Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Tips and Recommendations Forum Section

« on: June 25, 2007, 12:42:09 am »

Please consider adding a section to this forum that allows members to post tips and reading recommendations. Recently, the administrator, KP, recommended a link to me on domain modelling, which proved to be highly instructive.

I strongly believe a "Tips & Recommendations" section would provide a valuable service to members, and it is an area in which we can all actively participate, regardless of our expertise level.

For anyone interested, KP suggested the following reading, which is well worth your time, located here: http://www.craiglarman.com/book_applying/domain%20model%201.pdf.

2

Suggestions and Requests / Submit an EA Project for Review

« on: June 24, 2007, 07:35:41 pm »

Is there a policy on sumbitting EA projects for review? It may be helpful for obtaining feedback.

Thanks.

3

Suggestions and Requests / Upgrade Auto Name Counters?

« on: June 16, 2007, 09:07:50 pm »

Please consider modifying this feature so that any revisions made to types applying this feature are reflected across all existing instances of the elements.

See the following thread:
http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=general;action=display;num=1181977667

Thanks for your consideration. The software is excellent.

4

General Board / Re: UML Profile for XML

« on: June 13, 2009, 11:59:13 am »

Also, from the same link, can someone explain this bulleted item?

Less obvious from the diagram is the ordering of the attributes for the Person class. Notice how the "firstName" and "surName" attributes have had their position swapped in the schema. This is because the position tagged value has been used for the attribute of the Person class in the modified example.

This is rather important, since "xs:sequence" model group is generated by default. I would have expected that the attribute order in the "Person" class model would translate to the model group. What exactly is causing "firstName" and "surName" to swap their order?

Thanks.

5

General Board / UML Profile for XML

« on: June 13, 2009, 11:06:29 am »

I read the "XML Schema Generation" page on this site (http://www.sparxsystems.com/resources/xml_schema_generation.html, and I have a question about the "PhoneChoice" class model, which is modeled using the UML Profile for XML.

I cannot figure out how to specify the "string" type on the upper right corner of the class window.

I'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

6

General Board / Re: Copy a sequence diagram

« on: July 31, 2008, 11:42:12 pm »

Simon... Roy...

Thanks for your help.


Regards,

Anthony

7

General Board / Copy a sequence diagram

« on: July 31, 2008, 07:07:31 am »

Hey, folks.

I'm using EA version 6.5.803.

I would like to duplicate a sequence diagram and save it with a new name. Right-clicking the diagram name in the Project Browser does not reveal a conventional "copy" operation.

To work around this, I decided to select the contents of the sequence diagram (Edit > Select All), copy the selected elements and paste them into an existing blank sequence diagram.

Unfortunately, the "Select All" operation only selects elements and fragments in my sequence diagram. It neglects messages. Since a number of messages in the original sequence diagram assigns "New" to the lifecycle attribute, the vertical placment of the elements is crucial.

The copied version, which neglects messages, places all elements at the same vertical position.

I would like to decompose the original sequence diagram into a number of separate sequence diagrams, but I'd hate to have to recreate the same stuff.

Have I missed something that allows me execute the copy operation that I need?

Thanks for your help.


Regards,

Anthony

8

General Board / Report Generation on a Large Sequence Diagram

« on: July 29, 2008, 07:13:26 am »

Hello, folks.

I have a fairly detailed sequence diagram, which I intend to break down into several components and implement diagram references. However, initially I needed to capture a lengthy process up front for the big picture.

The biggest problem is that the sequence diagram is unreadable when generating RTF and HTML documentation, because the report generation tool understandably fits the seqence diagram graphic onto one page.

The EA version I'm using is 6.5.803. Is there any option that I hopefully overlooked that will instruct the report generator to do either of the following?

1. Split the sequence graphic over multiple pages.

or

2. For RTF, customize the page size to accommodate the sequence graphic at 100% view. For HTML, main a 100% view and enable horizontal & vertical scrollbars in the web browser for the web page corresponding to the sequence diagram graphic.

The sequence diagram's "Properties" page has a "Page Size" text field and an "Advanced" button for accessing various printer options. I manually typed in a custom page size in the format presented in the "Page Size" text field. For example, I typed in the following:

Custom, 14- by 17-inches

After clicking "Apply" the setting remained, so I clicked "OK". Unfortunately, after I reopened the properties page the default "Letter, 8 1/2- by 11-inches" reappeared.

Next I clicked on the "Advanced" button and navigated my way to the custom paper size printer option. Unfortunately, none of the alternate paper sizes are large enough, and I cannot enter my own custom paper size since I do not have administrator access for the network printer available to me.

Another issue involves notes applied to messages in the sequence diagram. Neither the RTF nor the HTML reports capture those notes. Perhaps I have missed something?

Thanks again to the community for your help.


Regards,

Anthony

9

General Board / Use Case Scenario Types

« on: July 08, 2008, 06:57:49 am »

Hey, folks. I don't know if my previous post made it onto the forum.

EA defines 3 scenario types, as shown below [Help > Contents > Modeling with UML > Working with UML Elements > Element Properties > Scenarios].

Simple
                   Standard scenario
                   Used to describe ordinary usage

Basic Path
                   Basic execution path
                   The standard execution path with no exceptions

Alternate
                   Alternate pathway
                   Path of execution that includes excepetional conditions

The Help link provided earlier shows a use case scenario example, and according to the example, it is a "Basic Path" scenario type. If that is true, why does step 5 exist in the scenario?

