Sparx Systems Forum
Enterprise Architect => General Board => Topic started by: LNS_Software on March 10, 2004, 02:49:04 am
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If I create a class with the stereotype of "boundary" or "control" the attributes and methods do not appear in class diagrams.
Does anybody now how to make them appear?
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My interpretation of the boundary and control objects, as documented in various robustness analysis sources - not specifically the EA application, is that they don't support documentation of attributes and methods. You're usually using these diagrams to bridge the gap between analysis and design, discovering the objects and collaborations that will need to be fleshed out in design during this process.
So, my guess is that even though EA may technically allow you to add attributes and methods, it may be "improper" for them to be displayed, and perhaps that functionality was never implemented on purpose.
I'll check this out in EA for myself and see if I can give you any add'l info.
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Interesting ... I've always used boundary and control to represent three layers, as in the parts of an MVC pattern, where <<boundary>> with the view (a screen) where the attributes are value physically on the screen, and the methods represent the event handlers for the screen elements (like buttons). <<control>> is the implementation of how the screen reacts to user input, so that when somebody clicks OK, the logic for validating the screen isn't on the screen, but in the controller.
Should I be labelling them differently, because it sounds like we are talking about different things.
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I see where you're going with it. You're right in that MVC uses basically the same visual elements, just renaming them to Model, View and Controller instead of their respective Entity, Boundary and Control elements, as defined by Robustness Analysis. I got off-track when you used the verbiage "boundary" and "control", but it's a matter of semantics only.
I would have to retract my earlier comment then, if you're using them to document MVC architecture. For that purpose, you should be able to document attributes and methods, since they essentially are stand-ins for objects.
Of course, that doesn't help you out on your intended question :-/
If you're interested in reading more about the other, you may find the following link useful for background info: http://pst.web.cern.ch/PST/HandBookWorkBook/Handbook/SoftwareEngineering/UCDOM_robustness.html
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Hi LNS_Software,
At a diagram level you can do this :
1. Bring up the diagram properties dialogue (double-click diagram background or F5)
2. Under "Appearance Options", uncheck the option "Use Stereotype Icons"
3. Close the dialogue. Now the boundaries/controller classes are shown using the rectangle notation, with the attributes/operations shown- assuming you don't have the options "Hide Attributes"/"Hide Operations" checked, of course.
Obviously, this means you lose the boundary/controller image... this may be ok if you have say an analysis diagram where the stereotype icons are on and perhaps a logical diagram where they are shown as standard classes.
We'll look at adding a similar option as for tables, where the stereotype images are displayed iconically in the name compartment when using the rectangle notation.
I hope the above approach is of some help in the short term though.
Regards,
Ben