Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Add the term 'Nudge' to the help documentation

« on: January 24, 2009, 02:03:37 am »

Thanks Roy. I will submit a feature request along this line as well. There is tonnes of stuff to learn about the EA tool - because indeed the features are very rich. (I started working with UML tools in '98 using something called Riverton HOW together with PowerBuilder, and then later purchased Rational Rose Modeler Edition (just before they sold to IBM). I've been enjoying learning EA.

Cheers!

2

Suggestions and Requests / Add the term 'Nudge' to the help documentation

« on: January 22, 2009, 12:16:17 am »

Hi -

I've been using EA daily for over a month now and just found out that diagram elements can be 'Moved in increments' by using keyboard shortcut of shift + arrow (up, right, down, left).  I am nearly certain that this diagramic action of moving elements is usually called 'nudging'.  I've been frustrated many times for the want of 'nudge' capability in diagrams - and always resorted to using the element / object alignment tools (which work great - but aren't the be-all and end-all. I scanned the help documents, the EA website, and this forum looking for the word 'nudge' and alas could not find it.

Is it possible to add the terminology of 'nudge' to the help documentation? This may help future users to find this functionality faster.

I would even go one step further and make the 'Move element by increments' the default behaviour when an arrow key is pressed (by itself) in a diagram (as opposed to selecting the next element at the next 'tab stop') - and make shft + arrow select the next element.

3

Suggestions and Requests / Print Preview of Large Diagrams

« on: January 09, 2009, 09:17:57 am »

I've drawn a user interface diagram that spans some 12 pages (3 across by 4 down). When I print preview the diagram and click the zoom in and zoom out buttons - go from 1 wide, to 2 wide to 4 wide and then 5 wide (which seems to be the max). Why is there no 3 pages wide when zooming?

Why can't a control be built so that the tiling of a print preview can be specified in terms of pages across and down (similar to MS Word where you can click on the 'Multiple Pages' button and specify the number of pages to view across and down.

I don't want to print my large diagrams but would like to be able to print preview them in an orientation that makes sense.

Is this possible to add in the next release?

Thanks!

4

General Board / Re: Documenting Business Rules in EA

« on: January 08, 2009, 02:24:34 pm »

Hmmh. Maybe I am overthinking it or trying to make things too complex in my model. CIP (case in point) it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what IMHO means.

So if I understand you correctly - you simply create business rules (in a separate rules package) as requirements using a <<rule>> stereotype. The <<rule>> is not one of the native / original defined types for a Requirement element. Did you create a (new) <<rule>> stereotype yourself using Settings --> General Types --> Requirements tab on on the General Types dialogue box?

If I model Business Rules in this fashion, will I be able to associate business rules with Use Cases or other Requirements elements?

Thanks.

5

General Board / Documenting Business Rules in EA

« on: January 08, 2009, 03:51:11 am »

I've only been working in EA for about a month so please excuse my newbie query about business rules.  I am principally using EA to capture requirements, Use Cases and workflow (modeled so far as Activity work flow and a UI model). I know that there is a technique that can be used to "externalize" (Move External) requirements that may be documented while fleshing out the properties of a Use Case.

Is there a similar technique that can be used to 'externalize' the business rules (constraints) of a requirement via the 'Rules and Scenarios' dialogue? The reason I ask is because the 'Rules and Scenarios' are somewhat 'hidden' in the overall model. It's also not very apparent/intuitive as to how a (new) user would view this dialog for a given requirement element (ctrl+shift+3 - as opposed to dbl-click).

How would a tester or developer use an EA model to find / list all Business Rules in a given model (that have been created using the 'Rules and Scenarios' dialogue?

Thanks!

6

General Board / Re: DB Design

« on: January 15, 2009, 07:09:01 am »

I have a similar question. I am just trying the data modeling features for the first time in EA today. I have used many other modeling tools such as ERwin - but EA seems a far cry. Ideally, I would like to be able to do my data modeling in my EA model so that I can get that 'traceability' going for me that everyone raves about. But I am reminded of the old expression: "When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail!"

I would love to do something very simple such as modeling 3 tables. Two independent tables that have a 1:n association to a join table between them. I want the PKs from the 'independent' tables to migrate automatically to the join table as FKs (as a new composite primary key on the Join table). I am having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to do this.

7

General Board / Re: Varchar(max) Supporting?

« on: January 15, 2009, 06:56:35 am »

When adding the columns/attribute via the table properties -> Table Detail Tab -> Columns/Attributes dialogue you should be able to specify varchar as the Data Type for a new Attribute from the dropdownlist. Once varchar is selected, a "Length" textbox will show, where the maxlength of the varchar attribute can be specified.

You will have to enure that your (SQL Server 2005) target DBMS is specified before entering the Table Properties dialogue or else there won't be any Data Types to display in the drop down. Once you have specified the Target DB, any new table element that is added to a diagram will have that DBMS specified as the 'DB Version' for the new table.

8

General Board / Re: Logical (PIM) model to DDL (PSM) transform

« on: January 16, 2009, 12:55:41 pm »

Yes I always have a hard time remembering this myself. Hope I was able to jog some things for you.
Cheers.

