Aggregation - diamond is on the wrong end

[mick]

If you reverse engineer class A and class B where A holds reference to B you get an association between a and b with an arrowhead correctly pointing to class B.

If you then change that association to aggregation/composition, the diamond appears on the incorrect end of the line ie the diamond would be adjacent to class B.

Another example, the following wikipedia correctly composition between the car and the carburetor....  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_diagram#Composition

If enterprise architect reverse engineered this code, the diamond would appear adjacent to the carburetor and not (as it should be) adjacent to the car.

Another way of putting it, to correctly draw composition relationships in EA in this example you have to click on the carburetor and drag it to the car.  

[«Midnight»]

Just to be sure, check your Tools | Options | Links settings. What are your settings for Draw Aggregations Reversed and Association default direction?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Just to be sure, check your Tools | Options | Links settings. What are your settings for Draw Aggregations Reversed and Association default direction?

Hi Mick,

As David says, check your settings...

But I have realproblems with EA Aggregations and avoid them like the plague...

If you search for "Aggregation Association" under my name in the UML Forum (at least 999 days back) you find me take issue with the existing EA Aggregation Element.  You may also find some points of direct relevance to your post.

HTH,
Paolo

[«Midnight»]

Hi again Mick,

Yes, take the time to look up Paolo's post. He makes some very important points. More to the issue here, he exposes a weakness - probably a legacy throwback - in the way EA handles aggregations. Depending on how you go about setting up the connection you may end up with different results. AFAIK this pitfall is still there.

David

[Paolo F Cantoni]

See: Aggregation and Association proposal for a proposal to provide consistent processing and rendering of EA Aggregations, Compositions and Associations.

HTH,
Paolo