Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Add schemaLocation to XMLNS table in Schema Pr

« on: March 04, 2008, 09:22:19 am »

Done, again!  

Thanks for the tip.

Rick

2

Suggestions and Requests / Add schemaLocation to XMLNS table in Schema Props

« on: March 03, 2008, 03:46:49 pm »

Hi there,

It would be nice if you could add schemaLocation to the XMLNS table in the XML Schema Properties dialog box. Then, for each namespace in the table, if schemaLocation is left empty then no xsd:import is created; and if the schemaLocation is not empty then an xsd:import statment is created with the schemaLocation attribute set to whatever is in the table variable.

This would be really nice for 7.1, if you could see your way to putting it in.

Regards,
Rick

3

General Board / Re: Find actions that call a particular operation

« on: May 18, 2011, 05:03:50 pm »

Hi Geert,

If you do get time, can you ensure that the solution works with a non-Jet repository? In our case, we use MySQL.

Regards,
Rick

4

General Board / Re: Find actions that call a particular operation

« on: May 18, 2011, 10:35:28 am »

Hi Simon,

In our case, the organisation I'm currently working for tends to be a technology laggard. Accordingly, I need a solution right now for EA 8.

Note that the organisation (and I) have existing maintenance agreements so I expect that they will upgrade in "the fullness of time".

Geert, thanks for your response. I'll check out both EA Navigator and the SQL search option. I'll post my solution when I come up with it (assuming someone doesn't come up with an explicit solution in the meantime).

Regards,
Rick

5

General Board / Find actions that call a particular operation

« on: May 17, 2011, 03:36:26 pm »

Hi all,

I'm creating a series of models that describe a set of model transformations. Essentially, I use Activity Models to sequence the transformations where each transformation is described as an operation.

These operations (copy, copywithDefault, etc) are collected under a single class (AttributeTransform). They are called through a Call Operation Action element.

What I want to know is how I can find out which Call Operation Action elements call a particular operation. Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
Rick

6

General Board / Re: Relationship Matrix and RTF

« on: November 16, 2010, 11:15:28 am »

Do you know if this new feature means that I will be able to embed diagrams in a linked document directly without first having to save them to a file?

I sure hope so. Note, if such a feature has already been implemented, can you let me know, please?

Rick

7

General Board / Finding all links to a class

« on: April 03, 2008, 10:26:50 am »

Hi all,

I'm not sure how to find all of the links for a class.

We have a model where we inherit across packages. In fact, we have an inheritance structure of Unqualified Data Type -> Qualified Data Type -> Attribute -> Aggregate -> Package. I can look at the downstream links of a class but not the upstream. That is, I can see the Unqualified Data Type that a particular Qualified Data Type is based on, but I can't see which Attributes use the particular Qualified Data Type.

I've checked both the Links tab of the Class Properties and the Parent Links dialog box in the Element -> Advanced menu.

Can anyone give me an idea of where to look next?

Regards,
Rick

8

General Board / Identify a Design Master

« on: November 19, 2006, 07:10:28 pm »

Hi,

Could someone please tell me how I can identify whether a .EAP file is a design master and/or a replica?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

9

General Board / Can EA import PROGRESS Definition Files?

« on: June 07, 2006, 12:42:46 am »

Hi all,

I've been given some PROGRESS Definition Files (.df) and I want to load them into EA. The thing is that I don't have an ODBC connection.

I figure that this is the same as loading SQL DDL files. Can EA do that, too?

Regards,
Rick

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / How do I change the filetype of the DDL Generator?

« on: June 23, 2010, 10:09:04 am »

Hi,

I'm using EA v7.5. I need to generate DDL with the filetype of ".sql" rather than the filetype which it currently uses of ".SQL". The reason for this is that the continuous integration tool we use (Hudson on a Linux server) expects filetypes to be in lowercase and it errors when it gets them.

Currently, I have to manually reset the filetypes which is sub-optimal.

Any advice or ideas would be appreciated.

Regards,
Rick

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Generating xsd:import statements in XSD Schema

« on: March 04, 2008, 09:21:15 am »

Hi abcde,

Yes. We do a little bit of reverse engineering. We use the V7.1 beta and it does a much better job of reverse engineering and round-tripping than V7.0. I still dislike EA's making decisions on my behalf but they've reduced it to a level where I can live with it.

Where I'm currently working, I'm using EA to create a logical common messaging model for the organisation. As they've never done this before, I'm also setting up the principles, guidelines, framework, and standards for the organisation, too.

I also have to show the way with Architectural Frameworks where I've chosen Zachmann for the rows (ie. contextual, conceptual, etc) and US OMB Federal Eneterprise Architecture (FEA) for the columns (performance, business, service component, data, and technology reference models). The organisation has an Enterprise Data Model (EDM) and we've committed to showing full traceability from the EDM to the physical XSDs. Of course, this traceability is mostly at the attribute level as an EDM (relational) is very different to a XSD (hierarchical).

EA's ability to link things together within an architectural framework is very useful. And it's the linking that gives you the power. EA's not ideal for this (OWL is better) but it gives us a terrific start. And we can export it in XMI to import into a fully-featured metadata repository when we do finally get one.

