Messages

1

General Board / Re: EA over WAN (performance issues)

« on: March 06, 2008, 09:40:44 pm »

Wow! Quite a response! (Thanks to all who've contributed so far).
Anyway...

---

Aaron,
Thanks I'll check out the PDF. I can't quote figures off the top of my head but I'm confident our VPN is quick enough to not be the issue.
It's not like we're trying to do this over a 64k ISDN line - I've a feeling it's a 2 MB leased line. Having said that, I am concerned that traffic over that line gets prioritised so I'm looking into where in the priority list Oracle traffic sits.

I'm also sorry to say that Citrix just isn't going to happen for reasons of price, hassle and general inconvenience.

---

Dave_Bullet,
Thanks for your thorough insite into what happens when you open a  model or diagram and your suggestion about SQL replication.
I was pondering a similar idea myself though we'd prefer to use Oracle - I'm sure it could be done the same - how often do you replicate your databases though?

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Midnight,
I certainly will submit a bug report when I have more details (test results).  Embarrassingly I have to admit I'm not 100% sure what version of EA the guys at the other end of the VPN are using - so maybe a simple upgrade will help speed things up.
I'm going to make sure they have the latest stable build and then run my tests.  If it's still and issue I'll drop support an email.

---

Everyone else, one other work around I'm pondering is this...

We have a source control system that works well (enough) over the VPN.
So I'm thinking we could
1, Have a local EAP file and bind it to source control.
2, Distribute copies of the local EAP file to people at either end of the VPN.

The idea being the model and database are kept local to each set of users (hence EA works at normal speed) yet both models are kept in sync by virtue of the shared source control.


(That may have already been in the PDF I haven't read yet - appologies if it is).

Does anyone see any obvious issues with that idea?

Thanks again.

Chris.

2

General Board / Re: EA over WAN (performance issues)

« on: March 06, 2008, 12:08:21 am »

I didn't mean to imply I was displeased with Sparx or EA - that's not the case.

I just wondered if anyone had any tips to make it run faster - or if it ran acceptably for other users.  Knowing this is a common issue makes me feel a little happier, though now I need to work out a solution.

I'm going to get some of our network tech's to take a look at the VPN and try some performance tests.

I just wondered if there was anything obvious I might be doing wrong.

Thanks for your reply.

CA.

3

General Board / EA over WAN (performance issues)

« on: March 05, 2008, 08:17:02 pm »

Hi all,

Has anyone any experience of using EA over a WAN?

When I read the manual and saw you could upsize a model to a SQL server or Oracle database I thought that would provide me with the robustness I needed.

However, having tried it, the performance is pretty poor.
Typically it takes 1 minute to open the model and a further 30 seconds to open a diagram (and these aren't particularly large models or diagrams).

Are there any tips, tricks or tweaks to make my turkey fly?


Many thanks,


CA.

4

General Board / Re: Problem when I try to connect SQL server

« on: March 05, 2008, 08:06:34 pm »

I can't comment on your original problem but I can confirm (that in my experience) the Native SQL client doesn't work.

You hit the test connection button and the connection is fine - it's just EA doesn't like that connection provider so the transfer fails.

Similarly, it's the same deal with Oracle - you have to the use OLEDB provider written by Oracle or you get the same error message.

Maybe someone can comment on the accuracy of what I'm saying as this is purely based on my experience?

Anyway, hope it helps if only a litte.

CA.

5

Bugs and Issues / Re: Deployment Diagrams - Package Contents

« on: March 25, 2009, 02:36:57 am »

I did some more research into this.

TEST 1
I created a new project (EAP) file.
I added a new package (Deployment diagram) to the root node, 'Model'.
I added a diagram under the deployment diagram package.
I also added a new package to the deployment diagram package.
I added a new component to the package.
I drag the package onto the canvas of the diagram and I get a shape to represent the package and inside the shape is the package contents.

TEST 2
I created a new EAP file (different to the one above).
I created a new catalog in MySQL.
I ran the InnoDB script against the database.
I opened my new EAP file and used the data transformation tool to upsize it to the new MySQL database.
I connect EA to the the new mysql database and repeat the steps in Test 1.

When I drag the package node from the project browser tree onto the diagram canvas I get a shape to represent the package but it doesn't list the package contents.

I would hope this is something that could be fixed with a tweak to the InnoDB MySQL script - as it works with Access database (EAP) files.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

CA.

6

Bugs and Issues / Deployment Diagrams - Package Contents

« on: March 25, 2009, 01:11:10 am »

Hi,

I'm trying to put a deployment diagram together.
In my project browser I have my components listed in different packages according to the vendors of those packages.

