Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Jumping labels on interfaces

« on: February 05, 2007, 05:54:25 pm »

Yarr!!  I just fixed all the labels and then I went right ahead and did the same thing.  If only you could keel-haul a piece of software...

2

Suggestions and Requests / Jumping labels on interfaces

« on: February 05, 2007, 05:42:23 pm »

yarrrrrrrrrrr, zee labels, zee jump!

When I expose a provided interface on a component, a required interface on another and connect them, everything is OK.  However, when I change the link type (right click/advanced.../change type...), the labels on ALL of the other interfaces in the diagram "jump".  They basically wrap their text.

Yes, I am using build 803.  My default font is set to Calibri 16 point.  That may be a factor.  This is driving me to say "yarrrrrr" at my computer again and again.

3

Suggestions and Requests / Composite elements losing some composite status

« on: February 05, 2007, 04:24:20 pm »

I have a number of component diagrams with composite elements that nest inside of each other.  Sometimes when I open a diagram (a composite element diagram) that contains other composite elements, the "infinity" symbol disappears and the composite element behavior goes away (namely, the double-click-to-navigate to that element's diagram).

however, when I right click on the element/advanced..., the composite element menu option is checked.

When I uncheck and then recheck the composite element option, everything is OK... until it happens again.  I *think* it happens when the component is added to a different diagram, but maybe not?  Tough to reproduce, but it seems to reproduce on its own.

Thoughts?

4

General Board / Re: Going postal over Unique Interface (UI)

« on: January 31, 2007, 09:07:05 am »

1. Sometimes stuff still moves around when you add a link or change a font size in another part of the diagram.

2. The label handling is MUCH improved.  I still note that some labels still auto-resize here and there.  Not sure if that is because of some hold-over tags from build 800?

3. Based on instance: this does EXACTLY what I wanted.  I have to say, having been using EA for a few months now (and a few hundred hours), I though that option would instantiate the based-upon object as opposed to creating a "Simple Link."  In the "Paste Element into Diagram" frame, it has three options, one of which is "as Instance of Element (Object)".  On the "Advanced" frame, there is a radio button option for "Based on instance:" and then a pulldown of other places the component exists.  I was (erroneously) under the impression that this would do something along the lines of choosing "as Instance of Element (Object)" in the paste frame.  Obviously I was wrong!  Maybe that frame should be labeled "Advanced Layout Options" or something?

But this is just what the doctor ordered.  Thanks for that.  I am less postal now

5

General Board / Going postal over Unique Interface (UI)

« on: January 30, 2007, 02:28:57 pm »

Perhaps there is nothing my forum mates can do to "solve" the issues I'm having, but I simply must vent:

* I enter a new link between interfaces and TONS of other interface's labels move around and auto-resize.

* I resize an interface label, then move it.  It auto-resizes back to some indeterminate size once moved.

* I drag a component from the project browser onto a diagram as a simple link and include embedded objects (interfaces).  It proceeds to dump them all in a pile at the bottom of the component, there's no way to lay them out, forcing you to waste your life away moving all the interfaces around the component and resizing the labels.  See above for additional insanity, and I've already submitted these as feature/bug requests.  Just need a "there, there, it'll be OK, we all deal with this on a daily basis..."

EA is a fantastic product with mucho power, but perhaps Sparx should have a staff psychologist on these forums to help us users who go bonkers over some of the interface "features."

ARGH!  

6

General Board / Re: New Site Layout

« on: January 04, 2007, 08:33:13 pm »

Sparx peoples -

Great new look and feel.  *Really* like it, very professional and up to date!

Kudos.

7

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Setting element as Composite Element/NType=8

« on: August 07, 2008, 08:31:16 am »

So it seems like EA sees the indicator and starts the rendition process. If there is no 'inner' diagram to construct then EA stops the process and does not consider, or at least does not create a visual indication, that the element is 'really' composite.

Yes, the child diagram (CompositeStructure) is created and has its parent set to the newly created component.

KP was correct, the entry in the t_xref table did the trick.  So, in sum:

-> t_object/component
-> t_diagram/CompositeStructure diagram with ParentID set as @@Identity of the new component
-> t_diagramobjects/ParentDiagramID and ObjectID
-> t_xref/ComponentGUID and DiagramGUID

Bingo!  Works like a champ.  Thanks all.

8

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Setting element as Composite Element/NType=8

« on: August 06, 2008, 11:39:08 am »

Perhaps you need to reload a diagram, package or project. There are various methods to do so.

Sadly, reloading the package/diagram/etc. does not fix the behavior.

If you right click -> Advanced -> the "Composite" check mark is selected!  However, the component does not display the infinity symbol in the lower right corner, nor can you double-click on the component to drill down to its CompositeStructure diagram.

