Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Deep Simulation Display and Debug

« on: May 01, 2012, 06:27:57 am »

Currently, EA (v9.3) will not follow the simulation of an activity below the local context.  For instance, if an Activity has a classifier, the simulation process will not follow the Activity "deep" into the classifier's stream.  I noticed this when I came across an infinite loop which occurred in the classifier's stream--the simulation looped (until I explicitly stopped it) but it did not display the classifier's stream where the aberrant loop occurred, nor could I set a break point on any part of the classifier's stream!

Please give me full access to my entire simulation stream!

2

Suggestions and Requests / Improve Image Scripting: Use Processing

« on: July 24, 2008, 12:25:27 am »

Sparx Systems has been very kind to give us the option of scripting custom images for diagram entities in addition to specifying a metafile alternate image.  Unfortunately, I find their scripting language too limited[ch8213]I have yet to be able to use it to create images of the types my clients have actually needed.  In the past I have suggested that Sparx dump their proprietary script in favor of something well known and more expressive like JavaScript (which also opens up a whole realm of other possibilities).  Over time I have rethought my previous position slightly, as there are a few downsides associated with a JavaScript implementation (for instance it would increase the complexity of the product which Sparx Systems would have to support).  However I have just found an alternative expression which Sparx could cozy up to instead, and that is the open source language called "Processing."

http://www.processing.org/

Processing is a language (currently implemented in Java) that was developed primarily to express visual patterns and simple animation, and it reminds me a lot of what Sparx already provides in their existing scripting capabilities. For instance, check out an example from the Processing site for a two-circle object that looks like a smooth abstraction of a Mandelbrot set:

http://www.processing.org/learning/basics/multipleconstructors.html

Code: [Select]

Spot sp1, sp2;
void setup()
{
  size(200, 200);
  background(204);
  smooth();
  noLoop();
  // Run the constructor without parameters
  sp1 = new Spot();
  // Run the constructor with three parameters
  sp2 = new Spot(122, 100, 40);
}

void draw() {
  sp1.display();
  sp2.display();
}

class Spot {
  float x, y, radius;
  // First version of the Spot constructor;
  // the fields are assigned default values
  Spot() {
    x = 66;
    y = 100;
    radius = 16;
  }
  // Second version of the Spot constructor;
  // the fields are assigned with parameters
  Spot(float xpos, float ypos, float r) {
    x = xpos;
    y = ypos;
    radius = r;
  }
  void display() {
    ellipse(x, y, radius*2, radius*2);
  }
}
Processing seems to match Sparx's scripting goals a little closer, such as keeping complexity low by providing expressive image construction without introducing scope-killing generalizations.

So Sparx, how about it?  Could you give us more visual expression capabilities?  You could use Processing as a guide, if not as an outright implementation contract, and it would end up being a natural extension of the direction you have already taken!  Provide a few built-in classes and functions and, viola!  We are ready to go.

So Sparx, how about it?

3

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Shape Script++ and scripting in general

« on: August 20, 2007, 08:42:50 am »

I am going to look into your COM API in a moment, but perhaps a quick way for me to "get my way" is to not only allow one to bind an image or a simplistic script to a UI Control (or any other stereotype for that matter) but perhaps bind one or more COM objects to the stereotype in order to handle display logic, handle events such as connection changes and so on.

4

Suggestions and Requests / Shape Script++ and scripting in general

« on: August 16, 2007, 11:58:02 am »

I like the idea of using EA for UI wireframing because of its intrinsic ability for reuse, code linkage and so on.  However, it would be really groovy if Shape Scripting was more...well...versatile.  I guess, for starters, why did you all invent your own script at all?  Why not just include JavaScript and/or VBA capabilities or some other well-known, well-supported and already-implemented system?

Given a better scripting language, it would also be really groovy if the entire EA object model were exposed to it.  For instance, I would love to query shapes associated with the current one and react to their state.  For instance, it would be nice to be able to automatically place a new shape added by the user in a particular position (and size) within a parent, or change color based on an associated state and so on.

Gee, golly, I could imagine you opening up an entire realm of possibilities for plugins and extensions if you would allow more full-featured scripting with well-known scripting languages.

5

Suggestions and Requests / Label Hiding, En Masse

« on: December 06, 2006, 09:26:33 pm »

When I model some particular information stratum, I may want to present that model to various consumers.  For an executive I want to hide and show different things than I would for a developer.  Part of an easy customization strategy is to provide a way of hiding/showing all label across many connectors at once.  At the very least, I would like a ways to pick and choose which connector labels I want to see across the entire diagram, for a specific connector (I already have that), and perhaps even across a selection of connectors.  Doing this connector-by-connector at a time is a colossal waste of my time!  (Besides, every time I change a diagram property or its note all the connector labels are visible again.)

