Messages

1

General Board / Re: Win 11 - v16 EA MSI installer not working

« on: May 09, 2022, 12:15:23 pm »

Update on this problem.

While following the various methods to reinstall the Windows Installer software on my Win 11 laptop, my system became totally corrupted and had to be reset. A complete re-install of Win 11 was required.

Good news is the Sparx install MSI now works. I'll never know why it failed initially.

Bad news is I have to re-install all the apps I had on my laptop. No personal data or documents lost as far as I can tell.

Thanks Geert and Eve for your help.

2

General Board / Re: Win 11 - v16 EA MSI installer not working

« on: May 06, 2022, 10:48:41 am »

Thanks for your help Geert and Eve.

I can install other apps without this problem occurring. I've never seen this error before. I don't think there is a problem with my Win 11 install or with Win 11. I think it's likely this problem is caused by the Sparx EA MSI installer. When I first attempted to install the MSI, the screen below was displayed. Nothing happened after 30 minutes waiting. Then the error message previously noted was finally displayed. Thereafter, the same error was immediately displayed. I followed the procedure noted by Geert (thanks again Geert) and that does not seem to eliminate the problem.

If Sparx cannot help me with this, then I'm happy to receive a refund for the money I've just spent on an Ultimate license. Eve - how would I go about this? Thanks again.

3

General Board / Re: Win 11 - v16 EA MSI installer not working

« on: May 05, 2022, 05:38:12 pm »

I've sent two emails to Sparx Support - but these have been ignored for two days now.

My guess is that the MSI installer checks for an existing install and is not coded to handle the event if no existing install is found, so it just throws a generic error and leaves the customer AUD$361.45 out of pocket. Sweet.

Is there a better way to rattle the Sparx cage and get someone in Sparx to think about this?

4

General Board / Win 11 - v16 EA MSI installer not working

« on: May 05, 2022, 08:42:11 am »

I let my license for Sparx EA lapse several months ago. I even went so far as to uninstall my previous Sparx EA license on my Win 11 laptop. Then - feeling guilty - I bought the full EA Ultimate license again a few days ago. Now trying to install on a machine that does not have a previous version installed. However, the MSI installer is failing, throwing the image below.

Has anyone else had this happen? I tried to install with Bitdefender anti-virus turned off but it still fails. Running Windows 11 22H2. Not running OS in Safe Mode (obvs). So is it possible the "Windows Installer is not correctly installed"? Haven't had this message when installing other apps. So I am "contacting my support personnel for assistance" - which is all of you. Thanks in advance for any knowledge you may be able to share. :-)

5

PCS General Board / Re: Prolaborate / Pro Cloud Server - Unclear Marketing Information

« on: October 24, 2021, 01:24:24 pm »

Yes, thanks, Eve. Appreciate you monitoring this forum.

6

General Board / Sparx Blocks Password Manager = Bad Bad Not Good

« on: October 21, 2021, 10:15:08 am »

Like many security-conscious humans these days, I use a password manager (1Password). All my passwords are now complex, and I don't use the same password on multiple websites. This is how life should be.

But when I need to authenticate to Sparx, I often encounter a dialogue that does not allow me to user my Password Manager app.

This is not a 'contemporary user experience', as they say in Holloywood. It's a nuisance factor.

Sparxians. Listen up here. Lift your game, please.

PS: Version 16 beta is looking good. You are nice people and your work is important to the world.

Thank you.

7

PCS General Board / Prolaborate / Pro Cloud Server - Unclear Marketing Information

« on: October 21, 2021, 10:07:01 am »

I would probably be interested in licensing and using Prolaborate and Pro Cloud Server. But the way the value and function - and pricing and licensing models - of these products are explained on the marketing websites is vague, confusing and unclear.

What do I get for a 'token'? I have no idea. On this 'buy now' page, there should be a link explaining what services will be provided, and what service acquisition options I am able to select from. I don't want to buy multiple licenses for a team. I just want one license for me, so that I can familiarise myself with them enough to be able to explain to others in my large organisation, which may well wish to acquire licensing on an enterprise basis for these products. This is another blocker.

NB: This is what I do for a living. If I'm not getting a clear, concise message from the marketing content on the website, it's not me. Others will be having the same experience.

Just saying.

8

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Problem Switching Toolbox Perspectives

« on: October 18, 2021, 09:26:39 am »

Paolo
You are correct, of course. The image below is what I see when I do that. The MDG 'Profile' is 'EAUML' and the 'Perspective' is 'Database Engineering' (not 'Core Extensions'?).
Dumb Question I Can't Find The Answer To In Sparx Documentation: Are 'Perspective' and the MDG Profile completely different things? Or is 'Perspective' a view of what's in the MDG Profile?
Thanks for your knowledge.