My principle inspiration for the XSD modelling is OASIS UBL and UN/CEFACT Modelling Methodology (UMM). The other inspiration is the Australian Government GovDex website. I would have liked to use the UMM addin but I'm not sufficiently comfortable to be able to use it productively in the timeframe we had.

We have used EA exclusively for modelling common messages and for generating the XSDs from them. We've modelled our XSDs as UML diagrams and we've stereotyped our classes and attributes using the standard off-the-shelf XSD stereotypes that EA provides (and, yes, I've read the book that they used but it doesn't really add much to what EA already has. FYI, the author runs the xmlmodelling.com website.).

My only concern with XSD stereotyping of the logical class model is that it blurs the line between a logical model (the class diagrams) and the physical model (the XSDs). We use the logical model to map flat files (csv) as well but it isn't obvious to others because of the stereotyping. This is where a clear division between logical and physical becomes important in ensuring that staff understand the difference and work appropriately.

HTH.
Rick

12

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Generating xsd:import statements in XSD Schema

« on: March 03, 2008, 03:47:56 pm »

Done.  

Rick

13

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Generating xsd:import statements in XSD Schema

« on: March 03, 2008, 01:25:06 pm »

Hi abcde,

Your response has prompted me to respond and wind up this thread.

I found out from Sparx that the way to get the schema import lines to work properly consists of two steps:

1. For each package with a namespace, add a Tagged Value called "schemaLocation" and put in the URI of the xsd to find.

2. Build up your XSD structure in EA from the ground up. Start with the lowest level of datatype or element , first, and progressively set up the higher levels by adding references to the lower level elements/types. Use the ellipses (...) to the right of the Type drop-down list and select your element/type form there. This will set up the link which will cause EA to automatically add the xsd:import statement for the xsd that the selected element/type resides in. Note that it uses the schemaLocation tagged value that you created in Step 1.

As for building up the XSD element/type hierarchy, I mimicked the OASIS ebXML standard of having (from lowest level to highest):
* XML Datatypes (eg. int, string)
* Unqualified Datatypes (eg. IdentifierType, NameType)
* Qualified Datatypes (eg. CustomerIdentifierType, ProductNameType)
* Core Components (eg. CustomerIdentifier, ProductName)
* Aggregate Components (eg. Customer, Product)
* Message Payloads (eg. CustomerStatements, ProductCatalog)

To make it easier, it is best to create separate models for each level. That way, you can ensure that you are getting the element/type from the correct place.

As for Step 2, it would be nice to add a schemaLocation to each namespace in the namespace list for a schema. Thus, if it is left empty, no xsd:import is created, and if it is specified, an xsd:import is created. I forgot to ask for this for 7.1 and I figure that it is a bit late now.

HTH,
Rick

14

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Generating xsd:import statements in XSD Schema

« on: December 09, 2007, 07:06:13 pm »

Hi all,

I would like to know how to get the XSD Schema generation to generate the <xsd:import/> command for a namespace.

What I have modelled is a class structure for a Common Messaging Model that is structured similarly to the UN/CEFACT CCTS. With this structure, Core Data Types (cdt), Qualified Data Types (qdt), and Unqualified Data Types (udt) are separate packages with separate namespaces that I really want generated into separate files.

The thing is that I can generate the separate files but that I have to then manually add the <xsd:import/> statements, which sort of invalidates the whole XSD generation thing as I have to remember to add them after regenerating the XSDs.

Can anyone please give me some guidance?

Regards,
Rick

15

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: xsd element name different to complextype name

« on: January 15, 2008, 09:19:41 pm »

Hi all,

Sparx responded to my bug reports (as they do) and registered the 'ref' bug as a bug. However, the generation of elements with the same name as a complexType is a design feature and can't be easily changed (as of writing). (And, yes, bennido, it means that you still won't be able to determine which element is the top-level one.)

Apparently, the EA XSD import/export feature makes use of the XSD 'Garden of Eden' design pattern. My request was to make the use of this pattern optional. Thus, when the design pattern is not used, both XSDComplexTypes and XSDElements are generated with the appropriate associations. This would allow me to correctly import UBL XSDs and generate them appropriately, too.

<rant>I hate it when software makes arbitrary decisions about how I should do something. I believe that every developer should read "The Design of Everyday Things" (aka "The Philosophy of Everyday Things" aka "POET") as part of their training so that the "NO SURPRISES!" mantra is drummed into their heads!</rant>

(Takes a few deep breaths...)

Anyway, the solution of arbitrarily combining elements and complextypes into a single complex type on import and naming both complextypes and elements the same on export means that I can't round-trip a XSD. In fact, it reduces EA to the role of passive data dictionary and makes its lauded MDA capability irrelevant at a stroke. And it is all because I am forced to perform post-processing on the generated XSD (to remove the spurious elements and add the suffix "type" to all of the types, etc) - a monumental PITA.

Therefore, if you are reading this, can you please lobby Sparx to get them to change it.

Regards,
Rick