9

General Board / Re: Logical (PIM) model to DDL (PSM) transform

« on: January 16, 2009, 07:27:37 am »

I've tried using the association class in a Class model as well and also noticed that it is not 'transformed' into the DDL. So I am not sure if I am using it properly - or if in fact this is the intended behaviour in a Class Model.

What I have done in my model is expicitly add a "join" class into my model. E.G. In a case where Class A has a Many to Many relationship with Class B, I have created a Join Class that I call A_B_Join. I then specify the multiplicity on the association between Class A and A_B_Join as 1 to many (0_* or 1_*) and likewise on the association between Class B and A_B_Join as 1 to Many. You can then add attributes to the A_B_Join class as needed. When you run a transform Package to DDL you will find that the correct PK/FK relationships have been created (the PKs from Class A and from Class B have migrated to A_B_Join) and of course the native attributes of A_B_Join will also be created.

I'm not sure if this is the right way to do this - but when I do it this way the resulting DDL looks right to me.

HTH!
-Don

10

General Board / Re: Data modeling in EA

« on: January 16, 2009, 07:44:17 am »

Hi Shreyansh,

I'm not certain if I understand your question about 'default rows as a master entry' for tables, however, you can certainly generate a DDL from a Data Model.

Ideally, you will model your classes in a Class Model first (these will eventually become tables in your Data Model package) and then run the 'Transform Current Package' functionality from the Class Model - targeting your Data Model package as the destination for the generated Data Model (typically the generated data model is put in a sub-package called DDL).  

This transformation is commonly called PIM to PSM transformation (Platform Independent Model to Platform Specific Model). Since you are generating a PSM, you should first specify your target DBMS.

Once your Data Model is transformed from your Class model you can right-click on the DDL package (under Data Model package) and select 'Code Engineering -> Generate DDl...' That will generate the DDL statements to do the CREATE / ALTER TABLES and keys and indexes etc, that you can execute in your target DBMS.

You will need to have 'Generate source code and DDL' permission in your version of EA in order to do the DDL generation.

HTH.

11

General Board / Re: Show Cardinality in Class Diagram

« on: January 16, 2009, 12:11:45 am »

Thanks everyone - I think I am up to speed on this topic now. I am especially heartened to discover the 'Transform Current Package' functionality in EA.

My question arose when I was trying to do some database modeling directly in EA as opposed to using the Transform functionality (transform a Class model into a database model. I read this entire article http://www.sparxsystems.com/resources/uml_datamodel.html which at no time mentions the transform functionality - I simply assumed that the modeling had to be repeated manually in a second (db) diagram. Then I saw the links (MDA Style Transforms) in the lefthand column and 'ta-da'. Very nice. 8-)

12

General Board / Re: Show Cardinality in Class Diagram

« on: January 15, 2009, 05:25:10 am »

What I have since found out...

There is Cardinality property for a Class element (on the Details tab of the Class properties dialogue). I am not sure how this is used - but it is not displayed in a class diagram (not that I can see).

There is a Multiplicity property for either end of an association element (the line between two classes) where the 'multipliity' can be specified for either end of the association. This is what is displayed in Class diagram. This is very confusing!!  Are these terms properties interchangable?  Why is there a cardinality property on a Class object? Especially when a class object may have many associations with other classes? I would like to know in what scenario, one would specify a Cardinality value on the Details page of a Class property. Any help / explanation is welcome.

Cheers!  

13

General Board / Show Cardinality in Class Diagram

« on: January 15, 2009, 04:04:16 am »

I've looked through all of the properties for a Class diagram and can't figure out how to make the cardinality values display in the diagram. They don't appear to display by default (this is my first diagram - so not 100% certain.)  

Where do I specify that the cardinality values for associations between classes, be displayed (in the diagram).

Cheers!

14

General Board / Re: EAExample Welcome Page

« on: December 13, 2008, 03:41:49 pm »

Okay - now I get it. Or I think I do.

The 'Welcome' page is not like an HTML page where the links are single-clicked. If I double-click the 'links' they do actually work. I am not sure why this 'Welcome' page (diagram) in the EA Example Model acts differntly than the 'Start Page' does - which actually does behave like an HTML document (when I mouse-over an active link the cursor changes into a hand and the link mouse-over properties change (link colour changes to blue and font becomes under-lined). None of this std HTML behaviour happens in the Welcome page - the cursor is the std 'move object' cursor (4 arrows) and none of the links appear active when I mouse over them (cursor doesn't change not do link properties change when mouse-over).  

I am still not sure of why the differences in link 'behavour' between the 'Start Page' and the 'Welcome' page - I would still be curious to find that out.

15

General Board / Re: EAExample Welcome Page

« on: December 13, 2008, 02:56:20 am »

The Welcome page in the EAExample.eap model appears to be an activity diagram. Here is a picture of the diagram:
http://www.solidus-it.com/images/EnterpriseArch/EA_welcome.png
When 'diagram' is active in Ent. Arch. none of the text on the diagram is an active hyperlink. Its just text. How do I view the diagram so that the hyperlinks are functioning hyperlinks. Is this functionality disabled for the trial version?
Cheers!