Sparx Systems Forum
Enterprise Architect => General Board => Topic started by: JimHarts on September 30, 2020, 10:31:25 am
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G'day,
I've downloaded the EA trial (v15) and installed out of the box. I've created a "Basic Use Case Model" but when I try and add a new element (I want to add a new use case) the New Element dialog has blank sections so I can't save.
The toolset field says "All Perspectives" but the field to the right only has "UML::Class" and doesn't allow for any other selection. The type and stereotype fields are both blank and Save and Save & Exit are both greyed out.
I must be missing something obvious in the setup but can't figure out what - all help gratefully received
Thanks
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Hi Jim,
And welcome to the forum. Please note that most of us here are just users. Sparx do monitor the forum and often respond, but this isn't an official support channel (there are links on the forum front page and in the site top menu).
The New Element dialog requires that you give the element a name. Could that be it?
In general, the preferred way of working in EA is to create elements in diagrams, not by using Add Element in the ribbon. So you can also try opening the use case diagram and adding a Use Case from the toolbox.
HTH,
/Uffe
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Hi Jim,
Run EA as Administrator and the New Element dialog will work.
The "smart" developers store dialog settings in the Windows Registry (and not local settings file, why?) and EA requires administrator privilege to store these settings. Each drop down selection is stored in the registry. Since EA is not running under admin privileges, therefore it will not add elements onto a canvas because it silenty fails behind the scenes.
I know. Mind-blowingly stupid: we can drag elements from the toolbox onto a diagram without the need for administrator privileges, but the New Element dialog (emulating the drag-drop, one would think) does require admin privileges.
PS: this was logged and highlighted as a bug, and solutionprovided to store settings in local JSON (for example) settings files. bug still exists. Logged details were ignored.
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Hi Jim,
Run EA as Administrator and the New Element dialog will work.
The "smart" developers store dialog settings in the Windows Registry (and not local settings file, why?) and EA requires administrator privilege to store these settings. Each drop down selection is stored in the registry. Since EA is not running under admin privileges, therefore it will not add elements onto a canvas because it silenty fails behind the scenes.
I know. Mind-blowingly stupid: we can drag elements from the toolbox onto a diagram without the need for administrator privileges, but the New Element dialog (emulating the drag-drop, one would think) does require admin privileges.
PS: this was logged and highlighted as a bug, and solutionprovided to store settings in local JSON (for example) settings files. bug still exists. Logged details were ignored.
I've never heard of such a problem, or had it myself. And I never run EA as administrator.
Weird...
Geert
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Weird indeed ??? . It blew my mind when I too could not add new elements onto a diagram from the New Element dialog. Until one of the developers at Sparx responded concerning the Windows Registry and running Sparx as admin.
My mind has still not yet recovered.
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Thank you all for your replies, this is definitely weird, I had presumed that I'd missed a model or other setting. Will experiment today
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You certainly shouldn't require admin rights to write values to the registry for the current user. That feels like a bad security configuration.
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Eve - thanks for you reply. I'm not trying to write registry values but the New Element dialog has blank sections. I'll email you a screenshot
Thanks, Jim
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I didn't say that's what you are trying to do.
The point is that like many Windows applications, EA writes its settings into the registry under the current user. If a user can't do that then many things within EA won't work. Things like connecting to a keystore to get a shared key will need to be configured every load.
Reading the configuration from a file is not a better solution for anything that EA does. Apps generally do that so that their configuration loading is portable to different operating systems, not because users shouldn't be writing to the registry. It's just as likely that a user will not be able to write to their application data directory as not be able to write to their part of the registry.
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Eve,
Okay, I'm a bit lost now, I don't have any issues with any other applications writing to the Windows registry, I certainly haven't configured anything differently.
It still feels to me like I'm missing a configuration setting or a toolset that will allow me to add a use case to a diagram. The current toolbox doesn't have a use case option which is why I was using New Element.