Here's my take on the "Login" scenario.

Basic Path
=======
Steps 1-4 of the existing scenario

Simple Path
========
Steps 1-4 of the existing scenario
Step 5 showing a user-based fault (eg, incorrect login information)

Alternate Path
==========
Steps 1-4 of the existing scenario
Step 5 showing a system-based fault (eg, web, app and/or database server is down, backend programming logic is faulty)

I'd appreciate clarification on the intent of the 3 scenario types. Thanks.

10

General Board / Classify Forum Areas by Expertise Levels

« on: June 23, 2007, 05:12:04 am »

A friendly suggestion to the administrators of this forum.

Please consider subdividing the "UML Process" and "Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools" forums based upon levels of expertise. I have seen this concept applied in several other forums, and it generally seems to work out to everyone's satisfaction.

In other forums, participants will tailor their posts to speak to the specific expertise level. Unfortunately, there are always a couple of bad apples everywhere, but that is to be expected.

Also, as another suggestion, perhaps you would consider creating additional forums that focus on specific areas both directly and indirectly related to UML, such as model driven architecture, methodologies (unified process, agile programming, etc.), object-oriented design for OOP, business modeling, etc.

I truly appreciate this forum, and I hope to both learn and contribute to it.

11

General Board / Re: Robust Case Studies

« on: June 13, 2007, 02:59:47 pm »

Thanks for the reply.

That is unusual, particularly since it is generally easy to obtain well-documented, practical examples for a variety of other frameworks. I would have thought that in this day and age, the same would be available for UML case studies, at the very least in the area of software engineering/architecture.

Mind you, I completely understand and respect the reasons for keeping specific models close to the vest. However, in the interest of promoting recommended practices for UML, it is very reasonable to have accessible well-documented case studies for fictional entities. It's done all the time elsewhere. One might argue that I should purchase a book. Well, I have purchased several, and I will purchase more. The problem with books is that their content must be broad enough for a publisher to see a viable profit, and that's fine. Heck, I've purchased books with similar content on various technical subject matter simply because I want to read and understand the various authors' points of view. However, I have also downloaded a myriad of free white papers, tutorials, code, etc. to supplement my existing knowledge, and that is the issue at hand. If one wants to read very specifically targeted information on a subset of a given subject matter, a book is not the best vehicle for this purpose.

Providing UML case studies would have a dramatically positive effect on disseminating UML and its proper usage. Surely, this would benefit the UML community as a whole. I guarantee you there are a multitude of developers/engineers/architects who would more readily adopt UML if given the opportunity to examine accepted practices in the form of case studies without having to shell out a credit card each and every time. Further, I submit that individual and corporate sales of case tools would increase as a result, and this would widen the talent pool. Naturally, some ensconced in this field may be uncomfortable with this prospect, but I am sure those with that mindset are in the minority.

Looking at the big picture, imagine all the unintended positive side effects. For example, if it weren't for Tim Berners-Lee, this forum might have been running as a BBS. We all continue to benefit from his insight and generosity, and a myriad of new opportunities arose for the developer community.

So, I say not having freely available robust UML case studies makes no sense. Personally I would gladly purchase some case studies AFTER I thoroughly examined well-designed freely available case studies; I've done this in the past in other areas.

I challenge those of you "in the know" to create and make freely available UML case studies. You will be well respected for your contributions, and it will provide a means for you to effectively market yourself to individuals and companies alike.

12

General Board / Robust Case Studies

« on: June 12, 2007, 10:58:48 pm »

Hey, folks.

I'm fairly new to UML and even more so to EA. However, in a short time I've read quite a bit of material on the basics of UML and the reasons to use specific diagrams, models and views.

Now, I would like to really dig into the subject, and I feel the best way for me to do so is to read and analyze several in-depth case studies. Specifically, for now, I'd like to focus on UML case studies on software engineering & software architecture.

I've examined the "Resource" link on the Sparx Systems site, as well as other related links here. While the information is welcome and valuable, I have not found the in-depth UML case studies that I described. Naturally, I've also "Googled" the heck out of this but have not found any satisfactory links.

If anyone would care to contribute some links where I may read and/or download the aforementioned case studies, I would very much appreciate your suggestions. Thank you for your feedback.

13

General Board / Auto Name Counters

« on: June 15, 2007, 10:07:47 pm »

Hey, folks.

I am fairly new to Enterprise Architect. I've been reading a number of white papers available on the Sparx Systems site, which I very much appreciate.

Presently I am reading "Requirements Management in Enterprise Architect", and pages 24-25 describe the "Auto Element Naming" feature. Perhaps this is explained elsewhere, but I have a question about this feature. In the example provided it deals specifically with the "Requirement" type, although my question is applicable for any element type. Suppose one creates a number of external requirements and they are labeled sequentially based upon the auto element naming definition. I've noticed that altering the naming definition does not update the names for the existing external requirements (in this example) that were created using the old definition.

Am I missing something or is it not possible to update the existing elements to reflect a redefined auto element naming definition for that element type?

Thanks for your feedback.

14

Uml Process / Re: Message Properties > Activations

« on: July 29, 2008, 06:53:06 am »

Thank you, David.

15

Uml Process / Message Properties > Activations

« on: July 25, 2008, 05:23:43 am »

There is an option labeled "Start New Message Group", but I can't seem to find it in the help documentation. Can someone explain what this feature does and how best to apply it in a sequence diagram message?

Thanks.

Anthony