Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Re: SysML Compartment notation

« on: February 07, 2012, 02:08:54 am »

Another related feature that is still missing is the option to hide SysML compartments. As a result, many block definition diagrams will be cluttered with ambigous information. If you use embedded parts/properties in your blocks you should think twice before upgrading to EA version 921 or 922.

This is a feature I have been looking for quite a while. Now I know that it is missing.

I totally agree: diagrams get cluttered. Therefore hiding is an feature important to me.

On the other hand, I cannot do with versions older than 921 as some important bug-fixes are missing.

2

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Request: Indication of available notes

« on: January 19, 2012, 11:04:04 pm »

Didn't think about showing the compartment "notes". Yes, this helps. But is has the drawback that it changes the diagram layout.

I have the following example in mind: You have created a diagram with some neatly arranged elements. Now you create a new diagram, insert an element and now you realise that e.g. a reasonably big table should be inserted into the notes (say a list of products). The notes extension changes the size of the element in the first diagram, and jumbles its layout.

3

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Request: Indication of available notes

« on: January 19, 2012, 03:20:29 am »

I mean the notes properties.

OK, the request might be a matter of policy. But I have in mind an export. People tend to read only what they see in a diagram. They are not willing to click on any element, or to follow any link, or to read further. It reduces the acceptance of the tool. So I try to keep names, diagrams and models as self-explanatory as possible (at least for the essential points).

On the other hand, an indicator for missing notes would perfectly suffice for above purpose - if visible in the diagram.

However, the idea of a to-do-indication for notes creation is a good one. I have been missing this feature, too.

4

Suggestions and Requests / Request: Indication of available notes

« on: January 17, 2012, 11:56:26 pm »

There may be many elements (classes, components, etc.) in many diagrams. Some of the elements may have notes, others not. As I do not see which elements are furnished with notes, I have to hover over them, or I have to click on them and look at the notes tab.

This is kind of a trial and error search. Consequently, I might miss to read an important note.

The trial method is a bit cumbersome if models are passed around a team. Team members have to look out for notes, but do not know if it is worthwhile to examine an element closer. Just think about the situation when a developer passes a model to product manager: Information might be overlooked.

Another aspect is the generation of reports in HTML format. There, it is especially tedious to find all notes.

So, I would suggest to give a graphical hint for the existence of notes. In addition, as mentioned in a thread before, I would like to have tool tip texts showing notes when hovering over an element.

The graphical hint might be an icon, or other graphical elements as color. The indication might be permanent (useful for reports), or it might be enabled by the user.

5

Bugs and Issues / Re: EA 9.3 build 931: buggy version control

« on: June 01, 2012, 02:30:34 am »

Correction: "compare with controlled version" works. Some compare options were wrong.

6

Bugs and Issues / EA 9.3 build 931: buggy version control

« on: May 31, 2012, 11:14:32 pm »

Prerequisite: A given package is under version control by Subversion. Using EA 9.3 build 931.

Bugs:

• EA cannot retrieve or check out previous revisions of this package. Makes usage of file history pretty useless.
  
• EA cannot detect local modifications. The menu item "compare with controlled version" from the menu "package control" does not work. Can be considered as severe bug as it might become dangerous if changes are overlooked.
  
• The menu item "scan XMI files and reconcile model" from menu "package control" updates all XMI files to the latest revision before reading them. Annoying, because I cannot restore previous revisions.
  

It seems that EA always updates first all XMI files and then uses the local XMI files for further work (e.g. comparison).

7

Bugs and Issues / Re: EA version control and subversion auto-props?

« on: January 20, 2012, 01:33:21 am »

Meanwhile I have found why subversion auto-props does not work with EA. EA uses its own configuration directory with subversion, and therefore its own set of rules for auto-props.

During the creation of the subversion settings, EA calls e.g.

Code: [Select]

<your path>\svn add --auto-props --config-dir "C:\Program Files\Sparx Systems\EA\Config\SVN" "ea9\9FF6F137BE13.xml"
<your path>\svn commit -m "EA Package addition: 19.01.2012 14:55:45 "  "ea9\9FF6F137BE13.xml"
There, you'll notice the option --config-dir, where EA uses its own configuration file config, which contains

Code: [Select]

### Enterprise Architect SVN configuration file.
### ============================================================================
### This file instructs SVN to set the svn:needs-lock property on all xml files
### when they are added or imported.

[auto-props]
*.xml = svn:needs-lock=NL
*.XML = svn:needs-lock=NL
*.eab = svn:needs-lock=NL
*.EAB = svn:needs-lock=NL
The point is: The user may have its own configuration file (as I have), but that configuration is overridden by EA. Consequently, you have to transfer your settings to the configuration file used by EA. E.g., you have to append lines describing your own auto-props.

I'd suggest to EA people to re-consider this behaviour, or at least give a notice to users (in dialog box, or in online help, or FAQ, ...).

8

Bugs and Issues / Re: EA version control and subversion auto-props?

« on: January 19, 2012, 03:26:29 am »

Geert,

thanks for your hint. I'll give it a try and figure out how it suits to working in a team. Particularly, I'll have to experiment with the creation, moving, deletion of packages. The EA approach would solve that quite nicely, but unfortunately it conflicts with our subversion policy.

9

Bugs and Issues / EA version control and subversion auto-props?

« on: January 18, 2012, 02:52:52 am »

With EA, an model can be put under version control. However, I have a problem with the usage of auto-props from subversion.

There is a menu item "Add Branch to Version Control...". The action triggered by this action fails in my case because EA does not set subversion properties as defined in the subversion configuration file "config". The settings there are correct, I have verified this by executing the svn client from the command line.

By the way, I am not very fond of the idea of EA committing files without my interaction. As subversion user I am used to modify files locally knowing that modifications are only committed to a subversion database if I deliberately want to.

Why do I need the auto-props feature? Our development policy requires us to add mandatory subversion properties to files, which in turn is automatically done by the subversion client as imposed by the configuration file.

So, when EA tries to commit its files via the subversion client, the subversion server refuses the request due to the missing subversion properties. EA stops with the first XML-file, which cannot be committed.

I appreciate any help here! Why does EA not set subversion properties? How can I put an EA model under subversion control?