RTF Report for use cases with activity diagrams

[chrisHauert]

Hi all. I consider myself an experienced EA user but I still fail producing a simple use case report that reports on all the details of the use case together with the activity graph diagram as the child diagram of the actitvity graph (child element of the use case element). (Similar issue holds true for BPMN process hierarchies with reuse of processes located in other branches).
I can't get the fully fledged use case specification (in table layout) together with the activity diagram without getting the activity (child element of the use case) rendered the same way as the use case (in table layout as well). Afik I need to have selected the element>child element and element>diagram selectors in the RTF Template editor but no chance to get only the signifcant use case and activity diagram without having to move each activity diagram one level up directly below the use case. The use of the child element section to render the activity differently doesn't work because this will inhibit to generate the activities child diagram. To filter out the activity from the report and choose the option "include child elements even if the parent element is filtered out" doesn't work either because this will not consider the child diagrams. Thanks for any hint! I currently use EA version 10 build 1007.

[Jonathan Lubach]

Hi Christoph,

I encountered a lot of these "limits" in the document generator. Going deeper than 2 levels in the project hirarchy is not that easy

Since you are using the new version 10, you may use "template fragments". Using two template fragments, one for the use cases and one for the activities, you can set separate filters ("exclude details for...") for the two types of elements. To define a template fragments, you have to tick the box "Template Fragment" in the template options under the tab "Document options".

Follow these steps:

1. Define a template for the use cases with the following sections (TestUseCaseTmpl):

Code: [Select]

package >
element >
Use Case Name: {Element.Name}
--> and then all your needed data for the use case details
< element
< package
2. Define a template for the activity with the following sections (TestActTmpl):

Code: [Select]

package >
element >
diagram >
{Diagram.DiagramImg}
Figure {Diagram.Figure}: {Diagram.Name}
< diagram
< element
< package
3. Define a "real" template, where the two template fragments are referenced:

Code: [Select]

package >
element >
{Template - TestUseCaseTmpl}
{Template - TestActTmpl}
child elements >
< child elements
< element< package

One thing you will definitely stumple upon: the line breaks between the two template fragments; you will have to experiment with them to get the best result from the templates  

You can insert the references by right-clicking within the "element"-section and there selecting "Insert Template". More information on the fragments you can find in the EA help.

I hope that helps.

If you still have questions, just ask!

Jonathan