Messages

1

General Board / Re: Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 21, 2019, 07:23:31 pm »

I'm not sure I am following your argument, but it seems to me you could get what you want using the Specification Manager to list the contents of the Package containing the User Story Artifacts. This would show each Artifact, the notes on each Artifact and (if you enable the Document column in the Field Chooser dialog) whether the Artifact has a linked document containing the text of the User Story. You would then click on the Document icon to open the linked document. You can also add columns for specific Tagged Values, which you can create to hold any any other annotation you want, and display that in the Specification Manager as well.

Ok. From your guidelines I managed to make this:


Now I wonder how to make new element called something like ProperUserStory, add it to the toolbox, so I can drag and drop it into specification manager and it will have these 3 tagged values from the start: Description, Estimate, Priority. So I don't have to add 3 tagged values to every artifact I add or come up with hacks like having template item artifact in specification manager which I copy every time I want to create new user story.

Also it would make more sense to create new element and put Description, Estimate and Priority into requirements:

Why are they called requirements? These look much more like properties to me: status, difficulty, priority, etc.

Are you looking for a prescriptive template to create a User Story from? There isn't one 'out of the box', but you can create one to meet your personal or corporate requirements and base your User Stories on that.

So how do I create new element which meets my needs with Description, Estimate and Priority properties, which will show in specification manager and on the diagram?

2

General Board / Re: Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 21, 2019, 02:21:47 am »

I'm not sure I am following your argument

I'm going through a book. Here's how user stories look in a book:


In Youtrack if I'm not mistaken:


Which, I would say, is very similar to what I read in a book.

And Enterprise Architect doesn't allow me to do just that: add cards with title, description, priority, estimate to complete. Not by default, anyway:


There just might be a way to do that but how would I know?It isn't in the documentation:
https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/14.0/guidebooks/tools_ba_user_story.html

but it seems to me you could get what you want using the Specification Manager to list the contents of the Package containing the User Story Artifacts. This would show each Artifact, the notes on each Artifact and (if you enable the Document column in the Field Chooser dialog) whether the Artifact has a linked document containing the text of the User Story. You would then click on the Document icon to open the linked document. You can also add columns for specific Tagged Values, which you can create to hold any any other annotation you want, and display that in the Specification Manager as well.

What release are you on? In Release 15.0 you can also open a type of Specification Manager for the elements in a diagram (containing your User Story Artifacts), which would show the notes for each element and, using the context menu on the element, open the linked document if the element has one. (Maybe in the Notes you could indicate that, although the full (Package) Specification Manager will indicate it separately anyway).

Sorry, I'm not following that. You have a link to something I can read to understand? Or maybe a video?
I'm on 14th something version.

By the way, why can't you open the Properties Window (or Properties dialog?) on the Artifact? I can open both.

I can open properties window on the artifact element but not on the user story element.

  Are you looking for a prescriptive template to create a User Story from? There isn't one 'out of the box', but you can create one to meet your personal or corporate requirements and base your User Stories on that.

I already have a prescriptive template for a user story from a book. I would like to have it in Enterprise Architect but I don't know how to make it. Is there an article about it or a video, which would show how to create a template or new element, or something that would have everything I need: title, description, estimate, priority and would show in both: diagram and list views?

Can you please explain to me(in detail) how to actually turn this:


Into this:

3

General Board / Re: Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 12, 2019, 08:38:38 pm »

Hi Kulagin,

Many elements allow you to surface their descriptive content onto the diagram.  Try using a different element type.  Start with a simple class in rectangle notation and surface the Notes using the [Ctrl+Shift+Y].

Use this process for any narrative that we want to surface.

HTH,
Paolo

Thanks

That's what I was looking for.

I guess I will be using element Artifact for that for now:


I can't even open properties window in User Story element:
https://youtu.be/q-3xlcZm5ew

I'm going through HeadFirst Software Development book at the moment and I feel like most of the time I'm fighting against Enterprise Architect to do little things like adding a note to something and view it in the diagram, instead of actually learning Software Development. And it looks like that Enterprise Architect is the best there is, I haven't seen anything like Enterprise Architect, only UML diagram creator programs.

