Internal Technology - special features.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

If an MDG is marked: "Internal Technology" then it's not available for investigation (since it's hard coded) -Yes?

Is there any way to simulate the the kind of questioning available in the SoaML MDG where for those items which have the "open folder" icon (such as: Agent) you can select the type to create on the diagram, using standard MDG technology?

TIA.
Paolo

[Geert Bellekens]

Paolo,

I'm not sure how it's done, but in BPMN 2.0 there a similar behavior on the Intermediate event, and that MDG technology is not internal.

Geert

PS. If you figure out how it's done please let us know. I'm all into MDG's and UML Profiles these days.

[Eve]

Pretty sure that folder is as simple as extending multiple metatypes and not specifying which one in the toolbox. ie. MyProfile::Stereotype instead of MyProfile::Stereotype(UML::Class)

[KP]

Hidden sub-menus: http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/12.0/extending_uml_models/hidden_sub_menus.html

And as Geert suggests, have a look in the BPMN technology to see how it's done for events.

Edit: Note, Simon's suggestion works but you don't get to choose the text that appears on the menu or define custom icons.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Paolo,
PS. If you figure out how it's done please let us know. I'm all into MDG's and UML Profiles these days.

Will do, but it may not be for a while yet.

And (as you probably know form my postings recently) I'm just as heavily into MDGs and Profiles these days.

I'm working on a proposal on how to extend the MDG technology to make it more flexible and applicable.

Having now worked with MDGs very closely for the last six months or so, I'm more than ever convinced that Sparx EA should be viewed as a platform and not just a product.

Other modelling products are in a similar position but once you get your head around the process, I think Sparx's mechanism is among the most effective.  However, as usual, you need to do some heavy lifting to take what Sparx provides and make it usable for you.

So I've been giving some thoughts on how to extend the MDG specification process to make it more effective, efficient and useful.

Paolo