I have this model in an EAP (mdb) file.
When I drag a package onto the diagram it shows the package as a  box that looks like a tab control (with only 1 tab) and the contents of the package listed with the component icon from the project browser/tree.

I recently upgraded this model to a MySQL database.
When I drag a package onto the diagram in this model is shows the package as a box that looks like a tab control (with only 1 tab) but it does not show the package contents?

Is this a setting somewhere or a bug?

Luckily I still had the old EAP file as I had to go back and try it in that model to prove I wasn't going insane!  

(FYI - I'm using EA version 7.1 build 828 - the corporate version).

Thanks,

CA.

7

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: publish EA model to a wiki?

« on: June 20, 2008, 07:49:56 pm »

That's a really interesting question.
I'm currently working on a custom document builder, the output of which will write to either a wiki or a word document.

I'd be interested to know if there is something that already does it though.

Thanks.

CA.

8

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / WPF Addin

« on: June 20, 2008, 07:52:24 pm »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has written any addins in WPF yet?
Is it possible, any gotchas I should be aware of.

(I'd also like to use a wpf user control so I can add a tab to the EA workspace).

Any advice upfront would be appreciated.

Thanks.

CA.

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Custom Addin: Dock a window

« on: June 18, 2008, 10:24:50 pm »

I think that's going to add my window/form to the working space though no? (Where you normally draw diagrams).

I was hoping to write a new window I could dock with the toolbox/properties/tagged values windows.

Even so, I think you've given me an alternative so many thanks.

CA.

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Custom Addin: Dock a window

« on: June 18, 2008, 07:10:14 pm »

Hi,

I'm wondering if it's possible to dock a form (that's part of my addin) in the EA environment/shell.

I'm trying to build a custom report generator.

I'd like to be able to add diagrams from the project tree to a new tree in my window. Once they're in my tree I can then sort them as appropriate before building a document based on my subset.

It doesn't look like this is possible, but I just wanted an expert opinion!

Thanks.

CA.

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Element.Equals

« on: March 10, 2008, 08:33:51 pm »

Thanks David,

I tried several things in vain before resorting to your suggestion, which although it isn't optimal code it is 100% reliable!

The nice thing about the dictionary is it exposes a .values property so it's still pretty simple to iterate through each item in the collection.

Thanks again.

Chris.

12

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Element.Equals

« on: March 08, 2008, 12:45:28 am »

Hi,

Has anyone had any experience of using element.equals?

I'm trying to compile a distinct list of use case (elements) displayed on n Use Case Diagrams.

I was planning to use a List<element> to do this and take advantage of the list.contains method to see whether or not to add the element to the collection.

Anyway, my first cut didn't work so now I've done some testing and  I've drastically simplified my code to that below. I'm getting an unexpected result - ie. x.Equals(y) returns false;

Code: [Select]


EA.ElementClass x = (EA.ElementClass)eaModel.GetElementByGuid("{C49C6146-4DDA-4133-B86E-D9077C92142A}");

EA.ElementClass y = (EA.ElementClass)eaModel.GetElementByGuid("{C49C6146-4DDA-4133-B86E-D9077C92142A}");

MessageBox.Show(x.Equals(y).ToString());


I'm thinking now I need to create a new class that inherits from ElementClass and override the Equals method to compare the elementguids - or have I overlooked something?

Thanks.

CA.

13

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Element.Diagrams

« on: March 05, 2008, 08:01:33 pm »

Thanks to all who replied.

I've got lots to go on there and probably enough to get the job done!  

Thanks again.

CA.

14

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Element.Diagrams

« on: March 05, 2008, 01:21:56 am »

Hi,

I'm trying to iterate through a package documenting the contents in a way specific to my company.

I know I could use the RTF or HTML reports but to achieve the desired output I've chosen to use a combination of EA and Word automation.

In our project hierarchy we typically have a folder called 'use case view' with 3 sub folders - actors, use cases and diagrams.
(It should be pretty self explanatory what we put in each).

My question concerns Composite Elements/Diagrams.

If you make a Use Case a composite element in a diagram EA creates a new diagram for you. In the project browser this diagram is nested beneath the use case.  Seeing as this doesn't fit with our project layout we simply move that diagram to the diagrams folder.

Despite having moved it, the link still works, so if you double-click the use case on a diagram you will automatically open it's associated diagram.

My question is, how can I get to the child diagram via EA's object model?

I know that an element has a diagrams collection, however, that seems to work along the lines of the diagrams collection that belongs to a package, ie - it is a representation of what's in the project tree.

I say this having tested it, if you put nest a diagram below a use case then the element's diagrams.count is > 0 and if you take it away again the count returns to 0.

The use case and it's child diagram must be linked somewhere, as the double-click to open still works.

Sorry for the long winded description, all help would be really appreciated.

Many thanks.

CA.