Some elements like elements have properties window, like Artifact element, some don't, like this User Story element. How do I make any sense out of it?

I've read User Story documents in the documentation and they didn't help at all. It looks like in EA User Story aren't doing what they're supposed to do at all.

4

General Board / Re: Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 03, 2019, 11:36:23 pm »

User stories are best expressed as documentation of use cases: use case tagged values are the easiest way to do this.

I tried creating tagged values for some use cases.

Is there a way to document user stories where they aren't dependent on use cases? When I gather user stories from future users of my future application I don't have any models yet, there aren't any use cases model yet. I am studying atm and I imagine I will create use cases model based on user stories, so only after I gathered all user stories and documented them, I will create use cases model.

At the moment I would like to have one place where I can list all my user stories. Like requirements diagram I imagine but for user stories.

You won't be able to use EA unless you learn UML.  Several good books out there, and the Sparx documentation + white papers are not too bad either!

Yes, I study UML and software development atm. The problem is that, for example, it says in the book "...gather user stories...", but it doesn't say what software to use. And it's probably good because it would be outdated in 2019, anyway.

And for user stories in EA, I can't find anything fitting. The problem with User Story artifact is that it doesn't show description of user stories on the diagram:


And doesn't show in the list view neither:


It only shows the name of the user story.
Is there a way to create custom element that would show description on the diagram and have appropriate column for description in the list view?

I have read Sparx documentation:
https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/14.0/guidebooks/tools_ba_user_story.html

And from what it looks, User Story artifact in EA doesn't do what a user story is supposed to do: it supposed to have title and description and should at the very least show the title and the description on the appropriate diagram, something like this:


That's how I would like my user stories documented. In one document, maybe in one package. Where I can view them in the diagram view, see title and description of them. And maybe switch to a list view, where there will be 2 columns: one for title, second for description. And filter them if I need it.

5

General Board / Re: Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 03, 2019, 01:19:18 am »

Assuming that user stories...result into use cases... i would create a use case model and locate your user story artifacts there.

Create new use cases diagram and put user story artifacts there? It that how it's done in EA?

6

General Board / Where do I put user stories in my model?

« on: August 02, 2019, 10:50:15 pm »

I can't find a User Stories model, diagram or anything like that. I found user story element in Artifacts section of Use Cases toolbox:


but I don't feel like just putting user stories on top of my Use Cases diagrams.

How do you guys create and store User Stories in your models?

7

General Board / Re: How to add swimlanes to the activity diagram?

« on: July 02, 2019, 01:14:10 am »

Ok I found how to rotate it, I had to click on this icon:


But how do I complete the shape? Because without the line at the end it is incomplete.

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General Board / Re: How to add swimlanes to the activity diagram?

« on: July 02, 2019, 01:06:10 am »

You don't add swimlanes to an Activity but Activity Partitions.
Simply select it from the toolbox and put it on the diagram.

Swimlanes in EA are a different (only graphical) thing that don't have any "real" model value.
They should only be used to make a diagram visually more attractive, not for anything meaningful.

Geert

Ok, I did that and here's what I get:


How do I rotate it by 90° clock-wise so text appears at the top and is horizontal? So it looks like on the screenshot below. It also looks like it doesn't add a line at the end of the activity partition? How to add a line at the end of activity partition, so the shape is complete?
I went through every single option in properties of this element and didn't find these options. I just want to make it look normal, like this:

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General Board / Re: How to add swimlanes to the activity diagram?

« on: June 21, 2019, 10:54:30 pm »

Ok, thanks. I'll try that.

10

General Board / How to add swimlanes to the activity diagram?

« on: June 21, 2019, 10:20:44 pm »

I'm trying to add swimlanes to the activity diagram, like this:

And I don't understand how to do it in EA. I found it in user guide(Swimlanes) but I don't understand how to make it work.

Here's what I tried so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1OnYUbTfXc

So how do I create swimlanes in EA?

11

General Board / Re: What do I need to read to more effectively use Enterprise Architect?