I have created two components on the same diagram using SQL inserts into the t_object, t_diagrams and t_diagramobjects tables.  I have "unset" and "reset" the composite element attribute using EA on 1540 and the infinity shows up properly.  However, on object_id = 1541, I have not.  It shows up as composite under Advanced... but not in the actual diagram.

t_object for 1540 & 1541:
1540      Component      0      1.2.1.2 Test Fn      NULL      NULL      1.0      NULL      73      NULL      8      1      0      NULL      -1      0      -1      0      -1      2008-08-05 18:28:26.093      2008-08-05 18:29:21.000      Proposed      0      0      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      <none>      NULL      NULL      NULL      1.0      Public      NULL      NULL      0      {0B4F0E91-982A-457D-8E29-CD12C713C622}      565      NULL      NULL      0      0      0      0      0      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL
1541      Component      0      1.2.1.3 Test Fn 2      NULL      NULL      1.0      NULL      73      NULL      8      1      0      NULL      -1      0      -1      0      -1      2008-08-05 18:30:07.217      2008-08-05 18:30:07.217      Proposed      0      0      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      <none>      NULL      NULL      NULL      1.0      Public      NULL      NULL      0      {DC10FEF9-38F9-4778-ADA8-AE02F12E33B7}      565      NULL      NULL      0      0      0      0      0      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL      NULL

t_diagramobjects for 1540 & 1541:
54      1540      -170      280      400      -240      2      DUID=3FEEAB74;      6448
54      1541      -170      60      180      -240      1      DUID=47AB4AFE;      6449

t_diagram:
54      73      565      CompositeStructure      1.2.1 FnParent      1.0      user      0      NULL      NULL      1      1      1      P      2500      2500      100      2007-01-18 20:51:10.000      2008-08-05 18:30:31.000      NULL      1      1      1      HideRel=0;ShowTags=0;ShowReqs=0;ShowCons=0;OpParams=1;ShowSN=0;ScalePI=0;PPgs.cx=1;PPgs.cy=1;PSize=161;ShowIcons=1;SuppCN=0;HideProps=0;HideParents=0;UseAlias=0;HideAtts=0;HideOps=0;HideStereo=0;HideEStereo=0;FormName=;      0      {29032DA5-12CE-4025-9955-19FEFC2C348E}      NULL      locked=false;orientation=0;width=0;inbar=false;names=false;color=0;bold=false;fcol=0;;cls=0;      ExcludeRTF=0;DocAll=0;HideQuals=0;AttPkg=1;ShowTests=0;ShowMaint=0;SuppressFOC=1;MatrixActive=0;SwimlanesActive=1;MatrixLineWidth=1;MatrixLocked=0;TConnectorNotation=UML 2.1;TExplicitNavigability=0;AdvancedElementProps=1;AdvancedFeatureProps=1;AdvancedConnectorProps=1;ProfileData=;MDGDgm=;STBLDgm=;ShowNotes=0;VisibleAttributeDetail=0;ShowOpRetType=1;SuppressBrackets=0;SuppConnectorLabels=0;PrintPageHeadFoot=0;ShowAsList=0;

Thanks for any assistance :-)

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Setting element as Composite Element/NType=8

« on: August 06, 2008, 10:27:09 am »

Hey gang,

I am having some issues with creating an element that is a Composite Element (e.g. right click -> Advanced... -> Make Composite).  We are doing this on t_object/Object_Type='Component' and t_diagram/Diagram_type='CompositeStructure'

As far as I can tell, the only difference between elements (Components) that are composite or not is the field Ntype:
t_object/NType=0 --> Not Composite
t_object/NType=8 --> Composite

The child CompositeStructure diagram does exist with the Component's Object_ID set as the parent.  So this "should" work!

However, every now and then the interface forgets that an element is a composite, and we have to right click -> Advanced -> set to not composite; then re-set as composite and it works fine.  The same behavior exists when doing direct DB creation of these elements.

Any ideas?  Is there anything else in the DB or interface that specifies an element as a Composite element?

Thanks!

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Connector Type - change all in model

« on: January 16, 2007, 08:38:20 am »

The EA database is actually pretty straightforward.  In terms of data integrity worries, I would rank the risk changing all of the connector types as a 1 out of 10, especially since you can just go ahead and change it back.  I would definitely encourage you to check out the following tables:

t_connector
 (has all of the model's connectors stored here)
t_connector_types
 (just a lookup table of the different types of connectors available in EA)
t_diagram
 (info about the diagrams in your model)
t_diagramlinks
 (specifies which connectors appear on which diagrams, but their type is only stored in t_connector)
t_diagramobjects
 (objects in each diagram)
t_object
 (all the objects in your model)

Of course, depending on which features you're using, there might be different info that would be stored in different tables.  But as far as I can see, the "Connector_Type" is only stored in the t_connector type.  Also keep in mind that EA displays different connectors with different info/labels/etc., but I did exactly this change (Information Flow to Association) and it worked like a champ.

You might as well just make a backup copy of the database, run the query to change them all, then see if it works.

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Connector Type - change all in model

« on: January 09, 2007, 11:26:27 am »

nwilli -

This is pretty easy, actually, I've been doing a lot with the internals of the EAP file, which is actually just an Access MDB with a different extension.  You need to open the EAP file in Access (change the name to .mdb first, then open in Access).  Make sure you open but do not convert the database, since you don't need to change the *design*, just the *contents*.

I'm using Office 2007, but the process should be similar in 2003.

Select one of the queries (creating new queries is disabled since I did not convert the DB) and enter the following SQL:

UPDATE
    t_connector
SET
    Connector_Type = 'Dependency'
WHERE
    Connector_Type = 'Delegate';

Run that sucker and it will convert all of the connectors.  Keep in mind that if you have other attributes that you need to enter for the Dependency to be legit, you'll have to take a look at the t_connector table and make sure you set all of the other relevant tags in the update statement, above.

Example: I wanted to change everything (all connectors) in my diagram to associations, nix the <<flow>> label that was entered, and make sure all the colors were the same (a medium gray):

UPDATE
    t_connector
SET
    Connector_Type = 'Association',
    Btm_Mid_Label = '',
    LineColor = 10789024;

You will note that I did not qualify this with a WHERE clause, I wanted to blast all the connectors in the whole model.

Good luck!  And don't forget to make a copy of your EAP file beforehand.  Yarrr.