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Problem Switching Toolbox Perspectives

« on: October 17, 2021, 10:15:51 am »

Geert

Thanks - that helped. The Toolbox I want active is the 'Data Modeling' MDG. See image below. Using your method seems to get it to appear for the diagram I'm working on.

However, I can't see in which MDG this toolbox is defined. It does not seem to be in 'Database Engineering'. I think it must be a native Sparx MDG. But I should be able to see it displayed so that I can select it.

How could I find this out? I just want to select that one toolbox and have only it displayed as my Toolbox on this diagram.

Selecting any other MDG seems to make this 'Data Modeling' MDG disappear.

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Problem Switching Toolbox Perspectives

« on: October 15, 2021, 03:01:31 pm »

I'm totally stumped as to how Sparx manages changing MDG perspectives for the Toolbox. I want to change the Toolbox perspective for a diagram to 'Database Engineering'.

In 'Specialize > Technologies > Manage-Tech' when I check the Database Engineering box, the term 'Database Engineering' gets a asterisk added - but this does not set the Toolbox to that MDG.

There is no explanation provided as to what the asterisk means. 'Set Active' has no effect. The Toobox does not change perspective.

What am I doing wrong? Has anyone else experienced this?

11

General Board / Re: eaDocX viability?

« on: July 07, 2021, 12:44:21 pm »

With respect to Geert's excellent work and his generosity in contributing his knowledge to this forum, I'm disinclined to have to re-learn SQL in order to do something that should be a key capability of an architecture modelling tool -- AND should be implemented by the tool vendor in an elegant, robust, reliable manner.  The native Sparx .csv import / export facility is in desperate need of remediation.

If there was a well-supported third-party plug-in that worked -- and made .csv import / export easy. We'd be happy to pay for it. The EADocX add on is -- as far as I can see -- dead in the water. I'm told an update is 'in the works, but with no firm delivery date' ... which means 'dead in the water'.

I think my perspective is out of line with the majority community of Sparx users. For technical software design, where the people using Sparx are expert software engineers and coders, they are free to build code on top of Sparx to their heart's content. However, we are seeking to use Sparx in a different mode -- as a full-stack enterprise architecture knowledge repository. We present summary analytical visualised artefacts to CxO execs and hundreds of business and technology subject matter experts. We recognise that we are not Sparx's core target market. We are on the periphery. This is not going to change.

When people say "you can write the code yourself to get Sparx to do that" ... what we actually hear is "Sparx is not the right tool for what you want to do".

Which is sad ... because Sparx is ubiquitous in the global market place because of it's price point. There is huge latent demand going unmet. It would not take a disproportionate amount of work to make Sparx far more capable for what we need it to do. An opportunity going begging. There are others like us in the global market place.

Because of this, we are migrating later this year to Orbus iServer365. We'll definitely keep corporate Sparx licensing for project solution architecture work, for which it is well suited.

My narrative here is probably not of great interest to Sparx or to the Sparx Systems Forum. Apologies.

12

General Board / eaDocX viability?

« on: July 01, 2021, 08:43:54 am »

Has anyone used the third-party plug-in eaDocX on a continuous basis for commercial work?

We want especially to import data from Excel spreadsheets in Sparx and export from Sparx to Excel (or .csv). Does eaDocX work as advertised - or should we stick with native Sparx .csv import / export?

We're thinking the native .csv import / export facility in Sparx is a bit basic.

(Recognising that the developers of eaDocX probably monitor this forum ... )

13

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Assigning Names to Legends

« on: June 15, 2021, 10:23:56 am »

Thanks, Paolo - That works for me. fn key + f2 allows me to edit the name of the Legend in the Project Browser! I would never have thought to do that. Haven't seen any mention of that in the Sparx documentation. One small step for a geek like me.

14

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Assigning Names to Legends

« on: June 04, 2021, 11:55:57 am »

Hmm. Thanks for your help on this.

I must be doing something wrong. I cannot assign a name in the Properties panel to a Sparx Legend in the Project Browser. I'm not talking about giving a name to the Sparx Legend on the diagram. We're not talking at cross purposes, are we? (That name does not show up in the Project Browser).

I must be misunderstanding your meaning. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

15

General Board / Re: Shareable CSV Import / Export Specifications?

« on: June 04, 2021, 09:07:28 am »

@KP - the "export csv as reference data" approach seems to be a viable approach to keeping csv specifications from being lost.

Can export and import a CSV specification as XML. That works.

I had no idea. Hadn't seen that in any Sparx documentation.

But thanks for the tip.