« on: June 17, 2019, 11:29:26 pm »

Thanks for suggestions.

I would recommend those Sparx books only if you need something heavy to support your desk...

Also I never looked really into it. I just saw it lying around on customers desks. And, honestly, I never heard a good word about the books (like "ah, that helped me" or so).

q.

So what do I do? I'm not a fun of just poking around in a program without understanding how to use it. Even after I learn UML and how to create models of software solutions, I'm not gonna learn EA and its ways of doing stuff(well, I will, but only a little). Like, some programs don't even support idea of a project, so you are forced to create a bunch of unrelated diagrams in different files, that's one of the reasons I chose EA.

There are a lot of stuff in EA I don't understand how to use or what it does. Like, at the start I was just using toolbox and dropping new elements on the diagrams. So I created a lot of copies of the same things in different diagrams. Then I realized that elements in diagrams and elements in the project browser aren't the same thing and it creates links in diagrams to elements in the project browser. For me that meant that I can reuse elements in the project browser and use same element in different diagrams, and refactor stuff: edit element in the project browser or in one of the diagrams and it'll change in all diagrams and in project browser.

But that's like one thing I noticed I was doing wrong at the start. I bet there are many-many other things in EA that I'm doing wrong atm and I will only spot it after some time of creating models, and I'll have to refactor my projects again. And many things I will never spot I do wrong. It's like learning math or programming by yourself from scratch without understanding how it works and without reading books - possible but hundreds(or thousands?) times slower than if you read a book.

12

General Board / How to reuse elements in different diagrams in the project?(model of a program)

« on: June 17, 2019, 11:19:40 pm »

After making few diagrams(by just dropping elements from a toolbox on diagrams and making a lot of copies of the same thing in different diagrams) I realized that what I see inside diagrams and elements on the left side in the project tree aren't the same thing and I can reuse elements I see on the left side in different diagrams with Links, instances and child:


As I understand, by default when you drop an element from a toolbox on a diagram, it creates new element based on a template, puts it in a project tree and then inserts a link to that element into the diagram, right?

With the "default" approach I create a lot of copies of the same thing and I can't even refactor it, like if I have a class in many diagrams, I can't just change it in once place, so it would change in all places, I'd have to go and change it in every diagram.

So I'm trying to understand how to organize a project to be able to reuse elements. Here's what I came up so far:


Basically, I just organize stuff by what type it is. User is an actor, so it goes into actors package, actor is an element, so it goes into elements package, same with other objects in the project. Is it any good? Can you suggest something? Is there an article about how to properly organize elements in the project browser?

How do people who actually model software systems organize their models of solutions in EA? Are there any examples(projects, so I can open it in EA), so I can follow good practices?

13

General Board / What do I need to read to more effectively use Enterprise Architect?

« on: June 17, 2019, 09:34:19 pm »

A week ago I started reading a book Martin L. Shoemaker - UML Applied: A .NET Perspective. I choose to use Enterprise Architect because it is the best solution IMO for UML from around 7 UML tools I tried so far(modelio, edraw max, StarUML, draw.io and few others).

But I don't know how to effectively use Enterprise Architect. For example, when I start new use case diagram and I use same actors as in the previous use case diagram, I drop new actors from the toolbox list. Is there a way to create list of actors for a project and use these actors on all diagrams(so I don't drop and rename new actors on each diagram)? So then later on when I want to change the name for that actor, I can change name of that actor in the list, and it will be changed everywhere in all diagrams at once, so I don't have to go through every diagram and change it by hand.

And I would like to achieve the same with all other objects on diagrams: use cases, classes, activities, etc. So objects on the diagrams are more like objects in the code - if I rename it or if I change its definition in any way(like definition of a class), it affects all instances of it in the solution.

And I'm sure there are a lot of functions in this program that I have no idea about.

User Guide is big and I don't know where to start. Can you guys recommend what should I read to be able to create bound objects as described above? Maybe a place to start in User Guide? Or some specific articles?

What else should I read about Enterprise Architect(regarding UML modeling), to be able to create better UML diagrams?