All guidance gratefully appreciated
Thanks
Jim
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Jim,
You might want to create a use case diagram. That will automatically have the use case toolbox linked to it, allowing you to create use cases on the diagram.
Geert
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Geert,
Thanks for your reply. I already have a use case diagram open, the toolbox that opened with it doesn't have a use case element on it, that was why I was trying to use the New Element dialog box.
Thanks,
Jim
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Geert,
Thanks for your reply. I already have a use case diagram open, the toolbox that opened with it doesn't have a use case element on it, that was why I was trying to use the New Element dialog box.
Thanks,
Jim
That is really weird. What do you have on the this toolbox?
And what is the toolbox called?
You might be have selected the wrong perpective. Check on bottom right. There should be an indication of the perspective you are using.
You can change it with the control on the top right.
Geert
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Perspective is "All UML"
Toolbox doesn't seem to have a name, contains "common", "common relationships" and "artifacts"
Thanks
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That is the weirdest thing.
Have you tried changing the perspective to All Perspectives?
Do you have any custom MDG's or add-ins active?
Seems like something is really wrong with your installation.
I would contact [email protected]. Maybe they have an idea of what is going wrong.
Geert
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Hi @Eve,
...The point is that like many Windows applications, EA writes its settings into the registry under the current user. If a user can't do that then many things within EA won't work. Things like connecting to a keystore to get a shared key will need to be configured every load.
Agreed. Please see bug report 20075174.
...Reading the configuration from a file is not a better solution for anything that EA does. Apps generally do that so that their configuration loading is portable to different operating systems, not because users shouldn't be writing to the registry. It's just as likely that a user will not be able to write to their application data directory as not be able to write to their part of the registry.
Here's a response from Sparx regarding the Add New Element dialog not working
.. Thank you for your enquiry. Our developers have provided the following feedback, please see:
Thank you for the video. Everything you do works on my system. However, it does give me one hint as to what is going wrong. The Toolset listbox is supposed to persist between usages of the dialog. It is persisted to a registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sparx Systems\EA400\EA\OPTIONS\LASTELEMPAGE. If you are unable to write to this key, it would suggest that you don't have the required registry permissions.
Would you be able to run EA as admin just to ensure you have read and write permissions for the registry?
Another thought is could you enable all technologies please? Just to make sure that you aren't missing any of the required toolsets. (It's recommended that you use perspectives to limit the visible technologies, not disabling technologies as was the previous practice).
Ribbon : Specialize > Technologies > Manage
See : https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/15.2/modeling/manage_mdg_technologies.html (https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/15.2/modeling/manage_mdg_technologies.html)
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When I run EA as an administrator, suddenly the registry-based write issue disappears and Add New Element dialog works. Like you, I think to myself, "why must I run with admin privileges just to be able to Add New Element?".
I believe the original poster has a similar problem
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Could you try this? Select the Specialize > Technologies > Manage-Tech ribbon option and see if the Basic UML 2 Technology line (first in the list) has the Enabled box checked.
Are you using a brand new Use Case diagram or an existing one?
I don't know if this check would be of any relevance, but not having the basic UML technology selected is the only thing I have experienced that stops diagram-specific UML Toolbox pages displaying when you have the diagram open.
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If you are unable to write to this key, it would suggest that you don't have the required registry permissions.
Would you be able to run EA as admin just to ensure you have read and write permissions for the registry?
If I may interpret the support team... This is a request for a test, not a suggested long term solution.
Enterprise Architect, like many applications, stores its options in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Enterprise Architect does require read/write access to the current user registry, if your set-up is not allowing that (for non-admin users) then I would suggest that you bring that up with your admin team as unreasonably strict.
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@MichaelJ - thank you, your post has unlocked my problem. By selecting Specialise > Technologies > Manage and then enabling all technologies the toolbar now has the use case element for me to select and add to a diagram. The New Element dialogue box also now behaves and the drop down fields have selectable values.
Thank you all for your contributions!