247,150,70);
SetFillColor(247,150,70);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Retire"))
{
//red
SetPenColor(222,103,103);
SetFillColor(222,103,103);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
if(HasTag("InvestmentStrategy","Rewrite"))
{
//yellow
SetPenColor(241,224,151);
SetFillColor(241,224,151);
ellipse(0,0,100,100);
}
}


what I'm asking which standard property EA uses to disable all decorators when
Show Element Stereotypes:

For elements that have whole shapes drawn by Enterprise Architect, if 'Use Stereotype Icons' is deselected, select this checkbox to display any stereotype on the element.

For elements that have an icon displayed in the top right corner, select this checkbox to indicate that a stereotype is present (icon if 'Use Stereotype Icons' is selected, text if not).
source
https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/15.2/modeling/appearance_options_elem.html

to test the the expected behaviour:
1. drag a "table" from the Data modeling toolbox in a diagram, (I think that the 'icon' is the decorator is a shape script, not an image)
2. drag an archimate application component in the same diagram
3. Double click on the diagram, go to the element tab, uncheck "use the Stereotype icons"
4. the decorator for table is now hidden, the one for archimate application component is still visible

conclusion: it's a standard property, not a custom one (as in the above example) and it's undocumented and not supported by all MDG. How can we reproduce that?

[Giu Platania]

BTW: is Giu short for Giuliano?  (That was my father's name)

after trying to teach american to pronounce my name correctly I just decided to keep it shorth a GIU. As a side consequence lot of people think I'm a GUI (Graphical User Interface) but I suspect to be deeper that that.....

[Paolo F Cantoni]

BTW: is Giu short for Giuliano?  (That was my father's name)

after trying to teach Americans to pronounce my name correctly I just decided to keep it short a GIU. As a side consequence lot of people think I'm a GUI (Graphical User Interface) but I suspect it to be deeper than that.....

Sorry, I didn't see it earlier.  I have my threads with the latest posts at the top and I didn't scroll down to the bottom of yours.

As to Americans mangling Italian names, I fly large radio-controlled helicopters and two of them are by a (formerly) Italian company.  They are the "Leggero" and "Evoluzione".  Hearing their names mangled on various podcasts causes me physical pain!      I even posted a link to a site that explained how to pronounce them, to no avail.

Paolo

[KP]

to test the the expected behaviour:
1. drag a "table" from the Data modeling toolbox in a diagram, (I think that the 'icon' is the decorator is a shape script, not an image)

The icon for <<EAUML::table>> does not come from a shape script.

You can of course put conditionals in shape script decorations. The only way to hide all decorations is if you have put conditionals in all decorations...

[Eve]

1. drag a "table" from the Data modeling toolbox in a diagram, (I think that the 'icon' is the decorator is a shape script, not an image)
2. drag an archimate application component in the same diagram
3. Double click on the diagram, go to the element tab, uncheck "use the Stereotype icons"
4. the decorator for table is now hidden, the one for archimate application component is still visible

conclusion: it's a standard property, not a custom one (as in the above example) and it's undocumented and not supported by all MDG. How can we reproduce that?

Tables are not drawn using shape scripts. ArchiMate applications are drawn with shape scripts.

There is no shape script property to respond to that particular option.

[Modesto Vega]

[SNIP]
Tables are not drawn using shape scripts.

Is this a legacy behaviour Sparx EA is planning to correct or an "enduring" feature?

Guiseppe - We have implemented something very similar but instead of changing the colour of the decoration, we are changing the colour of the entire element. We decided to do so in part because Sparx EA does not a good job rendering all decorations. We have had a few issues with some ShapeScripts that rendered more of less fine as elements  but rendered a weird looking decorations.

[Giu Platania]

1. drag a "table" from the Data modeling toolbox in a diagram, (I think that the 'icon' is the decorator is a shape script, not an image)
2. drag an archimate application component in the same diagram
3. Double click on the diagram, go to the element tab, uncheck "use the Stereotype icons"
4. the decorator for table is now hidden, the one for archimate application component is still visible

conclusion: it's a standard property, not a custom one (as in the above example) and it's undocumented and not supported by all MDG. How can we reproduce that?

Tables are not drawn using shape scripts. ArchiMate applications are drawn with shape scripts.

There is no shape script property to respond to that particular option.

there is no shapescript, however EA hides the icon, changing the appearance of the diagram: can you elaborate on the mechanism?
Also, if this is a legacy function, why do we have the option to hide stereotype icons in the interface?

[Eve]

Is this a legacy behaviour Sparx EA is planning to correct or an "enduring" feature?

It's unlikely to change while it's working.

there is no shapescript, however EA hides the icon, changing the appearance of the diagram: can you elaborate on the mechanism?
Also, if this is a legacy function, why do we have the option to hide stereotype icons in the interface?

The mechanism is that EA has code compiled into it to draw tables, along with many other elements. That code responds to the option in question.

I didn't use the word legacy. It's not a legacy function. We can probably never remove that option without upsetting users with existing diagrams.

[Modesto Vega]

Eve, the issue with tables and how Sparx Systems has implemented and hard wired data modelling features into the tool is simply put that it is far from an optimal implementation and almost impossible to customise. I doubt that anybody will buy Sparx EA just for its data modelling capabilities, people buy Sparx EA because it can do many things, some of them sub-optimally.

[qwerty]

I would guess that this fact is unknown to Sparx :-/

q.