How to access a package from its package element

[Jeff Bartels]

Given Package "B" residing in Package "A":

When I access the EA.Element instance in "B":
    Dim B as EA.Package ...
    Dim E as EA.Element = B.Element

And then try to access package "B" again from the attributes of E:
    Dim B_pkgID as Integer = E.PackageID

I do not get the same Integer value as B.PackageID.

Does anyone know how to get back to a Package from its owned Element (note that the Package's corresponding Element object ID is what is cached in the Client and Supplier ends of a Connector object.

The EA GUI seems to know how to do this. The API, however, does not.
Have I discovered a bug here???

[Jeff Bartels]

Oh, I forgot to mention : the value of E.PackageID returned by the API is actually A.PackageID, not B.PackageID!

[KP]

I think when an element has a package ID, that indicates the package that it is IN, but when a package has a package ID, that indicates the package that it IS. So E.PackageID should be the same as B.ParentID. I think. Maybe.

[edit]But E and B should have the same GUID[/edit]

[Stenvang]

I think this is the way it works.

Element.PackageID  :  returns the package that "owns" the element
Package.PackageID  :  returns its own packageID

Element.parentID  :  returns the package that "owns" the element - Does not return an element if that is the parent of the current element.
Package.parentID  : returns the package that "owns" this package

[qwerty]

Actually the GUID of a package element is the same as that of package.element. So you can find it back by

Code: [Select]

Repository.GetPackageByGUID (package.element.guid)
q.

[Jeff Bartels]

Using the Package Element's GUID to retrieve the Package itself works fine!

So ...

Package.GUID = Package.Element.GUID

And ...

Package.Element.PackageID = Package.ParentID
Package.Element.ParentID = 0

Weird, but that is how the API works.

Hey! Where the heck is this documented, anyway??

Thanks for the help, all  

[qwerty]

Some of it might be in the help but well hidden (thanks to Mickeysoft's help technology). Quite a bit I gathered in my Inside book (there was a real need for it  ).

q.

[Jeff Bartels]

I would like to know more about that book - what is the complete title?

[RoyC]

Inside Enterprise Architect. Click on the title in qwerty's post footer, just above your question.

[Geert Bellekens]

Using the Package Element's GUID to retrieve the Package itself works fine!

So ...

Package.GUID = Package.Element.GUID

And ...

Package.Element.PackageID = Package.ParentID
Package.Element.ParentID = 0

Weird, but that is how the API works.

Hey! Where the heck is this documented, anyway??

Thanks for the help, all  

Actually most of it is documented in the help file:

• Element.PackageID: A local ID for the Package containing this element.
• Element.ParentID: If this element is a child of another, used to set or retrieve the ElementID of the other element; if not, returns 0.
• Package.Element: The associated element object; use to get/set common information such as Stereotype, Complexity, Alias, Author, Constraints, Tagged Values and Scenarios
• Package.PackageID: The local Package ID number. Valid only in this model file.
• Package.ParentID: The ID of the package that is the parent of this one. 0 indicates this package is a model (that is, it has no parent).

Only the "trick" that the GUID's of the Package object and the Element object are the same is not documented.

Geert