6

General Board / Re: EA for the masses

« on: February 20, 2011, 03:18:54 am »

eliteisv, ribbon aside, they could greatly benefit simply by rationalizing their metaphors, menus, shortcuts and toolbars into something more harmonious, something that makes sense, something more... predictable.

I have been using EA since 2006 and I still have a difficult time funding this function and that in their not-well-thought-out menu structure.

7

General Board / Re: EA for the masses

« on: February 20, 2011, 03:01:31 am »

Thelonius, Right on!

At the very rapidly expanding North American bank I am currently working at, I am at this very moment in a position to recommend an enterprise modeling tool.  I have recently turned EA into a decent productivity tool with a few tweaks I developed on top of its relational model. I am on the verge of either recommending wider scale adoption of EA, or something else...

I am not happy about the level of support Sparx has been providing over the last couple of years.  In the beginning, I was impressed not just by the price-function balance of the product but also by the level of support Sparx provided, specifically in terms of community integration.  Now, however, I no longer recommend them on the basis of their support model in fact I tend to make caveats about the opposite,

"EA can work for us, but their current support philosophy is really bad."

If I can migrate my enterprise-level work to MagicDraw, I may recommend that as an enterprise-wide modeling solution.  I am willing to wait to see what EA Version 9 delivers.  However, I must see:

• More than just a point++ release (to Thelonius' point)
• A much better commitment to community feedback, returning to their roots
  
• Increased visibility into the product road map, and not just hearsay from a few friends who talked to some other friends who overheard some other folks chatting in a coffee shop in Canberra...
• A return to regular bug releases

This kind of behavior from a product company can a sign of financial distress.  The decline of WordPerfect comes to mind.  This could be a sign the product may not be long for this world.  (I really, really hope I am reading the tea leaves wrong.  I am including this titillating suggestion mostly to see if anyone at Sparx is listening, anyone at all... Bueller?  Bueller?)

8

General Board / Re: EA for the masses

« on: February 07, 2011, 11:21:10 pm »

Is Sparx discussing v9 at all?  Can I read anything of their plans?

9

General Board / Re: EA for the masses

« on: February 05, 2011, 10:36:10 am »

A year later, looking back, not much has changed.

I am finding great use in tracking enterprise application and infrastructure portfolios.  In the end, I have increased my productivity by using EA as an object query system of sorts.  I import applications from "master application lists", augment with anecdotal information, map applications to business domains, map changes to requirements and feature sets, and so on.  Upon request, I can always use the traceability feature (or plain old Access queries) to find one or more applications in the system that might do what someone needs (especially during acquisition activities).  I can data mine to generate some implied relationships.  I can write external tools to suck in data of all kinds in order to augment my growing database.  (You need to move out of the "relational" concept of queries in your system and provide queries more suited for the directed graphs we create.)

My diagrams are rich with information.  Shape scripting does wonders for automatically generating useful, reusable visual metaphors, though the shape scripting mechanism itself can use improvement.  I do wish however that diagramming abilities were strengthened.  I need to improve readability because, frankly, results from EA are a bit sloppy.  I need better controls of stupid things like arrow heads and labels.  A better rendered would be really nice, better clipboard conversion to Enhanced Metafile format... boy, it would be a killer if EA would allow me to assemble and manage and publish PowerPoint decks directly from the tool.

In the end, I need to communicate complex ideas.  First I have to assemble much information.  Then I have to organize it to make sense.  Then I must design a communication form that others will understand, UML or not.  (Applying images to objecs and shape scripting are very helpful, thank you!)  Remember, Edward Tufte be damned, the world's corporations live, eat and breathe PowerPoint and Visio.  How is EA feeding/competing against those applications?

In some respects EA must become "PowerPoint with benefits" and "Visio with benefits".  Perhaps EA doesn't have to be Visio or be PowerPoint, but perhaps think of those tools like code and provide "round trip" experiences between them.  Perhaps concentrate on round-tripping between the Microsoft Office XML file formats; doing so could prove to be a potential data mining coup for EA—think about it (data mining of existing information would be a real market differentiator).

Oh yes, what ever happened to "frequent release", frequent bug fixes and so on?  I used to tell people I liked the rapid response model of EA, but that seems to have fallen by the way side.  You are losing touch with your user base.

10

General Board / Re: Long time since the last release....

« on: February 04, 2011, 03:26:07 am »

I'll second that.  I am mired in the bugginess of 8.0

11

Bugs and Issues / Unable to "Make Design Master"

« on: June 20, 2008, 12:06:25 pm »

This is weird: I am unable to convert my project into a "Design Master."  Once I select to "Make Design Master..." out of my project, after being prompted for proceeding I get the following error:

"Operation not supported on replicable databases that have not been converted to the current version."

What am I doing wrong?

I am running version 7.1.830 on Windows XP SR3, 4GB RAM (and plenty of disk space)